Some schools ban homework

[The Straight Story]

How much homework is too much?
Amid debate, some districts limit assignments; a few are banning them
By ERICKA MELLON Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

After a summer of resting and water-skiing, 15-year-old Charlie Russell dreads the hours of homework that come with today's start of school.

"I'd rather spend my time outside," said Russell, a freshman at Memorial High School in Spring Branch. "I get enough learning at school."

Russell might catch a break this school year. The Spring Branch school board has ordered a committee to review the district's homework policy to make sure students are benefiting, rather than burning out, from the extra assignments.

In school districts across the country, educators and parents are debating the value of homework as schools face growing pressure to meet state and federal testing standards and to prepare students for college.

While most students still can expect a backpack full of spelling words to memorize, math problems to solve and maps to label, a few schools nationwide have gone as far as banning homework.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5963962.html

[MadHound]

1. Oh geez, more idiocy in action

I agree that too much homework can be piled on a student. However banning homework is equally bad if not worse. Some subjects, like math, require regular, daily practice both at school and home. Tell you what, cut out some of the after school activities that seem to monopolize a lot of kid's time.

[Goblinmonger]

49. tell you what

find a study that supports your point and get back to me. Alfie Kohn would like to take a look at that study when you find it, too.

[flstci]

63. The problem, in our area, of cutting out after school activities ....

is they cut out recess. These kids are not getting anytime to blow off any steam and if you cut out the after school 'fun' stuff you would take away all leisure activity.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. much of the work at home is to practice what is done during the day

however, I think it is more useful to send out unit assignments where the student can work over a couple of weeks. The teacher should give pointers to web pages, online practcie quizzes, text book quizzes and other reading materials - mainly to practice. Also projects that are creative, building on some design, writing novels or community project. The student needs to master this at home himself/herself in his/her own time with the help of parents. At the end of this assignment there should be a test or seminar where the students can deliver their new found knowledge in groups of individually infront of the class.

A lot of time is wasted in standardized assessments to get funding.

[Rashal215]

54. i know first hand...

that that idea would not work. if students (teenagers even more so)were given the chance to do that then they would put it off to hang out with friends or to have fun until the last possible moments when they have no choice to do it, and basically rush through it, which means that they wouldn't be really learning anything that they are supposed to.

[Voice for Peace]

71. yeah, those teenagers... always want to have fun. that's why they need to be locked up in

minimum security prison like public schools for more days and more hours. gotta make them good submissive citizens.

[seabeyond]

3. my youngest elementary school had homework EVERY night for three years

my oldest in middle school would have homework but often he got it done in school. it is easy for him and smart enough to get it done. only periodically he would bring homework home to do

i could appreciate my youngest son. allowed me to sit with him every night and see what and how he was doing. and we did it. and i was harsh on what his job was. BUT between me and this board, it was too much.

i like to see the kids bring work home. it allows me to see what is happening, if they struggle, where they need help and enforce putting a real effort into their work

i am for middle of the road on this

[LostInAnomie]

4. Sure, why would we want kids to ever have to do anything they don't want to do.

We should enable them to sit on their ass at all times and never have to think about or apply the knowledge that they have gained in school that day.

I hated homework when I was a kid too, but I still realized that it was important. It helps students recall the lessons they learned that day, and it actually forces parents to take some minor role in their child's education.

I can understand getting rid of bullshit busy work like leaf collections and bug collections, but why get rid of the other stuff?

[TexasObserver]

8. The High School in the story has the highest SAT scores in Houston.

It's also the school my kids graduated from. The students are superb. But homework is not the key to their learning.

You wrongly believe that large amounts of homework produce learning.

[Sanctified]

13. How does the school rate against other countries like China and India.

The countries those children will be competing with in the future. Being the best in Houston is great if you only want to compete for burger jobs in Houston.

[TexasObserver]

23. whatever

I don't waste time with posters like you.

[Goblinmonger]

50. How do US students compare on

and apples to apples comparison with China and India. The only students taking the SAT in China are those that have been approved to go to college and have the necessary intelligence. Any fucking idiot in the US with the money to take the ACT/SAT can take it. I believe if you control for that, China and India are not really significantly better than we are.

[orleans]

21. friend of mine had a kid going to private school getting FOUR HOURS

of homework

that's just fucking crazy.

[seabeyond]

27. my sons went to a private. i kept griping cause my son never had homework.

another mom was griping cause every night they spent so long on his homework. same school. i later realized her kid struggles in school and cant get it done in the day. my son, on the other hand, finds school exceedingly easy and not only got his work done in a timely manner had time enough to do homework in school and not have to bing home

i would question any school that gave four hours worth of homework regularly. that puts a kid at immediately getting home, to work and not done until around 8 adding dinner and other stuff. kids would have longer day than those in workforce. makes no sense.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Most homework for elementary students should be abolished.

It's the worst sort of "make work" there is in education. Older kids should have homework at levels appropriate for the grade.

[SidDithers]

46. Good post...

this how I feel too. I've got kids in grade 3 & 5, who should be playing and being kids after school. Homework should be introduced gradually, starting in middle school, with more being assigned as students progress through high school.

Sid

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. JEEEZUUZZ AGE! then wonder why we cannot compete in a world

economy and Johnny can't read, spell or think!

[Goblinmonger]

51. Do you have something to show

that your theory of a correlation between homework and learning is anything other than just pulling stuff out of your ass?

[TexasObserver]

7. Many schools have far too much homework.

There need to be limits. No kid should have over 45 minutes of homework a night, and it's often several times that.

Kids graduate high school knowing less and less. Kids knew more and retained more when they covered less material and went to school fewer hours. Cover less material and repeat it more. That's the key to kids retaining some of what they learn.

Is there anyone reading this who thinks students know world geography better today, with the internet available, than 30 years ago, when only maps were used?

[immoderate]

9. My fifth grade teacher...

Would keep us working all day. Everything we did would pass by her eye for grading. If you got it right the first time, up to her standard, You didn't have to do corrections. One set of corrections had to be done immediately in class. Another would be done in the homework book -- at home. If you were careful and alert -- no homework. What's wrong with being taught to be careful and alert? :shrug:

--IMM

[TexasObserver]

12. I believe class time should include work that would otherwise be homework.

Experts recommend limiting homework to ten minutes per grade level.

first = ten minutes a night

sixth = one hour a night

12th = two hours a night

I favor limiting it to ten minute per class, maybe 15, for high schoolers.

[Goblinmonger]

52. Actually read the Marzano piece

where he recommends that and you will find that he completely pulls that number out of his ass. There is no support for that number; it just seemed right to him. And now it has become "experts recommend." Yikes. There is no study to support daily homework.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. My, my, my school day started at 0630 and ended at 17:00

when I was going to HS.

I got three hours of Home work on average too

I survived.

American kids are not inferior to kids from other countries either

[TexasObserver]

24. big deal and totally irrelevant

I didn't have three hours of homework a night in high school, but I do have a bachelors, a masters and a doctorate, all with high honors, in a competitive field from a top ten university.

Do tell me more about your high school education.

[nadinbrzezinski]

72. Lets put it this way, the US has pulled out of INTERNATIONAL

competitions in MATH AND SCIENCE at the elementary and secondary school levels, and is increasingly being left behind in some fields involving oh engineering for example... tell me why?

Oh and I do hold an MA so what?

POINT IS, our kids are not competitive when they graduate from HS, nor are they READY for college

I TAUGHT many of those kids.

Next

[seabeyond]

28. my husband says, when i was a kid.... i am noticing this a lot with him. three decades ago,

when i was a kid i rarely had homework. about the only homework i had was studying for tests. i think we believe/remember different from reality.

i hardly had homework and much could be done on school bus to school, or hurriedly before class.

[nadinbrzezinski]

74. I did... that is a fact

I survived...

Oh and there is more... I also speak and read two languages and can understand a third and a fourth... didn't hurt me one bit

[yellowdogintexas]

42. it is one thing to have 3 hours of homework in high school and quite another for

a third fourth or fifth grader. Attention spans are different at those ages, and they frustrate very easily...

I remember a lot of my elem homework as being maps for geography, project stuff, math worksheets time consuming things that couldn't be done in classroom and I went to elem school in the 1950's...the only time I was swamped in any way with homework was my own damn fault, I would say it was pretty balanced in volume.

High school was more intense, did a LOT of homework in biology, english and reading for my history stuff. My mom and I did a lot of drilling on biology vocabulary around the kitchen table !

(Hey Nadine, I left home at 5:45 am and got home at 7:30 or 8 pm. I was actually on the bus/inschool/on the bus from 7 am until 4 pm though. :hi: :hi: )

Lived in a different district from my actual school and had to ride in w/my dad to work and back home with him, but I tried to get most of my homework done before we went home ..I could hang at my grandmother's, great grandmother's, friends houses or the little country store my grandfather and father ran ....my aunt was the bookeeper and I could do homework there too. I was nearly always done before we left to go home.

[nadinbrzezinski]

75. Ah you also grew up in another decade

My mom attended the AMERICAN school in Mexico City... way back in the day.

She also had quite a bit of homework...

And yes I used some of her Shaums books when I was growing up to get extra drills

The problem is that we are increasingly cuddling our kids. Hell, we're keeping them trapped in childhood as long as possible and we are not doing them any favors

[yellowdogintexas]

78. it seems to be either one extreme or the other, depending on which parents

I speak with...and which grade level.

bear in mind I am in a test happy state so they teach that damn test all the time

but some parents that I know report so much homework every night from every teacher that the kids can't even carry the books home in one bag. It is as if none of the teachers knew what any of the others were doing. Way back when, we had one teacher and she assigned everything so she knew that she wasn't going to give 30 math problems, 3 chapters of history, an essay, a map to draw and a science quiz all on the same night.

some of our schools ran alternate schedules, in blocks...so you meet your block 1 classes MWF one week and T TH the other week, and Block 2 classes on the opposite days. My daughter had 2 complete backpacks, different colors for her block days. They did most of their homework in the scheduled study hall or homeroom time each day.

I graduated High School in 1966

[Fireweed247]

56. Exactly- Children should be better educated with the internet available...

but sadly we are going the other direction. School has become a 9 to 5 mindless work training ground. All one has to do is look at the test given today as opposed to 100 years ago. We have been on the path to Idiocracy for quite some time and all this homework is not helping.

Has anyone taken a look at what is sent home for homework these days? 5 worksheets of word searches and stupid crap is helping how? After getting home at 3 or 4, When exactly do children get to live their lives? They are being trained to accept control and not expect freedom. How will they even know who they are when they graduate? They will be totally trained, and lost to their own individuality...and therefore join the army more readily...works out smashingly...

[TexasObserver]

80. Agreed. They have a lot more stuff shoved at them, but they don't learn.

You want students to learn American history? Teach it to them every year, and advance it over the previous year where appropriate.

You want students to be able to balance their checkbooks and do other simple math problems? Teach them simple math until they can do it in their sleep.

The amount of homework some teachers give out is too much homework for all 6 classes in a day, muchless one class a day. If a teacher cannot teach her students in the time allotted for school, she needs to thin her material and teach less, not more.

[Dukkha]

81. excessive homework is a sign of incompetent teachers

They're not doing their job in the classroom so they dump it all on the kids to take home instead, dumping it on the parents to teach the lessons. If they works with the kids in school as needed they wouldn't have to redo their lessons at home again.

[Sanctified]

10. Because a real education where kids learn to think can be dangerous.

Schools that ban homework will probably produce excellent little worker cogs for their Corporate rulers. I am sorry but it's ridiculous ideas like this that only reinforce my decision to homeschool.

[seabeyond]

15. my kids kick ass intellectually, flexible thinking and academically and they use PUBLIC

school

want to do home school. go for it and i wont argue your parental decision. but to have this attitude with public is bullshit. doesn't matter if the kid is in public, private or home schooled, if the parents are not actively participating in the kids life they will probably fuck up. if their parents are there, being parents, they will be successful.

i have had kids in private and public. i love the public system

brother so "afraid" of the public school and for two years have home schooled. he has totally fucked up his daughters education. school has started. cant do home school anymore and needs to find a school that will take her

[Sanctified]

18. Nothing bullshit about it.

Schools who ban homework are setting children up for failure, homework should not be viewed as busy work but as an opportunity for parents to take part in the education of their children. How can a parent know what their child is learning in the classroom if they can not see for themselves at home? How can a parent help their child with a lesson the child maybe struggling with if they have no material to work from? I do not homeschool because I feel public schools are failures, (it's the parents who do not participate in their children's education that are failures) I homeschool because my children are gifted and they need someone who can dedicate 100% to them so they can exceed in life.

[readmoreoften]

11. My vote: let school run from 8-5 with 2 hour study hall/enrichment, no homework.

Parents and kids go to work and get home together.

[LostinVA]

29. And, the kids doing sports won't get home until 9 every night, and theatre kids even later

[readmoreoften]

84. That's true. When I was in theatre, I didn't get home until 11pm most nights.

Sometimes I didn't get home until 2am. Sometimes they made us sleep over on mats in the gym. I'm not shitting. Our theatre program was hardcore.

[Hugabear]

14. So what happens when they get to college?

If high school kids think they have it bad now, they're in for a rude awakening once they get to college. I coasted my way through high school, graduated 7th in my class. Yet high school didn't teach me the proper study habits I would need in college, and I wound up falling flat on my face for the first few years.

[XemaSab]

26. That's the curse of being a smart kid in an unchallenging school

I *never* studied in high school, and I got my ass kicked BAD in college. It took me years to learn how to study subjects like physics, chemistry, and so forth.

[JerseygirlCT]

37. Well, I'd say that a great deal of busywork doesn't really teach

you those skills, either.

I think studying time should be built in for older kids at home. But too much homework - that is, assigned papers to complete, and other busy work stuff - can backfire.

I'd like to see HS kids asked to write a great deal more. Learn more about how to really write a research paper. And how to study. On their own. With the book.

Though tbh, I didn't feel any great shock in college. But being an English major, my work was reading and writing - not things that really feel or felt like chores to me.

[seabeyond]

40. my gripe was not enough writing and taught to do a research paper

when i took a college english course they broke it down and taught us. that made writing papers so easy and i didnt have to struggle on how to do, i could focus on the content. private school did not give this to the kids. i took oldest out in 4th grade and immediately saw the public school addressed this at such a young age. and have continued thru out the years. son is in 8th grade and knows how to do a research paper. it is going to make college so much easier for him

[JerseygirlCT]

44. I learned how to do that in private (Catholic) school

My husband did not learn to write in his otherwise good public school. It really varies. Fortunately, one of our professors in college really cracked the whip and basically taught him to write. He taught me to do it better, lol.

But too often, it seems a skill that's lacking now. Form trumps substance for too many.

[Goblinmonger]

57. Are you a little scrared

that we are on the same side on this? Seems weird.

[JerseygirlCT]

59. LOL, no

Should I be?

[Goblinmonger]

55. So what happens to the kids that don't go to college?

High school is high school. It is not here to be a training ground for college. There are no studies which show a benefit to daily homework. Why should teachers do something for which there is no evidence of a positive outcome?

[JerseygirlCT]

60. Well, I think we should be educating our kids so that they're

equipped for college, whether they choose that route or not. If they decide to become an electrician, for example, I want them to be the best-educated electrician possible. There's not a downside to it, IMO.

I think that kids tend to live up or down to our expectations. And that too often, we lower them - not because they're too high, but because we're not willing to do what it takes to help them succeed. HS shouldn't be a kid warehouse, where we stick them until we can be done with them.

Busy work homework doesn't achieve that, of course. Dedicated educators, and as important, dedicated parents, are key.

[LeftyMom]

16. I don't have a problem with homework when:

1. The in-class time was used efficiently

2. The work sent home is quality work, and not worksheets, 30 variations on the same math problem they already did 20 of in class, etc. Stuff like "read this for discussion tomorrow" or "bring in five articles on your research paper topic" is both fine and good preparation for college.

3. There's still time left for the kid to have a childhood.

But in the early grades homework should be the exception, not the rule, and in upper grades it really shouldn't take very long- I knew a lot of kids in high school who would routinely be up all hours doing homework, which is rare for me in college. It really can be quite excessive.

[JerseygirlCT]

38. Yup. nt

[LibDemAlways]

17. I have no problem with homework that reinforces what

is taught at school and that the kids are able to do on their own. However, my now 15-year-old 10th grader has been subjected to years of art projects tied into every subject, and I have ended up having to get involved with most of them. Examples: (5th grade) Read a work of historical fiction and create a scrapbook that might have been put together by the main character. Create an authentic look by tea-staining and burning the edges of each page. (6th grade) Design and build a scale model of a house. Turn in blueprints along with the finished house which must reflect a specific architectural style. (9th grade) Rewrite an act of Romeo and Juliet and videotape yourself acting it out with at least two other classmates. Grading based on quality of props, scenery, and editing. (This was for English class).

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I'm so sick of this bullshit I could scream. School starts tomorrow and I'm dreading it.

[JerseygirlCT]

35. Oh yes. PLEASE not crafts projects that require more work from

me in order to supervise. They're oh so clever, and don't end up teaching much.

They have to be age-appropriate, and homework should be something the child is ready to accomplish on his/her own. Parents should be there to make sure it's getting done, but otherwise butt out.

If the teachers love to do these crafty things, then do them at school.

Maybe it's me, but I never needed a craft project to make a good piece of literature interesting. Make reading lists good again and encourage kids to read for its own sake, and I think we'd do better.

[LibDemAlways]

41. I just barely scratched the tip of the iceberg

in describing those projects. There have been dozens. They've cost a small fortune, taken up countless hours, and involved me almost every time. I went to school. While I'm willing and ready to help my daughter in any appropriate way, I'm not interested in revisiting K-12, but I have out of necessity. Teachers have gone nuts, and I'm not being overly critical. I still substitute teach here in the district and am appalled by the new and different ways these teachers find to waste kids' precious down time at home.

[JerseygirlCT]

43. Oh yes. I remember saying

(ok, whining) to my youngest "I don't want to do 2nd grade again. I did that already!"

To be fair, most of his teachers have been terrific. The older one's - not always so much. I hate how often they read bits of books, instead of being assigned the books (the difference between what I was supposed to read in HS and what he is amazes me). Or instead of reading, they watch videos. Sorry, that's not a substitute. That's babysitting, not teaching.

[LibDemAlways]

47. In my district, it isn't enough to read and discuss a book. Each

book requires an accompanying art project - or two - or three. Last year my daughter read To Kill a Mockingbird. By the time the teacher was done with it, she required the kids to 1) create an "accurate" poster-sized map of Maycomb (setting of the novel) based on clues in the book - drawing and labeling 15 different specific places mentioned 2) create a turnable wheel with 6 different colors - each representing one aspect of the novel - plot, characters, setting, themes, etc. - with detailed explanations of each and appropriate hand drawn illustrations 3) create a poster based on the life of the author, Harper Lee. Include a biography, photos, and illustrated quotes from the book. Oh, and the kids also had to write a 5 page paper on some aspect of the novel. It was just ridiculous. For God's sake, give a list of 5 projects and let them pick one. This overkill is stupid. That teacher managed to take a great novel and make my daughter hate it.

Kids should be reading entire books, not just bits and pieces. And, videos are fine if used occasionally - but certainly not in place of the teacher's lessons.

When my daughter gets to college she's going to be amazed to discover that there is a serious world of learning out there that doesn't include crafts and require a lot of artistic talent. I know she'll be relieved. I just hope she'll be prepared.

[Goblinmonger]

67. When I teach Mockingbird

I have them do the map. It's a good assignment that teaches them to be active readers. Of course I give them a template on a regular sized sheet of paper and we discuss the clues when we discuss the chapters they occur in.

[LibDemAlways]

69. My daughter's teacher insisted on a poster with hand drawn

pictures of what the students imagined the various places looked like. And there was no in-class discussion of the "clues." They were just told to look for them as they read.

In theory it's not a bad assignment. It's just that my daughter's school district is so all consumed with turning everything into an art project, that they lose sight of content and meaning. It really is ridiculous.

[Goblinmonger]

70. I think the art project

aspect is stupid, too. I had a younger brother of a former student in my class for that assignment and he was getting ready to make the map all "pretty." His brother said "Give me a break. He doesn't care about that; he just wants to know that you know the information."

[LibDemAlways]

76. You sound like an excellent teacher and one whose

ideas would greatly benefit my daughter's district. When I expressed my displeasure with all the art projects to her 8th grade social studies teacher, the woman dismissed me with, "Students enjoy art and it enhances learning." I might as well have been talking to a brick wall - and this is the mindset district wide. It's very frustrating.

[davsand]

68. Art Projects that test MY ability-not my kid's!

This is one of my really big peeves with teachers! Pisses me off to no end when my kid comes home and tells me she has a "project" due in a week or so and it requires I become a structural engineer, a theatrical director, or an interior designer. We've built Tee-pees, log houses, houses, and theatrical sets. We've done costume design and created books about different stories--and this is for a kid who just went into 6th grade! I call BULLSHIT on the entire mess because unless I got involved my kid's project did not look like the rest and her grades suffered.

As for the homework thing,I really think a lot of this stuff they are sending home is mindless repetition of concepts presented in the classroom. How MANY times do they need to do the same type of math problem or write the same spelling word in order to "get" it? My kid worked for three hours the other night on homework and it was only the first week of school.

We have an epidemic of childhood obesity in this nation and I honestly think a part of that can be attributed to the excess homework and reduction of PE/recess.



Laura

[LibDemAlways]

73. You've got that right about the projects becoming homework for

the parents, and kids whose parents refuse to get involved suffering because of it. My daughter had a huge science fair project in 7th grade. The instructions were about 10 pages long. The kids received no other guidance, from help in choosing a topic to performing any experiments, to writing up the results and creating what the teacher called a "board" to showcase the work.

My daughter just threw up her hands. The whole thing was completely beyond her. So, together we got it done. If I had insisted she go it alone, she would have received an "F" as did her best friend whose mom refused to get involved. As it was, I mostly supervised and helped with putting it all together in the end. She got a "B."

You should have seen some of the results, though. Professional quality work done by engineer and scientist parents. It was impressive, but completely bogus because it was so totally evident that the kids had little, if anything, to do with the final result. The teachers praised those parent jobs to high heaven.

That's a basic problem with take-home school projects. The grades often have nothing to do with the ability or effort of the student. Instead they reflect the talent and creativity of the parent. And that sucks.

[davsand]

77. The CRAFT store becomes you and your kids' best pal.

I have to admit it--I have purchased materials for these projects. Stuff like miniature baskets for props, or miniature fruit, or even small furniture. Hell, I even took apart one of the cat's toys for the fur on it so we could put bed furs in a wigwam project...

:puke:

I will help her do research online for projects--no problem--I supervise her online time anyhow. I will be happy to help her do searches for materials because I do think learning to research is important for anyone in the academic world and I have learned a few tricks over the years that I do not mind sharing with my kid--ya know?


I just fail to see how any project that the kid cannot mechanically do on their own can be any benefit to the child. Makes NO sense.



Laura

[RamboLiberal]

20. Personally I think homework turns a lot of kids off school

Especially the rote work. But then I was a kid who hated homework, did the least possible and still managed to skate through school with decent grades.

I think its too much like work. Do you like bringing your work home with you?

Get it done during the school day.

Now I'm not saying they should be sitting playing video games from the time they get home till bed time.

I'd like to see them have the time to do some physical activity they and/or the family enjoys. Have a nice dinner with the family. Explore on the net or through a book, even a comic book what they enjoy reading and learning. Perhaps that could be part of the school assignment. I swear I learned to read just as well from the book or the comic book and flashlight under the covers as from any boring school reader.

Make math, algebra, geometry, etc relate to the real world and real world problems. Make history and geography come alive and not be static memorization of dates, boring facts, etc. Again I'd have rather watched historical films than read the boring text in a sanitized history book.

Think about it. By the time the kid gets home it's probably 4 or 5 PM. That's only 2-4 hours of free time before bed time for younger kids and maybe 4-7 for older kids. And they have to squeeze in 1-3 hours of homework?

Personally between homework and after-school activities I think we have too many over-scheduled kids and parents. My hope is the economic down times might get some families to give up some of their gas-guzzling live in the minivan ways.

I used to help teach karate to kids and I can tell you most of the kids didn't even want to be there. It seemed to be more their parents ideas of an "In" activity they needed to do.

That's the other thing I think is lacking for a lot of kids. Unstructured play time that helps foster independence, learning to make and keep rules with peers, and creativity.

Oh and here's the litle baby that got me an A in Stat II.

[entanglement]

85. I disagree with the "real world math" idea - students must understand abstraction at some stage

to (really) do math - it is a central theme of math and many mathematical disciplines. While real world examples are helpful, excessive reliance on them renders students unable to face the rigors of higher scientific or mathematical studies. I've seen freshmen and sophomores in technical disciplines (and I'm talking about a large and prestigious institution of higher learning here) struggle with elementary ideas like sets, functions, derivatives and integrals. No wonder so many kids switch majors after a semester or two (of course, these math courses become notorious as "weed-out classes" and the instructor(s) are demonized, but that's another story :P)

[orleans]

22. new picture? very nice. n/t

[The Straight Story]

30. Wife doesn't like it all that much

From the webcam while she was in CA and I was here in Ohio. I thought it was cute, almost like Gillian Anderson from X files.

[FedUpWithIt All]

25. Two of my daughters had a teacher that would not assign more than 15 min of homework a day.

My children learned so much from her.

That year my oldest won the 4th grade spelling bee, won the district level art contest for her grade, won the 4th grade science/invention fair, was published in a small poetry book with honors and was a member of an improvisational after school program run by the same teacher.

Family time can suffer greatly from excessive homework. And i can think of few things more important or more lacking in the lives of kids today than family time. There is barely time to do anything as a family once the kids have done their homework most days, let alone anything creative or frivolous (which is necessary for a child and family's emotional health sometimes). Gods forbid we make plans or have to run to the store one evening. Up early to do homework at the crack of dawn.

I say we let kids have their school time and their "off" time. I think people would be surprised to find that kids might make good use of the free time.

[JerseygirlCT]

36. Completely agree!

Especially younger kids - they need that family time, and they need time to go outside and make up silly games with their friends. They need that time to learn socialization and to stretch their imaginations.

Not to mention the time to exercise!

[Blue_Tires]

31. it is now definitively proven i grew up in the wrong era

[aikoaiko]

32. Homework in moderation or as needed for the individual.

Banning homework is moronic.

[BlooInBloo]

33. A system run by education majors makes everybody stupider.

[Goblinmonger]

58. Yes, for goodness sake, let's have the education system

be run by MBAs. THAT will be much better.

How about it be run by those of us that actually look at the students for 8 hours a day?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

79. And science class taught by evangelical preachers.

Just like Jesus wanted.

[JerseygirlCT]

34. There's value in looking at this

I've had a few years where the work done at home far exceeded what was actually taught in the classroom - they'd sit and watch videos in school, and then the teacher would depend on parents to do the actual teaching at home. Too much time, and lots of frustration for student and parent alike.

I don't want my kids spending untold hours each day at the kitchen table. They need time - especially the younger ones - to learn by playing, running around, dealing with being bored. I want kids who come to learning excited and curious - and don't view it as drudgery.

And homework for homework's sake is not good teaching. A bit is good to underline the work done in school. But too much is a bad, bad thing in the long view.

[tannybogus]

39. I taught school, and I gave homework. However,

I tried to give an reasonable amount. I kept in mind that I was not teaching the only class they took.
Sometimes the assignments from a book were on target. Other times I made up my own "worksheet."
I wanted something that was on point, covered what was necessary, and not 5 miles long. They needed
to think not regurgitate. It was too easy to assign a brazillion pages and canned questions from the
book.Some teachers went wild. Quantity was king. I know I didn't always succeed, but I tried.
Homework should not be banned, but it needs to be looked at.B-)

[DS1]

45. I was 2 decades ahead of them when I banned it myself

[ensho]

48. I have always been against homework and told my kids teachers so

if they can't teach a child what it needs to know to stay alive in this world via full school days, then something is wrong.

children need the freedom of after school hours to unwind and think their own thoughts and do their own interests.


(few of us bring home work from our Work.)

[Lisa0825]

53. I saw a really interesting review of a no homework school years ago...

Their position was that some kids have the advantage of home computers with internet, parents who are involved with their education, a tranquil home life, etc, and many kids do not. So the theory was that if the schools have all these resources (computers, internet, library, some semblance of order, etc), why not just give a reasonable amount of work that can be completed during the school day, so all students will have a level playing field?

[LibertyLover]

61. I don't agree with banning homework, but I wish it were more intelligently assigned

My daughter just started 1st grade. When she was in kindergarten last year she was bringing home worksheets almost every night, including the weekends, as homework. My husband, who is a househusband and home when she gets in from school, refused to do the homework with her, so it meant that I would get home sometime between 6 and 7 pm, depending on traffic, etc., eat dinner, quickly do her homework with her, bath her and put her to bed by 8 pm. In 1st grade they get about 20 to 30 minutes of homework a night. I am not looking forward to it. We have been told by the school that by the time they hit 5th grade we can expect and hour and a half to two hours per night of homework, not to mention mandatory activities like the science fair starting in 2nd grade.

[flstci]

62. Kids spend too much time devoted to school....

My kids leave my house about 6:00 am to start their day and about 3 days a week they don't get home until 8:30 pm. They still have homework to do when they get home as well as the light chores required, eating supper, bathing and getting ready for the next day.

I think sometimes it is forgotten in this day and age that some people don't just live around the corner from school. My kids spend a little over 2 hours on the bus each day.

A little more play time can't be a bad thing.

[Bill McBlueState]

64. Snarky subject line

Opinion based on my fading memory of how things went when *I* was in school. Melodramatic attack on today's teachers and/or parents. Utter lack of evidence to support my claim.

(I'll come back when I get a chance and fill in the specifics; just wanted to get on the bandwagon.)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

65. Personally, up until recently, I suffered through my sons being overwhelmed with homework. My

older son managed it but my youngest was forever not doing his. When he would do it, he often failed to give it to his teacher. Not emailing it (when the work was on his computer) or when handwritten, often found stuffed in his lockers. I would ask him every day if he had any and would also receive the assignments from his teachers but it just never gelled. There were always holes in communication.

This is also a kid who usually didn't get below 85 on a test and in fact often aced them. Unfortunately school policies were such that even though he was indeed learning, soaking up his lessons like a sponge, his grades never reflected it. There were mandatory deductions for not doing homework.

I took him to his college this weekend, freshman year and he is on his own without a net. Toes and fingers crossed here that he'll do well.... (I am suffering from separation anxiety..not him of course)

[SmokingJacket]

66. We're so All or Nothing in this country.

There's nothing wrong with a little bit of homework:

-- Teaches responsibility: kids have to remember to bring books home, remember to get the work out, to make time for the work, and to bring it to school. This doesn't come naturally to most kids.

-- Reinforces work done in school. It helps to go over material on your own time in a different environment.

But more than an hour a day is too much before high school. My niece gets literally hours of homework in middle school. And as far as I can tell, there's hardly any new material in middle school at all, anyway.

Kids also need time to exercise and be alone with their imaginations.

[Odin2005]

82. Most daily homework is crap.

IMO most of an older student's homework should consist of research projects and other long-term stuff, not endless BS busy-work. And I agree with the other posters that the "art project" stuff is BS.

[hellbound-liberal]

83. For those who say there is NO study supporting a link between homework and student achievement

I would like to offer the following conclusions from a study done through Duke University. I think it speaks for itself.

"Duke University researchers have reviewed more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 and concluded that homework does have a positive effect on student achievement.

Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology and director of Duke’s Program in Education, said the research synthesis that he led showed the positive correlation was much stronger for secondary students -– those in grades 7 through 12 -– than those in elementary school.

With only rare exception, the relationship between the amount of homework students do and their achievement outcomes was found to be positive and statistically significant," the researchers report in a paper that appears in the spring 2006 edition of "Review of Educational Research."

http://dukenews.duke.edu/2006/03/homework.html

[candystrap]

86. This is a field day

I bet the students are having a field day.