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I really can't believe parents would want a 'time limit' on school homework and ban it completely over weekends, holidays and school vacations. Look at schools in China and India and you will know who we are competing against. Middle school students there spend 2-3 hours on an average on their homework; high school students put in as much as 4-5 hours each weekday and about 12-15 hours over the weekend.
I really can't believe parents would want a 'time limit' on school homework and ban it completely over weekends, holidays and school vacations. Look at schools in China and India and you will know who we are competing against. Middle school students there spend 2-3 hours on an average on their homework; high school students put in as much as 4-5 hours each weekday and about 12-15 hours over the weekend.
I don't know about India, but China is a bad example. Marketplace is doing a very interesting examination of the Chinese education system:
The Damaged Generation | China Blog | Marketplace from American Public Media (http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/china-blog/2011/06/_the_damaged_generation_1.html - broken link)
Basically Chinese education is nothing more than memorization-concepts, facts, dates, names, etc...the extreme low end of the hierarchy of learning. Chinese students simply read information and try to store it, word for word, in their heads in preparation for a three day long test called the "Gow Cow" that is taken at the end of high school. Performance on the Gow Cow determines all things for the rest of a students' life-what college they will go to, what they will be permitted to study, what professions will be available to them, etc... As a result, Chinese students never learn the kinds of higher order thinking skills (synthesis, establishing criteria, etc...) that American students do. That's why China is incapable of developing new technology or innovating-they can only copy what has been done by other nations. Their discipline and rigid authoritarian culture makes them very good at copying, but it also makes it impossible for them to innovate-which, for our sake, hopefully is a trend that will continue for a long time to come. America just needs to figure out a way to keep American produced technologies out of Chinese hands, or at least slow them down if we want to retain our status in the world. As soon as we develop a new technology the Chinese get ahold of it and begin to reverse engineer it instead of trying to find a way to compete. On it's face, China is an economic powerhouse, but look deeper and it's intellectually lazy.
We have a different perception of Chinese students because Chinese who grow up here have a dual benefit-their parents realize the benefit of education, and their authoritarian upbringing influences their children to excel-the difference is that their children are in American schools, which, in terms of higher order thinking skills, go way beyond what Chinese schools are capable of doing. That combination produces the stereotypical "really smart Asian kid" in class. An interesting anecdote from the Marketplace story is that the most sought after people in China are Chinese who were raised and schooled in the U.S. that return to China-these folks are few and far between, but they can basically write their own ticket in China because of their abilities having received an American education. I can't imagine many people would want to trade their very freedom for a high status life in China, but apparently some do. All of that being said, I don't think it should be too hard to come to a happy medium on homework time.
as far as im concerned, the students can do zero homework. but you better know the stuff and pass the test. homework should be like practice for the test. if you dont need it, then dont do it. but you better Ace that test.
Education in India is heavily focused on memorization as well but what makes it different is the focus and prioritization of education in the society. Parents push their kids to study at all cost and never complain about them having 'too much' homework. Everything else (like play time, sports, movies, etc) comes next. I am sure this is the same for Chinese society as well. It is this focus and heavy participation from the parents that makes a difference in their kid's level of education, irrespective of they being schooled in Asia or US.
Take an average 15 year old from China/India and compare his/her math and science skills with an average 15 year old from USA and i bet you will be hugely disappointed. Limiting homework can only make matters worse.
Everything else (like play time, sports, movies, etc) comes next.
Well, you're half right-except that they don't ever come next because they don't exist. Communist regimes merely produce automatons incapable of thinking for themselves (which is desirable in such a regime)-the American education system, warts and all, is still the best in the world considering it's compulsory.
I'm also not advocating limiting homework either. Homework is probably just fine the way it is, but advocating for 4-5 hours of homework a day for high schoolers is nonsense. I had to work when I was in high school to pay for my car and to save money for college-how the hell are you supposed to do that if you're doing homework from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. everyday?
I agree with the Captain for the most part. I used to be a kid who understood the concepts and did well on exams. Two issues with this, however. Firstly, when I went to college, the idea of work after class dissipated from my system, and I became lazy in my early years. I have since caught up, but it took a lot to get there, and I still feel a lingering hinderance. So perhaps, to some degree, homework in high school prepares you to do work beeyond the scope of the course in college, and more importantly, in the real world. Second, it's rediculous that parents actually want the stoppage of homework because its a holiday or theyre taking a vacation. That's why the world is passing us up, because they don't call the game for rain elsewhere. Honestly, if you know a holiday is coming up or a vacation with your family is nearing, and you dont wanna think about anything during that time, show some proactivity and get it done early. This entire rant comes as a part of a speech about how this country is worsening on the pure basis of independence. Our generation (I will include myself) doesn't have it, and because of this, most of us are doomed. It's sad, but true. Most likely, homework will face extinction because people think its unfair just like dodgeball. Life's unfair, deal with it.
in high school, i never had homework. i could finish it on the bus home or home room before class. if i had a test, i didnt study at home. i could take care of that also in transport or home room or first few minutes of class. like jeff, college i wasnt able to do that successfully. i managed to maintain the 2.8 gpa i needed for the scholarship, but not much better. i would take tests on zero studying just to see how i could do. it wasnt a good idea. so i changed my habits and included 2-3 hours a day of time in the library to study. that was about junior year and then i got the A average. so you have to adjust depending on the needs. high school is a lot easier because its a more mixed group. they cant fail all the idiots so they have to dumb down the curriculum somewhat. but in college im there with a bunch of people in my range of academics because we had to qualify to get there. so i couldnt get away with that anymore. but i got it eventually.
I think outside of "term papers" or the equivalent, kids should not get homework. Getting a worksheet for homework every day was very tedious and I either didn't do it, copied from someone else in the morning, or rushed through it.
I also think having daily or weekly homework factor in for grades makes no sense. It generally gives girls and kids with helicopter parents a big advantage.
I really can't believe parents would want a 'time limit' on school homework and ban it completely over weekends, holidays and school vacations. Look at schools in China and India and you will know who we are competing against. Middle school students there spend 2-3 hours on an average on their homework; high school students put in as much as 4-5 hours each weekday and about 12-15 hours over the weekend.
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