the zeitgeist report

I have long relied on the Simpsons as my childrens main source of education in cultural literacy. The show is laced with an abundance of film, literature, art and philosophy references. I have always said that I would rather they watch a good tv show than read a bad book. I now have science to back up my idiocy.

From the 1966 Coleman Report, the landmark study of educational opportunity commissioned by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Gentzkow and Shapiro got 1965 test-score data for almost 300,000 kids. They looked for evidence that greater exposure to television lowered test scores. They found none. After controlling for socioeconomic status, there were no significant test-score differences between kids who lived in cities that got TV earlier as opposed to later, or between kids of pre- and post-TV-age cohorts. Nor did the kids differ significantly in the amount of homework they did, dropout rates, or the wages they eventually made. If anything, the data revealed a small positive uptick in test scores for kids who got to watch more television when they were young.

We may be able to chalk this up to the "everything you thought was bad for you is good for you" trend, but it was pretty clear from the study that the big factor in education and advancement was socio-economic -- kids from higher income families did better in school and life despite watching more tv than their less advantaged counterparts.

The article in Slate.