There are Benefits to Religious Education, Study Finds

From School Reform News, published by the Heartland Institute:

Having students think about religion increases their political tolerance and ability to delay gratification, new research suggests.

The study’s conclusions call into question choice programs that tend to favor public charter schools over private schools.

The study, titled “Losing My Religion? The Impact of Spiritual Cues on Noncognitive Skills,” published in October 2016, concluded, “Although difficult to disentangle its impacts from confounding variables, research suggests that religiosity is a positive predictor of educational outcomes. … We find that religious cues increase students’ self-regulatory capacities, a predictor of educational attainment, and boost political tolerance. These findings provide preliminary evidence to suggest that religious-based education provides benefits that their secularized equivalents cannot fully emulate.”

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