The Baby Einstein revolution started in 1993 with the publishing of research conducted by Gordon Shaw and Frances Rauscher. A study was performed in which college students were played Mozart and then were given a paper-folding-and-cutting test. It was concluded from this study that, "those who listened to Mozart performed better than those who had not"(1993). Shortly after this report was published the notion that this idea would hold true in children came to fruition.
It has never been proven that listening to any types of music contribute to the IQ of children. The study conducted by Shaw and Rauscher was also replicated by dozens of other researchers, giving inconclusive data. The fact that the results were never able to be duplicated is a major warning sign to the significance of the “Mozart effect.”
The reason why parents buy into programs like “Baby Einstein,” is easily understandable. Parents want their children to succeed in the worst way. If it takes buying expensive CDs to give their children an advantage in life, most parents would make the sacrifice to buy them. Having a child succeed is both an honor and a way to live a better life in the future. When parents have conversations children are often brought up, it is usually in the form of each bragging about the accomplishments of their children. It pleases no parent more than to have their child achieve more than other children. A second possible reason to why a parent would buy the tapes is because they are betting on their children. If the tapes help and the child grows up to get a good job, the parents will achieve a great return on their investment. Since the offspring, now adults, have a good career they can help to take care of their parents.
Although I think that programs like “Baby Einstein,” do not help make children smarter, parents will continue to buy them for the slight chance that their children have a higher IQ, as a result.
No comments:
Post a Comment