家中藏书500本，到底能够给孩子带来多大影响？

 

如果一个学生广泛地阅读，那么在课堂上所讲解的任何一个新概念、新现象，就会纳入他从各种书籍里汲取到的知识的体系里去。【苏霍姆林斯基】

这张图来源于一项最新的发表于《社会分化和流动研究》杂志上的研究结果，横轴数据为家中藏书量，竖轴为孩子的受教育年限。

一个以埃文斯为主导的研究团体通过对27个国家超过73000人进行采访，最后得出：成长在有藏书500本的家庭里，会使一个孩子比起成长在没有藏书的类似家庭里平均多受3.2年的教育，而且这些孩子完成大学学业的可能性要比家中无藏书的孩子多出19个百分点。当然由于这种效应的强度因国而异，在中国，这个数字则为6.6年，差不多是平均数据的一倍！

看到这个数据是不是很令人振奋：终于为买书找到一个强有力的理由了！事实上，埃文斯他们还有一个更令人兴奋的结果：

这张图表比第1张图多了一项“父母本身的受教育情况”，我们可以很直观的发现：家中的藏书量越高，父母本身受教育程度如何对孩子的受教育水平影响越小！也就是说：哪怕你只是小学毕业，只要你家里书够多，你的孩子和那些博士的孩子最后受教育程度差异也没多少！当然前提是你自己也要爱看书，爱买书，能给家庭带来一种享受读书的氛围！

俞敏洪说，家庭教育的第一要素就是孩子生长的环境。在众多家庭教育讲座上，他都会问这样三个问题：

1、请问多少家庭家里是有书架的？

2、书架上面放满五百本书的有多少？

3、有多少家长有晚上睡觉以前看半小时到一小时书的习惯？

并以此开启阅读在家庭教育中重要性的话题。

很多家庭调查显示，喜欢读书的大部分孩子，将来克服挫折的能力强很多，他会把从书中得到的知识变成自己内心的思想。

Will your child finish college? The answer may be as close as your bookshelves, or lack thereof.

你的孩子能否念完大学？答案可能近在你的书架前——又抑或没有书架。

In an era of electronic entertainment, the term “home library” increasingly has the word “video” in the middle. But before parents start giving away books to clear shelf space for DVDs, they’ll want to consider the results of a comprehensive new study.

在当今这个电子娱乐的时代，“家庭书架”越来越多地被“家庭影视架”所取代。但在家长们开始把书下架给DVD留出空间之前，他们不妨考虑下一项全新研究的结果。

After examining statistics from 27 nations, a group of researchers found the presence of book-lined shelves in the home — and the intellectual environment those volumes reflect — gives children an enormous advantage in school.

在验证了27个国家的统计数据后，一个研究团体发现家中有书架——以及藏书所映衬出来的知识氛围的话，会给孩子的学业带来巨大的优势。

This effect holds true regardless of a nation’s wealth, culture or political system, but its intensity varies from country to country. In China, a child whose parents own 500 books will average 6.6 more years of education than a comparable child from a bookless home. In the U.S., the figure is 2.4 years — which is still highly significant when you consider it’s the difference between two years of college and a full four-year degree.

这种效应不论国家的财富、文化和政治体制如何都是成立的，但效应的强度则因国而异。在中国，父母有藏书500本的孩子比起家中没有藏书的孩子平均多受 6.6年的教育。而在美国，这个数字是2.4年——但依然是非常显眼，这相当于两年制大学和完整的四年制大学学位的差别。

The researchers used data from the World Inequality Study, which pooled information from a series of representative national samples. In most nations, survey participants (a total of more than 73,000 people) were asked to estimate the number of books in their parents’ home when they were 14 years old. The scholars compared that figure with other factors influencing educational achievement, including the education levels of one’s parents.

研究人员采用了《世界不平等研究》的数据，采样自一系列具有代表性的国家。在大多数国家里，调查受访者（共超过73000人）被要求估计他们14岁时父母家中的藏书量。学者们将这一数据同影响教育成就的其他因素，包括父母的受教育程度等进行比较。

“Regardless of how many books the family already has, each addition to a home library helps the children get a little farther in school,” they report. “But the gains are not equally great across the entire range. Having books in the home has a greater impact on children from the least-educated families. It is at the bottom, where books are rare, that each additional book matters most.”

“不管家庭已经有多少藏书，家里书架上每增添一本都有助于孩子的学业前进一步”，他们写道，“但就整个（研究）范围而言收益并不是一样大。对于出身受教育最少家庭的孩子来说，家中藏书的效应更大。对于处在底层的家庭而言，藏书的数量甚少，以至于每添置一本都显得至关重要。”

Evans and her colleagues contend the number of books at home is an excellent reflection of a family’s “scholarly culture,” which they describe as a “way of life in homes where books are numerous, esteemed, read and enjoyed.” An early immersion in such a culture “provides skills and competencies that are useful in school,” and/or engenders “a preference for and enjoyment of books and reading that makes schooling congenial, or enjoyable,” they conclude.

埃文斯和她的同事主张家中藏书数量是一个家庭“学术修养”的集中体现，他们把这描述为“有着丰富藏书，并且尊书、读书和享受读书的一种家庭生活方式”。早年浸染于这样的氛围中“能培养出对上学有用的技巧和能力”，而或培养出“对书籍和阅读的喜好和享受，这使上学变得合意或有趣”，他们如是总结道。

So mom and dad don’t have to be scholars themselves; they just have to read and respect books, and pass that love of reading down to their children. Anna Quindlen was clearly onto something when she wrote: “I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”