A parent wrote me today to express her frustration not only with homework but with the response she hears from teachers when she complains about homework. Even those teachers who are sufficiently knowledgeable and brave to admit that research fails to show any meaningful benefit from making kids do homework -- particularly in elementary school -- tend to insist that pressure to cover an absurd number of topics prescribed by the state standards means they just can't get through it all during the day. Hence the apparent need for homework.
Here are four responses to this claim:
1. Lengthy lists of specific standards and benchmarks for each grade level and in each subject can be just as damaging to learning as the tests used to enforce them. Yet many teachers -- even at the high school level, and certainly below it -- find a way to teach the required material without pushing the burden onto families and making kids work a second shift at home.
2. The best teachers go a step further: Rather than focusing on how to cover a "bunch o' facts" more efficiently, they see their job as helping students to discover ideas. These are the teachers who really succeed at helping kids to become critical thinkers and excited learners. And, as a rule, these teachers are even less likely to assign homework.
3. Just because the practice of assigning homework seduces some teachers with its promise to make-up the gaps in what they're able to get through during the day, that doesn't mean students will actually learn what they're made to do at home on their own. Even supporters of homework generally justify it as a way to have kids practice skills they were taught during the day, not as a way for them to teach themselves new material!
4. In any case, the disadvantages of homework -- frustration, exhaustion, family battles, loss of time for kids to pursue other interests, diminution of interest in learning -- far outweigh any theoretical gain in curriculum coverage.
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Don’t we want to teach the concept of opportunity cost? With all that time invested, shouldn’t our children be experts in something other than getting into college? http://learnmeproject.com/2010/11/19/the-thrill-is-gone/
She is a better thinker and problem solver than most of the people who vote in this country, and learns what she wants and needs to as she moves into adulthood. Not everyone is as diligent as she, but that personal trait was encouraged so much that she was unable to know when to stop. On the occasions she did draw a line, she received criticism and bad grades.
I had many complaints about school when I was a student. As a mother I hated school many times more.
I believe it would be better for schools to focus on true mastery, application, and understanding of a small number of topics.
Better that children enter adulthood be proficient at a few things than incompetent at many.
They looked at me so dumbly I could hardly bear it.
That's sarcasm.
Homework must be just as targeted, purposeful, and meaningful as anything else I do in my classroom. Whether in my classroom or or out of my school, no one has a right to waste a moment in any child's life. That's why we work hard at school and have meaningful practice after school.
Homework has a place, even for elementary students. For most of the learners, it's the first time that anyone has asked them to take any responsibility for their learning, and the basic skill of managing time is important. But it's important that teachers imagine themselves in their students' place, and that they are realistic about what they expect their learners to accomplish on their own.
Homework isn't just homework. A teacher has to look at the grade level or grouping, the needs of the student, and the purpose of the homework. To imply that homework assignments are simply a reflection of meeting state standards at home, because a teacher ran out of time in the class room, is absurd.
I don't know about elementary school, but the high school students I teach--who live in South Central Los Angeles--read six to eight novels in a school year in my class and write one to two academic essays per week. No parent has ever complained to me -- not in almost twenty years -- because those parents who are around and involved in their children's education appreciate the extra work I do to get students to do the extra work so that they can not only be ready for college but be AS READY as those middle class and affluent students whose parents because of their own level of education can supplement their eduction just by having a conversation with them (only a few of my students have parents who can do that). My former students regularly write to me and some of my colleagues to thank us for making them work so hard. So perhaps your thesis is a sound one for privileged children but I would not extend it to the inner city -- I think you ought to qualify that.
I have come to realize that its my responsibility to create intrinsically motivated learners. What this means for me, is helping my students love reading &/or writing so much that they WANT to do it for fun at home. The same is true for any activities I plan in the classroom, encouraging the children to 'try this at home'. What I have found is that my students enjoy coming to school and are excited about their day as well as voluntarily doing more at home. Now that's a reward!
School is apparently unrewarding for many.
Alfie Kohn is a personal hero of mine and I hope we see more from this brilliant insightful voice on education and less of people like PBS man and other enemies of good teaching. Let's beat back the voices of "longer, stronger and meaner" education reform with a voice of reason and humanity.
When I taught Kindergarten to mostly English Language Learners, homework was done EVERY night. Students would practice and reinforce what they had learned in school that day. By the end of the year, every child was able to write and read and do some math, albeit at different levels.
Students and parents saw first-hand how their hard work paid off. We learned to work hard and play hard throughout the year. By year's end, most of my students were reading and writing, at or above grade level. Some of them even eventually got into "gifted" classes.
We did some of the "boring" stuff AFTER school, so that we could practice speaking and listening and reading in English through "playing" (socializing), singing, and reading and writing together during school. Most of my students DID NOT go home at 3PM. Why? Their parents had to work, so they had to go to after-school programs, where high school students would help them with their homework.
I understand this would not work for everyone, but it did for my students.
Bashing ALL homework is simply not the answer. It's not ALWAYS meaningless...
I do understand that it might be challenging to an under-skilled teacher to get through required material. That's a training issue, and homework isn't going to fix it. We know homework is useless -- let's just drop it. Let parents enrich their children's lives in the evenings by playing board games, riding bikes, talking, teaching them to play musical instruments, cooking together, whatever. Let's see -- family bike ride or yet another worksheet? Hmmmmm....
I never really understood why school had to end at 2:30, when an extra 2-3 hours a day could be more beneficial. Sports, music and other extracurricular activities can still be included in a full day worth of classes.
Trust me, the new class materials to required are not enough to be covered in one hour.