Even the Average Adult Can Raise a Great Child: A Critique of “What Makes a Perfect Parent?”

One of the most difficult aspects of parenting is knowing what to do to help a child succeed and how to measure that success. Many would agree that successful parents prepare their children to lead happy lives and to meaningfully contribute to their community. In the Freakonomics chapter “What Makes a Perfect Parent?” authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt draw data from observational studies to theorize that what makes a parent great is who they are socioeconomically and not how they raise their child. The evidence used by the authors shows a correlation between the independent variable of who a parent is and the dependent variable of how well a child performs in school, but the faults in the authors’ causal logic, including using a single dependent variable to operationalize a complex topic, relying on studies with omitted variables, and neglecting to mention any spurious relationships that may exist, result in a theory that is somewhat unsound.

To begin, the studies presented in the chapter are used effectively to show a sound operationalization of the authors’ chosen dependent variable and thus a clear correlation between who parents are and how their children perform academically. Despite this presentation of sound operationalization, the studies are unsuccessful in displaying how academic performance is an effective measure of parenting. The Chicago Public School study shows that parents being actively engaged in their child’s education has a strong correlation to improved academic performance, and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study shows the correlation between parents’ socioeconomic status and education level and the child’s academic success. This evidence is effectively used by the authors to show that childhood academic excellence is correlated to who their parents are, but it does not show a logical causal link to their theory because it fails to address how academic performance is a good measure of parenting.

While academic excellence may be used effectively in operationalizing one aspect of parenting, using it as the sole dependent variable in the measurement of a good parent is not effective because it provides insight into only one area of a child’s life and fails to acknowledge any omitted variables that may be present. If good parents prepare their children well to be both happy in life and to meaningfully contribute to society, then much more must be measured than the academic success of the individual. For example, there are many children who do well academically who are bullies, and there are many who do poorly academically but excel in serving or showing kindness to others. These omitted variables are important to observe in understanding the whole child. Considering only one aspect of a child’s life calls into question the logical soundness of the authors’ evidence and decreases the credibility of the authors’ causal theory.

Lastly, the chapter spends little time exploring any possible spurious relationships between the identified variables in the ECLS study which undermines the soundness of the authors’ theory. One notable variable mentioned in the ECLS study, but not discussed at length by the authors, is that of location. The study shows that children dwelling in urban locations tend to perform better academically than their counterparts in rural areas. If the study suggests that children in urban areas perform better academically, and these children tend to have parents in a higher socioeconomic class, it may also be that the urban areas provide higher income jobs and advanced college education. Urban areas providing for higher incomes and advanced education would show a spurious relationship between urban living and the high socioeconomic position of the parents as well as the high academic achievement of the children. This again lowers the soundness of the author’s theory by calling into question the logical causality of the evidence used. It could be reasonably postulated that an urban location is causing both the independent variable of who parents are and the dependent variable of how their children perform academically.

Therefore, while authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt craft an interesting theory in stating that better parents are those who are of a higher socioeconomic class and elevated education level, they inadequately provide evidence of causal logic for this theory. The faults in the authors’ use of evidence, including using a single dependent variable to operationalize a complex topic, relying on studies with omitted variables, and neglecting to mention any spurious relationships that may exist, result in a theory that is somewhat unsound. So, while the chapter may seem to give the illusion that success in parenting is not something the average individual can achieve, ultimately the authors’ unsound use of evidence to back up their theory gives hope that even the average parent can raise a great child.

References

Dubner, Stephen D., and Steven J. Levitt. 2005. “What Makes a Perfect Parent?” In

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. 148-176. New York City: William Morris & Co.