Children from deprived backgrounds need emotional guidance from schools at an early age. It says too little is done too late to tackle the problem of Neets.
The report’s findings echo renewed interest in America in the marshmallow experiment of the late 1960s, which linked children’s self-control with educational achievement in later life. Walter Mischel, a professor of psychology, tested whether children could resist eating a marshmallow for 15 minutes if they were promised two after that time. After being left alone, a third of the children ate the marshmallow straight away, a third cracked during the 15 minutes and a third successfully resisted temptation. Those who refrained did better academically on the whole. Now researchers are planning to conduct brain scans of the adults who were tested as children in 1968, to see whether their behavioural differences can be detected.
If children could deal with the emotions inherent in resisting a marshmallow then they could “study for the SAT (American end-of-school test) instead of watching television”.
Children from lowincome families in the Bronx struggled to delay gratification.
Schools should focus on teaching social and emotional skills such as empathy, motivation, understanding and learning how to get along with others.