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Installing air filters in classrooms has surprisingly large educational benefits (2020)

(www.vox.com)
308 points tangjurine | 3 comments | 31 Mar 25 00:22 UTC | HN request time: 0.612s | source
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fifteenforty ◴[31 Mar 25 01:34 UTC] No.43529754[source]▶
Also, turns out preventing kids from getting sick improves educational outcomes.
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sheepscreek ◴[31 Mar 25 01:45 UTC] No.43529835[source]▶
My dad made a similar observation, assuming the children were young. However, upon reviewing the article, I noticed it doesn’t explicitly mention the grade level. Considering younger children have weaker immune systems, this could potentially lead to fewer missed classes and improved grades. Personally, my first grader misses out on a considerable number of classes.

However, if these results were observed in grades 3 or higher, it could suggest a more substantial phenomenon. I randomly picked the third grade, but perhaps there’s a specific age after which the medical community considers a child’s immunity to be significantly enhanced.

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permo-w ◴[31 Mar 25 02:21 UTC] No.43530110[source]▶
do younger children have weaker immune systems?
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Balgair ◴[31 Mar 25 02:37 UTC] No.43530242[source]▶
Not as much as their immune systems haven't been around very long and seen as many diseases.
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1. permo-w ◴[31 Mar 25 12:24 UTC] No.43534164[source]▶
I was under the impression that younger kids had stronger immune systems for that reason, which is why the common wisdom is to expose your kid to as much as possible when they're young, because it's easier for them to fight it off and later rely on resistance?
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2. Balgair ◴[31 Mar 25 13:26 UTC] No.43534802[source]▶
I guess it's a quibble over the meaning of 'stronger', but that seems overly pedantic. Let's get data.

A good overview of the allergy situation is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

Though that article goes into more about young human immune systems too. TLDR: Yeah ... it's complicated, but the evidence seems to, just maybe, lean towards more exposure being better. So, you're right, I think?

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3. permo-w ◴[31 Mar 25 13:56 UTC] No.43535125[source]▶
the impression I got from the article is that it's a somewhat unsolved problem. the article mentions an "old friends" hypothesis that suggests that it's not exposure to dangerous pathogens that's important in childhood, but exposure to benevolent ones. but yeah, you're right, it's semantics really. kids have a different kind of strength. I would actually suggest it's quite analogous to brain development. kids are more adaptive and I'd argue creative, but adults are more experienced.