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One of the things I hated most about growing up was homework. I did everything I could to avoid doing it, even at the expense of lower grades and getting "yelled at." My reasoning was that school was school, and home was for rest and relaxation. I never saw my parents do any "homework" related to their jobs - work was work, and home was for doing whatever you wanted. Made perfect sense to me.
And to think I had it hard doing 30-45 minutes a night during my high school years - these days, kids are expected to work hours each night after school - and this is after bloated 7-hour plus school days. Good grief, Charlie Brown. And they're assigning homework in kindergarten. If this is not child cruelty, I don't know what is.
School was bad enough - being bored to tears learning stuff that had no bearing on real life, having to deal with yelly teachers and dress codes that made zero sense (no shorts in non-AC buildings - at least that's not an issue in this era...lol.) But having do schoolwork on *my own time* was insult to injury. I could handle school on my own terms - but I truly resented having do perform extra work on top of the school day, when there were so many other things I could be doing, like playing outside or spending time with my family. If they had Internet back then, goodness knows how distraught I'd been having to divert my free time toward homework.
In all seriousness, however, why is homework even necessary? Is the school day not long enough to practice what a student is learning? Maybe they could make the day longer, or better yet, have fewer subjects, and more time within each subject to learn it. And don't get me started about sleep - I just cannot believe that kids today are having to stay up to midnight to complete their onerous assignments. I went to bed at 9 pm sharp each night, because I needed my 9 hours of sleep - any less than that, I was utterly useless the next day. I just don't see how kids of today are able to pull this off. I know I wouldn't.
I'm absolutely NOT a fan of it in lower grades. I explained this to my kids' teachers. It's often rote and tedious and does little for knowledge retention. Studies performed within the last several years do not show that it's effective in grade school, and not all that effective in middle school. It's more effective in high school when students need to develop better study habits in preparation for college.
I "get" having math as homework once you hit pre-algebra/algebra 1 as a way to practice problems, which come down to repetition. There are districts that are doing away with homework in primary school and some scale back. I have friends that are educators that never assign homework. Their thinking is, they should focus on learning and working on necessary skills in the classroom, rather than assigning tedious homework just for the sake of it.
My older two kids are homeschooled through a charter (block schedule and two hours per core subject), but before they were pulled, they didn't have much homework, or it was completed during lunch or breaks and sometimes it was project-based. Unless it was a project, they finished within 30 minutes, and it was typically math and science. It needs to be reasonable and beneficial. Not just busywork. I detest busywork.
Like you, my husband loathed homework and struggled with doing it consistently. He thrived on lectures and reading the material. My first husband was the same way.
Last edited by Metaphysique; 02-18-2019 at 03:05 PM..
Nearly all learning requires practice and re-reading to fully absorb the material. That said, I think it's probably useless before junior high IF classroom time is given to this practice and absorption instead of just presentation.
One of the things I hated most about growing up was homework. I did everything I could to avoid doing it, even at the expense of lower grades and getting "yelled at." My reasoning was that school was school, and home was for rest and relaxation. I never saw my parents do any "homework" related to their jobs - work was work, and home was for doing whatever you wanted. Made perfect sense to me.
And to think I had it hard doing 30-45 minutes a night during my high school years - these days, kids are expected to work hours each night after school - and this is after bloated 7-hour plus school days. Good grief, Charlie Brown. And they're assigning homework in kindergarten. If this is not child cruelty, I don't know what is.
We are a two teacher household, both elementary. Neither of us assign homework. Most of our colleagues assign none, or very little.
Homework in our district is not supposed to be used to figure academic grades in K-6. They are assessed only on what they complete in school. Any homework that is assigned should be able to be completed independently and should not be a struggle. The student day is long and structured enough. Many have additional activities scheduled after the day ends.
Many have additional activities scheduled after the day ends.
Which kind of opens another whole can of worms. In my day, we did homework and then went out and played; we didn't have to fit homework time into our executive planner. So I can see how one or the other had to go.
One of the things I hated most about growing up was homework. I did everything I could to avoid doing it, even at the expense of lower grades and getting "yelled at." My reasoning was that school was school, and home was for rest and relaxation. I never saw my parents do any "homework" related to their jobs - work was work, and home was for doing whatever you wanted. Made perfect sense to me.
And to think I had it hard doing 30-45 minutes a night during my high school years - these days, kids are expected to work hours each night after school - and this is after bloated 7-hour plus school days. Good grief, Charlie Brown. And they're assigning homework in kindergarten. If this is not child cruelty, I don't know what is.
School was bad enough - being bored to tears learning stuff that had no bearing on real life, having to deal with yelly teachers and dress codes that made zero sense (no shorts in non-AC buildings - at least that's not an issue in this era...lol.) But having do schoolwork on *my own time* was insult to injury. I could handle school on my own terms - but I truly resented having do perform extra work on top of the school day, when there were so many other things I could be doing, like playing outside or spending time with my family. If they had Internet back then, goodness knows how distraught I'd been having to divert my free time toward homework.
In all seriousness, however, why is homework even necessary? Is the school day not long enough to practice what a student is learning? Maybe they could make the day longer, or better yet, have fewer subjects, and more time within each subject to learn it. And don't get me started about sleep - I just cannot believe that kids today are having to stay up to midnight to complete their onerous assignments. I went to bed at 9 pm sharp each night, because I needed my 9 hours of sleep - any less than that, I was utterly useless the next day. I just don't see how kids of today are able to pull this off. I know I wouldn't.
The floor is open for discussion...
I wonder what kind of jobs your parents had that they never did any work at home. My husband worked for IBM and did bring work home. My son works for Shell and brings work home. I was a teacher and brought work home too.
I do agree though that homework is not necessary in the early grades. In general, the consensus is that it is helpful in high school (especially for kids taking honors and ap classes). Making the day longer is not a good idea. Some things kids need to practice on their own without help from the teacher or a parent. Teenagers prefer staying up late and most do not get 9 hours of sleep. Kids like my granddaughter who is in band get very little sleep on weekdays or even on Saturdays during the football season. She often is at the football game on Friday until 11 pm or midnight and then returns to school at 5:30 am on Saturday morning to go to a marching band competition. I would have loved for her to quit band, but she won't. She loves band.
Dress codes are a different issue and that will depend on where you live and what school you go to. Here, our kids can wear shorts up until 6th grade, but not in the upper grades. Our schools are air-conditioned though, so it makes sense not to wear shorts.
My dad was a corporate pilot. So no, he never brought work home. LOL Of course, he was gone a good part of the time, too.
I don't think kids should have homework before high school. But I think the biggest problem in classes right now might be the size of the classroom or disruptive kids, all of which takes away from a teacher's ability to teach anything. If the kids are sitting quietly and paying attention, they learn more much faster than if the teacher has to continually discipline someone in the class. Plus, that's just that much less she can present to the class as a lesson, so they have to make it up in homework.
Computers aside, I also think we're trying to teach 2019 kids with 1950 methods. Maybe we should take a step back and try teaching smarter. The kids today have changed. Maybe it's time the old teaching methods should change as well.
More than anything else, I think a stand needs to be taken. People need to have a strong school board and a strong principal who say "These are the rules regarding uniforms, attendance, passing grades, and behavior. This is what needs to be learned. Don't learn it, you don't pass. Misbehave and you're out of the school. Period. No if, ands, or buts." Then enforce those rules and let every parent and child know those rules will be enforced.
My dad was a corporate pilot. So no, he never brought work home.
Irrelevant, but there was a great magazine ad in the early 1970s that showed a National Guard pilot climbing out of his F-4... in his suburban driveway. Look, kids, Daddy's home!
Irrelevant, but there was a great magazine ad in the early 1970s that showed a National Guard pilot climbing out of his F-4... in his suburban driveway. Look, kids, Daddy's home!
/threadreturn
We have a lot of houses here up in the hills that are advertised with their own airstrip. Hey, no hangar fees!
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And they're assigning homework in kindergarten. If this is not child cruelty, I don't know what is. 
