Can faith influence academic success? This question is central to Ilna Horowitz’s groundbreaking sociological study, Gods, Grades & Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success. Published in 2022, the book delves deep into the complex relationship between religious belief and educational achievement, with a particular focus on the experiences of Christian adolescents. Drawing on a rich, mixed-methods analysis that combines large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews with academic tracking data, Horowitz explores how the values and structures inherent in religious families and communities play a pivotal role in shaping students’ academic paths. But as Horowitz’s nuanced findings reveal, the link between prayer and grades is far from straightforward, and she challenges us to look beyond simple answers to understand the myriad ways in which faith intersects with the educational landscape.
Horowitz’s analysis unfolds across two interconnected levels. The first level Horowitz explores is the concept of “religious restraint,” a term she uses to describe the moral and social framework that religious communities often provide. This framework, according to Horowitz, is not merely about attending church services or participating in rituals but instead extends into the very fabric of a child’s socialization process. Religious parents, Horowitz notes, typically emphasize order, discipline, and the importance of family time, creating a nurturing yet structured home life that prioritizes respect for authority and kindness. This “restraint” goes beyond the family, influencing the child’s broader social sphere. This includes their participation in religious congregations that help oversee activities and provide advice, and through friendships within these communities, thereby reinforcing a network of shared values and expectations. Horowitz argues that this comprehensive social and moral scaffold provides a solid foundation not only for personal development but also for academic success.
The second level focuses on the individual’s response to these environments. While the central dichotomy in this response is between “abiders” and “nonabiders,” abiders are those who fully embrace the social environment shaped by religious restraint and seek to develop a personal relationship with God. They are characterized by a deep integration of their faith’s values into their daily lives, which seeps into a strong focus on their academic endeavors. These individuals, Horowitz finds, tend to excel academically across subjects, demonstrating that discipline, respect for authority, and playing by the rules align well with the demands of the educational system.
However, the success of abiders isn’t straightforward. While the principles of religious restraint uniformly benefit abiders across race and gender lines, it is a much different story in terms of socioeconomic status. For working-class and middle-class students, the structured support and moral guidance inherent in religiously restrained environments tend to positively correlate and bolster academic success. However, this positive correlation diminishes among the poorest and wealthiest students. Those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds often lack the comprehensive support network that facilitates academic achievement, whereas wealthier abiders may excel academically but tend to prioritize altruistic and non-materialistic goals over traditional markers of success, such as high-paying careers. In other words, faith and religious restraint aren’t enough by themselves but instead are highly shaped by socioeconomic status.
While gender doesn’t seem to impact academic achievement for abiders, gender does play a large role in these teens’ life trajectories. While religiously restrained environments advocate for values that support academic achievement, they also reinforce conventional gender norms. This influence is notably pronounced among female abiders within Christian contexts, who, despite achieving academic success, are steered towards embracing traditional roles such as marriage, motherhood, and domestic responsibilities. In contrast, Horowitz sheds light on a distinct group she dubs “Jewish career girls,” who are socialized within their religiously restrained environments to prioritize academic and career success, with traditional family roles taking a secondary position. This differentiation highlights a significant variance in how religious restraint impacts female aspirations across different religious backgrounds. Horowitz’s analysis suggests that while the religious and social structures promote discipline, respect, and academic excellence, they also navigate the expectations for women in diverging directions—offering a scaffold for academic success but delineating the boundaries of acceptable female aspirations differently across religious traditions.
Horowitz’s analysis doesn’t only focus on the academic trajectories of abiders but also nonabiders. Nonabiders may be religious but don’t fully identify with religious traditions or internalize their communities’ values or structure to the same extent as abiders. These individuals often resist the discipline and authority that characterize religiously structured environments, leading to lower academic achievement and a reduced likelihood of success in high school and college compared to their abiding peers. However, this isn’t true for all nonabiders. In the final chapter, Horowitz examines atheists, particularly atheists who were religious in their youth but whose persistent curiosity and questioning led them to veer away from Christianity. She found that like abiders, this group experienced academic success, but this success stemmed from atheists’ intrinsic motivation and self-direction in learning, rather than adhering to a strict moral code. In other words, with atheists, we see academic success emerging from multiple, and sometimes, opposing sources.
To conclude, Ilna Horowitz unveils the nuanced ways in which faith, family, and education converge, offering profound insights into the complex impact of religious belief on academic success. Through her examination of abiders, nonabiders, “career girls,” and atheists, primarily within Judeo-Christian contexts, Horowitz sheds light on the diverse roles that religious restraint and individual belief systems play in educational outcomes. While the study provides a valuable exploration of how religiously structured environments can support academic achievement, it also prompts a reflection on its broader applicability, highlighting a need for further research into the experiences of individuals across a wider array of religious traditions. This acknowledgment of the study’s focus primarily on Christian participants underlines the importance of expanding our understanding to include how different religious and secular frameworks shape the path to academic and personal fulfillment. Ultimately, Horowitz’s work challenges us to reconsider the intersections between personal faith, social structures, and education, inviting a deeper analysis and exploration of the multifaceted ways religious and educational institutions intersect in America.
The Online Sociologist 