From the Classroom to Life

Two middle school students sit across from each other, peering at a screen. They have a simple task: make a choice without speaking. If they pick the same option, they both win points. If not, they both lose. The room is quiet, but you can almost feel the calculations happening: What will she do? Should I change my move? Can we work together without talking?

This was the setup for an experiment my co-author Juan Carrillo and I recently conducted, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). We wanted to explore how academic achievement relates to a deeper, often invisible skill: the ability to make good decisions, especially in social and strategic settings.

The results were telling. Students with stronger academic records coordinated better. They earned more points, adapted more quickly, and found ways to cooperate even without communication. Those who struggled academically had a harder time—they were more likely to make self-centered choices that led to worse outcomes for both players.

But there’s an encouraging insight: When we paired high- and low-achieving students together, their group performance was intermediate—closer to the level of high achievers than low ones. This suggests that peer learning matters: stronger students may model effective strategies, and their partners may gradually pick up and apply better decision-making patterns.
In other words, when environments encourage diverse groups to work together, students who struggle may improve not just academically, but socially and strategically as well.

Importantly, the games they played had nothing to do with school subjects like math or history. And yet, academic achievement was strongly linked to success.

Why might academic achievement relate to decision-making?

One possibility is that school doesn't just teach facts—it also helps shape broader decision-making skills: anticipating others' actions, planning ahead, adjusting strategies when things go wrong. Success in school may reflect the development of cognitive and social abilities essential for navigating life, not just for passing tests.

But we must be careful. Our findings are correlational. Academic achievement and better decision-making might both stem from deeper causes—like parenting styles, life experiences, cognitive abilities, or exposure to supportive environments. It’s possible that school itself strengthens these skills, but other factors may also be driving the link we observed.

This raises bigger and important questions. If academic achievement is connected to cooperation, could it also relate to other types of decisions? Does it predict resilience, ethical behavior, or risk management? Future research must disentangle these relationships: exploring how cognitive traits, family environments, and educational experiences interact to shape both academic outcomes and broader decision-making abilities.

Understanding these causal links isn't just a theoretical exercise—it’s deeply practical. If schooling actively builds decision-making skills, educational interventions could be designed to amplify this effect. If environmental or cognitive factors dominate, targeted supports could be better tailored to help those who need them most.

At a time when creativity, collaboration, and adaptability are crucial for success, education isn’t just preparation for college. It's preparation for life—but only if we understand, and strengthen, the mechanisms that make it so.