I haven't read the actual research, but as described this has the problem that maybe the IQ differences cause the educational differences. In other words, the researchers find that identical twins reared apart with different levels of education have bigger IQ differences than other identical twins reared apart. But how do we know that's not just selection? Some identical twins are (just randomly) very different in IQ. Those ones get sent to very different schools. Nothing to see.
The article mentions that the researchers gathered data on educational systems, catholic schools etc. so maybe they get round this.
tptacek•3mo ago
They're monozygotic twins. If they have just randomly very different IQs, that's in itself an important finding.
dash2•3mo ago
Everyone understands that some monozygotic twins have very similar IQs, and some have very different IQs. This is just natural variation, and not news at all. If schools make twins have very different IQs, that's important evidence for environmental effects on IQ which may well be interesting. But the problem is that maybe causality went the other way.
dash2•3mo ago
The article mentions that the researchers gathered data on educational systems, catholic schools etc. so maybe they get round this.
tptacek•3mo ago
dash2•3mo ago