Teach the child, not the promise
A recent study suggests that children as young as 10 develop career interests based on their test scores, with higher-scoring children favoring architecture, medicine, science and law. In a write-up of the study, the authors suggest this is due to teacher and parent expectations. Because of the strong effects of self-belief on school performance, teachers are urged to be cautious in how test scores are managed. "I think we have to be careful in schools not to too quickly label children as low achieving, because kids develop early ideas of their own abilities," said Professor Jenny Gore, an author of the study. It's worth noting that, without access to the original study, it isn't possible to dissect cause and effect: for example, it could be that children interested in science, medicine and law see relevance in the school work that they do, and so perform better.
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