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Barry_Cotter comments on Don't rely on the system to guarantee you life satisfaction - Less Wrong Discussion

16 Post author: JonahSinick 18 February 2014 05:48AM

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Comment author: Barry_Cotter 18 February 2014 03:24:32PM 12 points [-]

Amy Chua's kids have two Yale law school professors for parents. Genetically and in terms of social capital they rolled a natural 20. I suggest reading Judith Rich Harris's "The Nurture Assumption" and/or Bryan Caplan's "Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids" if Chua is getting to you.

Comment author: James_Miller 18 February 2014 07:53:08PM 3 points [-]

And Amy's father was a super-genius, even compared to Ivy league professors.

Comment author: JoshuaFox 18 February 2014 08:21:47PM *  1 point [-]

Sure, but note that the the type of advice Jonah is giving is disproportionately aimed at gifted kids.

So, Chua's technique and Jonah's are indeed aimed at the same population and so we can look at the results that each offers. Chua's two daughters are not a big data sample, however.

Certainly, kids who are pushed to "play the game" succeed in life along all relevant parameters more than those who are not (those Upper East Side kids whose parents prep them for Harvard are going to end up with above average outcomes as compared to the US population). But there are some major confounding variables there, of course.