Let’s face it: Shuttling children from activity to activity and
monitoring homework sessions are exhausting parts of parenting. It’s no
wonder that some parents wonder if they shouldn’t cut out some of it.
New research suggests that perhaps all of this activity is helpful to
their child’s future—as long as the child has good math skills!
Harvard Business Review assistant editor Nicole Torres reports
the findings of University of California, Santa Barbara researchers
compared two groups of white male high school seniors—1972 and 1992—to
see the impact of their social and math skills over time. “The analysis
found that while math scores, sports, leadership roles, and college
education were all associated with higher earnings over the
1979-1999 period, the trend over time in the earnings premium was
strongest among those who were both good at math and engaged in
high school sports or leadership activities. In other words, it pays to
be a sociable math whiz, more so today than thirty years ago.”
It seems that the social skills that children develop through
participation in extracurricular activities help to make them more
likable. These extracurricular activities include “teamwork,
communication, and general interaction with others.” Developing these
skills when they are children make it more likely that they will be
employed “in an occupation requiring higher levels of responsibility for
direction, control and planning.”
Technology may be the reason for the demand for math skills in the
workplace; however, employers need workers who can work with others
well. So, parents, make sure that your children have good math skills,
and know that your children’s extracurricular activities will most
likely benefit them in the workplace.
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