Poll: Adults Scoff at Homework Gripes Anyone else here finding this is the case? I've watched as my mother (who teaches 6th grade) has handed out less and less homework over the last decade (not by choice) because of the bitching of parents about homework loads. Things have leveled out, but only because the kids are getting so little homework, and I have yet to hear of a single parent saying as much.
I had a parents evening recently where they raised this issue, pointing out I hadn't been setting their daughter much in the way of homework, and that it didn't seem to be very frequent. After pointing out that on a solitary occasion I probably didn't set homework (they'd just had a test), but other than that she'd had it quite regularly. The girl concerned did look quite sheepish at this point too.
Honestly, I'm not a big fan of homework, so in my case it wouldn't take much for me to say "That's too much." They've got my kid for over seven hours. I have no little or no say in what he does or what he's being taught during the day. He needs time for sports, extracurricualar activities, family, and friends. He needs time with me and my wife. When schools routinely assign a lot of homework, they are essentially telling our family what to do with our own time. I realize the benefit of reinforcing what has been learned at school; I understand that having to do some research or other projects away from school can teach children important skills beyond what they are specifically learning. But the idea that a child should come home every night with a backpack full of homework? Bullshit.
You mean somewhere between 'none' and 'several hours a night, every night'? I don't know where, exactly. I am saying that some homework serves a purpose; however, I suspect much of it doesn't, or at least is overrated.
I'm in the "much of it doesn't" crowd. If a teacher lacks the time to provide effective feedback, then the value of the homework declines. I find this especially true when considering essay writing skills (more is often not better).
The amount of homework my kids had in middle school was absolutely huge. The older one probably averaged 4 hours/night during a long stretch of 7th grade. HS is proving to be a different matter. The younger one doesn't get enough homework, by my judgement. But after all he is in the alternative school, commonly called "Commie High" around here.
This thread could easily drift into "how bad our schools are" mode pretty quickly. However, my wife and I discussed this topic this morning. As to parents that complain that homework takes away from family time; she observed that the only kids who consistently DO homework are the ones who actually HAVE family time. The rest of them do it when the feel like it, or not at all, because the parents AREN'T involved. Some parents complain about too much homework but that is frequently the result of parents not controlling their kids who spend their immediate after school time playing video games or phone time. The result is that when the parents get home at 6:00 wanting to have some time with the kids, the kids have homework to do. Who is to blame here? Another issue with homework is the school schedule where kids have 7 class periods. At my wife's school (8th grade Language Arts teacher) from bell-to-bell she has a total of 42 minutes. By the time she opens the lesson and closes it on the back end, there is really only 35+ minutes of teaching. In such a short time there is no time for kids to compose any meaningful work without needing to take it home and finish. Consequently, a partial answer is to change scheduling. Let kids be in class longer. Then there is the teacher who is not prepared or organized and homework is the result of sloppy teaching skills...but that is that drift I warned about.
Community HS.: Call your teacher by his/her first name. Jazz Bands. Hackey Sack. Emo Fashion is the norm. [bungadiri throws up his hands and starts to weep]: I don't know what I'm gonna do with him. Actually it's not a bad place and he's totally dead set against the whole emo scene. Plus he's becoming quite the jazz percussionist and the hacky sacking ("hacksterbating," when done alone, I'm told) is better than theater guild (there's only so many emotional basket cases I'll allow in my house before I feel my turf is being threatened).
Here I was just getting used to the idea of him being there and you come along and throw this in my face. Bastard.
Who wouldn't feel comfortable about sending their precious multicolored pony to frolick with the zebras at Community HS?
Not if I can help it--my son's school is a good one; we picked the neighborhood mainly because of it. I have no problems with the school itself, and we love his teacher. I'm not bashing public schools, believe me. I don't doubt that at all. Which doesn't really address my point--our son gets his homework done because we want him to do well in school. We value education and a sense of responsibility. Thing is--I think we would be instilling those values in him without having the homework. I agree that parents, not schools, have the responsibility to instill a sense of responsibility in their children. But the underlying assumption of your scenario above is that the child--at some point--SHOULD have to do some homework. Why? Are there studies that prove that homework improves learning? That children who do more homework are more educated or capable? It gets dark in the winter well before 6:00. What if the kid--who's been indoors all day--spends the time between getting out of school and 6:00 outdoors? Playing soccer or riding a bike or whatever? What is bad about that? Again, why does the family have to organize themselves to acommodate the homework? I totally agree. Again, I'm not bashing schools--I don't mean to suggest that children are being assigned homework simply because the teachers are failing to teach them in classtime. I realize the odds the modern teacher is up against. I think that rethinking the need for homework is merely one piece of the puzzle to making public education better. Last year, my son's first grade teacher had a problem with that--she would often cancel recess in order to get caught up on the day. I don't entirely blame her, though--schools are being asked to do so much, I'm sure many teachers feel they do nothing but hurry through a daily checklist, no matter their good intentions. And the contemporary focus on testing doesn't help.
No, no, no. You've got it all wrong. Community is the place for all the precious multicolored ponies to gather together in a group to enhance their uniqueness, while all the the zebras go to real high schools and get into college. I'm going to drink and drive now. Anybody who reads this should stay off I-94 between Detroit and Ann Arbor for oh, say, the next hour.
Just finished a conversation with a real estate agent about some family property we want to sell. He stated a fact I think many know; the quality of the local school district is the #1 determinant of property value. Not directly related but an interesting fact nonetheless. Good for you!!! That is as it should be. Engaging in productive learning activities does make a child more capable. Whether that occurs in the classroom, or at home, doesn't matter. Of course what we are discussing is balance and appropriateness. But the more knowledge a student has, the stronger the base to gain more knowledge. And given the other factors I mentioned previously, a child will gain more knowledge faster if the educational process continues as home. My wife has tons of info relating to the benefits of the home role in education, some of it rather indirect. One we were discussing in a meeting at our church last night was the importance the evening family meal where all of the children sit down with the adults and engage in conversation while eating, without the pressure of getting to the volleyball or soccer matches. Of course there are many others. Nothing. It speaks to the need for family time management. The entire family (as defined by sister/brother, mom and dad, should NOT have to reorganize THEIR time to accomodate the child with homework. And that should not be all that hard to do. And if that organization includes missing soccer practice to do homework, well...that is what has to be done. "Family" should not be second-rated so a member can BOTH play soccer and keep up in school. Making appropriate compromises is the issue here. Oh DON'T get me started on that!!! Get the lawyers in the state house out of the business of designing education. FAST!!!
You guys are making some big assumptions that all parents are involved in the lives of their children after school. You sound like good parents, but I think there's a large percentage out there who can't claim the same thing.
And you would be correct. My wife is currently teaching a study group at our church that meets once a week of parents who want to learn how to help their children do better with their education. As a part of this, she has documented pretty closely some of the numbers of involved, and uninvolved, parents. In her findings, she estimated that only 10% of parents are involved with their child's education to the point the that they will actually sit down and review the lessons on a regular basis, ie. 3-5 times a week. About 50% of parents will ask their child "if they did their homework," and they consider that to have done their job. And of course, most kids when you ask this question, will say "yes," whether they have or not. The parents are usually "too busy" with other things, or just don't know how to proceed with any closer monitoring anyway so they just skate by. The really sad part is the abysmal level of non-involvement by parents in kids who are failing. For these parents, my wife sets up a daily study calendar. Each evening the parent (usually just A parent since this is overwhelmingly a category where there is only a single parent in the house) is asked to check to make sure the child has done their work and sign the study calendar, and then the teacher signs it the next day. It is rare that there is greater than a 5% participation by parents in this group. Sad. For those parents who complain that their kids have too much homework, or shouldn't have any, they need to understand that the classroom is the place where the lesson is taught. Homework is the reinforcement of that lesson. If there is no homework being done, the lesson is quickly lost on the student and the result is poor work. Now add in all the other lost classroom time with Staff Development Days, Teacher Collaborative Days, and "teaching to test" and you have a recipe for failure of students. But I digress in this last bit.
I liked everything in your post except this part. I'm not trying to argue that I expect a perfect world where there is plenty of time for everything, but if homework is such a committment in time that soccer practice, or choir practice, or chess club, or whatever have to be sacrificed--when the child has already spent 7-8 hours in school--then I think we need to ask ourselves if it isn't too much. Children are school for most of their childhood, for 13 years. They will never get that time of their life back. You only get one chance to live a balanced, active, well-rounded childhood. Doing well in school is an important part of that. So are other activities, not all of them structured or 'important', but those activities deserve time, as well.
Oh I'm not assuming that at all. If you're thinking that 'at least they have homework to keep them out of trouble,' though, I think you're wrong. Those kids, IMHO, aren't going to benefit from excessive homework, either--they are, however, probably more likely to fall further behind in school, or at least get worse grades.
Those are some sad statistics. I know I've taken a seemingly extreme position, so I should acknowledge that there are certainly legitimate justifications for homework. There are lessons that need to be worked on at home in order to really LEARN what has so far been demonstrated. And some projects--research, for example--must be done away from the classroom. I think it needs to be on a case-by-case basis, though. It seems that there is an assumption that homework, in and of itself, is a good thing, and the more the better. I don't blame teachers for this, btw. I know plenty of parents who EXPECT to see their kid lugging home two or three hours worth of work every night--this somehow indicates that they are really cracking down at school, or something. I don't buy it. Also, I'm not just speaking as a parent (who was raised by teachers btw, and who remembers doing MUCH LESS homework as a child than kids today), but also as public librarian in Prince George's County, where the schools aren't so great, especially compared the to the excellent school system where we live. Many of the kids who come in needing help just seem to be going through the motions on projects and assignments they really don't understand. I don't see the kids I'm talking about learning much, except to feel frustrated and sick of school. Again, if the homework isn't REALLY reinforcing the lessons learned in school, what's the point?
As a high-school student I can honestly say that the amount of homework a student has, at least in high school and to a degree middle school, is based as much on the student as the teacher. Other than big papers and projects or reading novels, I rarely do homework outside of school. Other students in my classes work for hours every night. It comes down to if a student studies for tests a lot (or not at all), does "optional' assignments, and uses their time efficiently. If a person is willing to sacrifice "social time" at school, there is at least an hour a day when they can work between lunch hours and class time when the teacher isn't teaching. Also, lots of kids spend hours "doing" homework because they are chatting on instant messanger, or talking on the phone, or various other things at the same time.
Is there danger in apathy? What is entitlement? If kids don't develop productive patterns early; will they produce them at all? Can the delusion of non-responsibility for actions be facilitated toward more valuable behavioral patterns?.. no matter what age? I don't think children can facilitate adults; so can adults/parents/teachers become better facilitators? The United States' greatest failure is not presenting strong science and math programs. If kids are engaged in these programs - yes, actually exercising productive patterns that prove valuable results (if science doesn't produce this; what does it produce?.. what do we produce?) that can provide value throughout their lives... It doesn't matter where 'work' is done; as long as it's done.