DNA is the main systematic force that builds our individual differences. The author argues that while environment plays a role, its influence is often chaotic and unpredictable, while heredity accounts for about 60% of success in school. It is possible to predict a child's difficulties or abilities at birth. This knowledge can fundamentally transform educational methods. The whole argument indicates that understanding the biological foundations of behavior helps better support an individual's strengths instead of succumbing to the pressures of standardized school systems. This approach promotes a vision of society in which biology is not destiny, but the key to better understanding oneself and optimizing development. Summary of key data, statistics and numbers included in the sources: 99% of DNA base pairs are identical in all people, with only 1% accounting for genetic differences between individuals. The heritability of eye color is about 90%, while the heritability of body weight is 70% (although in surveys people estimate it at only 20-30%). School achievement (test scores) is about 60% heritable, as confirmed in studies of children at different stages of education in England. The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) initially included 15,000 pairs of twins, with about 10,000 pairs still taking the tests after 22 years. Monozygotic twins raised separately show a correlation in school performance of 0.7, with Ofsted school quality rankings accounting for only 4% of the difference in GCSE exam performance. When the socioeconomic status of families is taken into account, the impact of school quality on student performance drops to just 1%. Tuition fees at elite, selective private schools can be close to £30,000 a year, despite the lack of evidence of "value added" to academic performance. The polygenic score now predicts 15% of the variance in school performance, a stronger predictor than income or family status. Children in the highest decile (10%) in terms of polygenic score have a 75% chance of getting into college, while in the lowest decile the percentage is 25%. The FTO gene affects fat accumulation; 40% of the population has the A allele, and people with two such alleles are on average 6 pounds (about 2.7 kg) heavier than others. The correlation between spouses (matched by association) is 0.6 for verbal ability, 0.4 for non-verbal ability, and just 0.1 for personality. Britain's NHS health system has received £80 million to introduce free genotyping for patients. Current polygenic indicators can predict a 7% propensity for schizophrenia. The cost of making a DNA chip (snip chip) has dropped from thousands of pounds to about £40. Genes act like "nudges" (nudges) - they don't inevitably determine our fate, but they do give us a certain direction and probability of given traits. Inherited DNA explains about 60% of the variation (variance) in school achievement. This means that 60% of the variation between children in school test scores is due to inherited differences in their genetic code. This statistic is consistent across different stages of education - from the first grade of elementary school, through GCSE exams, to A-levels. It is noteworthy that although the overall heritability is 60%, current computational techniques (so-called polygenic indices) allow at this point to directly predict 15% of the variance in school performance based on DNA analysis alone. Comparing school achievement in monozygotic and dizygotic twins allows researchers to determine the extent to which genes influence academic performance. Here are the key findings of this research: Higher concordance in monozygotic twins: Because monozygotic twins are clones of each other and share 100% DNA, they are much more similar to each other in terms of school performance than are dizygotic twins, who share only 50% of genes on average. High correlation: school test scores in monozygotic twins show a correlation of about 0.7. Significantly, they are as similar to each other even when raised separately, demonstrating the enormous power of the influence of genetics compared to the home environment. Heritability at 60%: A comparison of the two groups of twins showed that differences in exam scores (such as GCSEs and A-levels in England) are 60% determined by inherited differences in DNA. Consistency of results: This high influence of genes (more than 60%) persists at every stage of education - from the first grade of elementary school to the end of high school. In summary, the genetic similarity of monozygotic twins makes their school performance almost identical, making DNA the main factor responsible for differences in learning between children. The main difference between monozygotic and dizygotic twins is the degree of similarity in their DNA sequences. Monozygotic (monozygotic) twins are formed from a single fertilized egg cell (zygote) that, for unknown reasons, splits in two in the first days of life. They are clones of each other and share 100% of the genetic code. Dioecious twins develop from two separate egg cells fertilized by two different sperm. Genetically, they are like normal siblings born at the same time and share an average of 50% of common genes. The fact that dizygotic twins are 50% different genetically means that they can differ significantly from each other, even if they are raised in the same family. Monozygotic twins can be compared to two copies of the same book, while dizygotic twins are like two different books written by the same author - they share elements of style, but their content is half different. The Colorado Adoption Project (CAP) study, conducted over 40 years on a group of about 250 adoptive families, provided key evidence on the role of genetics in shaping cognitive abilities. Here are the project's key findings: No effect of adoption environment on intelligence: The study found that the correlation between the cognitive abilities of adoptive parents and their adopted children was zero. This suggests that the shared home environment (nurture) has no systematic effect on children's overall learning abilities. The decisive role of genetics: The correlation between biological parents (who gave their children up for adoption soon after birth and did not participate in their upbringing) and their children is as high as in families where biological parents raise their offspring themselves. Increase in similarity with age: In non-adoptive families, the parent-child correlation increases with the age of the children, reaching about 0.3 in late adolescence. The Colorado project showed that nature (genes), rather than living together under the same roof, is solely responsible for this increase. Lack of similarity between adoptive siblings: Genetically unrelated children raised in the same family show zero correlation in terms of cognitive development. Confirmation of "nature": CAP's results provide a powerful demonstration that differences in cognitive ability (the G factor) are largely the result of DNA inheritance rather than systematic influences of the family environment. According to Robert Plomin, the heritability of school achievement is about 60%,. This means that inherited differences in test scores between students are responsible for 60% of the differences in their DNA code. Here are the key details of these statistics: Influence constancy: Heritability of 60% persists at all stages of education, including as early as the first grade of elementary school. Polygenic index: Today, based on DNA analysis alone, scientists can predict 15% of the variance (variability) in school achievement. Genes vs. School: The genetic influence (60%) is far greater than the influence of school quality (as measured by Ofsted rankings), which accounts for only 4% of the variance in exam performance. Predicting the future: Children with the highest polygenic score have a 75% chance of going to college, compared to 25% for the lowest-scoring group. Plomin emphasizes that DNA is the main systematic factor that makes us different in terms of academic success.