See the accompanying article here.

http://www.wondercafe.ca/features/can-attending-church-improve-kid%E2%80...

The question is not do you think it will improve grades, the question is do you think it will improve their relationship with God.

Grades are not the important thing.  Success in school or life is not the important thing.

Weather they believe in God, are empathetic, understanding of others, truthful, and kind to others are important.

The world will maybe advance in techology if we have knowledgeable people, but it will not improve.

Even knowledgeable people participate in swarming, stabbings, murder and pedophila.  Those are the things that need to be fixed for the world to be a better place.

Not grades.

Makes good sense to me that attending church helps grades - kids raised within a community of people who are striving for seomthing better, encouraging them to be good, teaching them manners & listening & respect & participation & speaking/reading & even reverence, and immersing them in a multi-generational group (so many kids have no chance for that) - these things are very good for a child, and lend themselves well to respectful attentive behaviour at school.  It isn't perfect, but it is a good environment for kids who see beyond themselves.

I'm with birthstone. I think there's a lot of sense to it. However, I'd want to see a well done, preferably double-blind, study before I commit to "yes, that's true". We've been trying to get our son more into going to church (either UU or UCC), but that's more from that standpoint of getting him to learn more about religion/spirituality and the religious/spiritual underpinnings of society than to improve his school grades.

and I wouldn't think it would work as a magic pill.  It is about fully participating in a faith community, not showing up at a church expecting magic.  Its about attitude & confidence, and i dont' think any or all churches could be expected to have clearly defined statistically proveable results.

FYI - Apparently chewing gum while working on projects raises marks - and that comes from a scientific study.  

I agree that giving a child the oportunity for growth in a well developed community is very good for his/her early stages of life.

I myself am not a religeous person.  While I grew up Mennonite, my personal experiences in church growing up has made me question the reality of god/religion.  Because of this I discourage the thought of kids getting the good development skills from church.

In my own personal beliefs I feel like church imparts dangerous thought patterns into society.  Like believing in myth's as if they are real,  Teaching others it is wrong to think outside what they teach, and being outragously hypocrytical. 

So in short, Church will not help with school grades or being  a well developed person in our society.  (in my opinion)

Or, perhaps, kids thrive on structure.

That structure could be church, but it could also come in the form of athletics or any extra-curricular endeavour that provides a level of mentorship from adults and socializing with one's peers.

Clearly, sports would hold some health advantages for children over simply attending church.  If kids can better themselves just as much academically and socially, and achieve better health and diet awareness in the process, that strikes me as a more effective extra-curricular activity.

Correlation and causation are two different things. Maybe kids who go to church (being raised by church-going parents) are more likely to be raised in homes which are intellectually enriching, which would help performance in school. I don't think it's going to church that would lead to better grades, that doesn't make sense as the direct cause (that would mean divine intervention). I would think it is more a social factor of what kind of parents generally take their kids to church vs. the kind of parents who generally don't. This is generally speaking of course, and not a hard-fast rule. My grades didn't drop when my mom stopped taking me and my sister to church every week.

On the good side, I agree that parents who are attending church are more likely to have respect for the public system, despite the side of the politics they vote from.  Yes, this will take effect upon the child's ability to care or not care for school.

On the bad side, some churched kids are reasonably good theology bullies and manage to initimidate their way to the top over kids who may be gifted but do not have the back up of a reigning religion in the community.  This can be seen in the case where the Chinese in Vancouver were once bullied by the WASP communities - who had all the positions in employment and sport and left only the option of study to the Chinese, so that what eventuated was the steady rise of the Chinese in business and school to the point ( excluding the recent gang movement) where to be Chinese was to have the psychological edge on the competition both in academics and business and eventually sport as well.

Likewise,

 Many amazing tales have been told to me by young women from southern Manitoba who are not either Mennonite, or Icelandic.

Kids should be raised with enough experience in areas other then church to decide for themselves what to believe and how to believe it.  Parents these days just want their kids to not only do everything and think everything exactly as they are told to, but also to fulfill every goal or dream the parents never managed to accomplish.

No way! Religion promotes blind acceptance, rigid conformity, and unthinking criticism of others who differ from oneself. This is the exact OPPOSITE of education! There is a reason to keep religion out of schools, and this is it!

I do not think Church can improve kid's grades.  As someone else said, correlation does not equal causation.

Parents can improve kid's grades by being involved in their education however, which may explain why grades could improve.

 There is much research to support the role that character plays in human performance and in particular the role it can play in student learning. A great book on this is, The Biggest Job You'll Ever Have by  Malcom Gauld.

One of the great side effects of my children being involved in our church community is the Godly character that is modeled and the lessons they are taught by all of the amazing people in our church.  Church is not just good for their souls, it is also good for their mind...

along the road with you!

Alan

Don't know why it would....Not like they are teaching Critical Thinking skills there...obviously......And time spent at Church is just time you aren't at home doing your homework....

 Depends on the church, If the church values education and it's theology is not opposed to science then it would help. However if it teaches Kids that creationism is science etc, then in the long term it would hurt their kids. Also if the church teaches GLBT kids and others that they are bad, then I would assume that there self-esteem would be damaged and that would result in depression and lack of motivation to achieve.

I don't think you could say "My kids not doing very well in school. I'll just send him to church and his grades will improve" and have that happen, but I think that a child who goes to a church and feels connected to people in the church, he/she would feel better about themself. That would then link back to their school grades, because they would have a stronger feeling of self-worth and would feel better about keeping up their grades. More importantly, I think it would make the kids grow into stronger, more compassionate people.

 I agree with Thia. God is important, not grades. Grades and what they supposedly represent are a worldly pursuit. Knowing God is far more important and worthy of time.

I don't think that church has any influence to the child's grade. Actually I don't see any connections between God and grades. The thing that has a real influence to child's grade - is a good educational system.

Kind regards,

Leona

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