The biggest factor in a child’s educational success

A British study has found that the biggest factor in a child’s educational success is the level of the father’s education.  That is, if the father is well-educated, his children are likely to do well in school.  And the father’s lack of education also manifests itself in his children not doing well.  The mother’s education is a factor, but not nearly as much as the father’s.

Is this just another example of a study proving what is self-evident and obvious?  So that fathers who value education make their kids study?  Or is there more to this correlation?

From Father’s education level strongest factor in child’s success at school – study | Society | The Guardian:

A father’s level of education is the strongest factor determining a child’s future success at school, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of poverty and lack of achievement passed down from parents to children in Britain, according to research.

The report from the Office for National Statistics claims that children are seven and a half times less likely to be successful at school if their father failed to achieve, compared with children with highly educated fathers.

A mother’s education level was important to a lesser degree, with a child approximately three times as likely to have a low educational outcome if their mother had a low level of education. . . .

Previous studies have observed the link between parent-child levels of education success, but the size of the father’s attainment level on a child’s education is more marked than most earlier research.