Studies reveal genes determine our success in education. During prenatal development genes connected with education are registered in the brain. Researches reveal that genes are also responsible for transferring many diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc. one of the largest genetic studies was conducted by an international group of scientists. They identified 74 genetic variants that are responsible for the formal education that an individual achieves.
Daniel Benjamin from the University of Southern California, US said that this study builds on our earlier work in which we had studied 100,000 individuals and found three genetic variants linked to educational attainment. He also added this time, because of our much larger sample – almost 300,000 individuals – we were able to identify far more genetic variants that are associated with educational attainment. He also revealed that how much schooling a person receives depends not only on our genes but also on environmental factors. Genes also are responsible to a great extend in influencing cognitive abilities and personality traits such as persistence. Researchers also say that they also influence the time taken by an individual to complete his education in school. He said that educational attainment is jointly influenced by genes and environment. The genetic variants that we found, account for a small fraction of the differences across individuals in education.
Scientists combined results of 15 different countries from 64 data sets. They found that the 74 identified genetic varients influence only 0.43 of 1 percent of different education level attained by individuals. Benjamin said, for the variant with the largest effect, the difference between people with zero copies and those who have two copies of the variant predicts, on average, about nine more weeks of schooling. He later on also said the results suggest that the genetic influences on educational attainment are spread across thousands, if not millions, of genetic variants, most of which have not yet been identified. Peter Visscher from Queensland Brain Institute, Australia said the tiny genetic differences we found may ultimately help to understand why some people are more susceptible to early cognitive decline than others.
