Homework is wrecking our kids: The research is clear, let’s ban elementary homework

Agreed...

Kids (and adults who are bad at math) are terrified of fractions.

Every single person I've tutored in math were horrified at having to learn fractions but then again they were bad with their basic math to begin with.

It's the accumulation of things that does it, I think. A pupil can maybe handle not being that good at multiplication and area of geometric figures, but when fractions come along that seems to be the straw (more like a brick) that breaks the back of the camel. I think it's where a lot of kids throw in the towel, and it's unfortunate since it's such a critical juncture.

If you can't manipulate fractions, understanding general algebraic manipulations becomes that much harder. So I think it'd be good if math teachers worldwide used how skilled the students are at fractions as a canary in the coalmine for how far students are falling behind. And then there needs to be an appropriate response if it's critical.
 
I am pretty sure if a school instituted this no homework policy grades would fall dramatically. kids not paying attention and not having to do homework as well??.. wooohooo!..
Yeah, because they're exceeding all expections currently. Let's do more of the same!!!!derrrr
 
I think you're right. I give a little speech at the beginning of each school year claiming that getting good at fractions will make you good at math. I tell this to my PreCalc kids.

It is true, too. Exactly why that is something I've though about quite a bit. Fractions are ultimately division, and since division is the hardest of the four basic operations that probably lends to it. Then there's having to expand and contract them which combines pattern recognition and symbolic manipulation. Those two are basically the cornerstones of being skilled at mathematics. Probably something else too.
 
homework teaches kids discipline and time management , a key factor to success in life.
 
Yeah, because they're exceeding all expections currently. Let's do more of the same!!!!derrrr

I am all for a balanced amount of homework. overloading a child with 2+ hours of homework per night is insane and stupid. at the same time no homework will take away a valuable tool for children to learn by doing rather than listening/watching the teacher.

There is only so much a teacher can do within a 40-50 min class. So teach in class, run some examples and maybe do a little exercise and then assign a small number of problems for the children to learn.

personally I never spent more than 30 mins doing all my homework unless I had to read something or write an essay. then again I actually paid attention in class instead of daydreaming.
 
I got wrecked bad by Homework when I was a kid too, even in college
 
No offense, but what are you talking about? That's not my experience with schools at all.

From what I have read on the issue, Nordic countries spend a lot less time on school work and more on playing/practical skills. German and Swiss schools have a broader curriculum for kids to explore interests. I am open to being wrong, but I went to a good public school and I never felt like I had options even though there were multiple classes to choose. Everyone was required X amount of credits to graduate, but at the baseline it was all the same. Nothing seems to vary.
 
Arne went on to avow that part of their argument was that since their kids outperformed the kids in rural America or inner city America, those parents didn't see any reason to improve the overall quality of education. They didn't care that they were behind the international standard so long as they were beating the poor kids.

Of course thats all that matters, Murka!!!
 
Yeah I'm torn on homework. Research has pretty much proven it serves no purpose, but I do think some homework can help a kid to become more responsible.
What research? Use some common sense FFS. You read, you learn its pretty fucking simple.
 
I live and teach in Japan. School here is misery. Tons of homework and extracurricular crap. Honestly it's awful. And education sucks. Kids just plow through it and go to night school and the such to improve their grades.
If that is how you succeed, I don't wanna win
So why does the education suck? I know it's hard work but it appears to be working as intended. If someone doesn't want to pay their dues, that's their choice.
 
I think homework should be largely confined to special projects the students are given.

Boys are already falling behind in school as the curriculums have become more time consuming and the classrooms are increasingly tailored to female behavior. Christina Hoff Sommers has done some great work on this in her book The War against Boys.

Boys want to get up and move around and have a lot of trouble sitting down for long periods of time and reading. (boys struggle with reading compared to girls).

So pile on the homework and half the boys don't even do it, their grades go in the shitter and all of the sudden they're associating themselves with the delinquent crowd.
 
My wife and I have both homeschooled our daughter (health reasons) and have had her in public school.

When we re-enrolled her in public school, she actually tested a grade ahead of her current grade. We had no "homework". When she was learning, she was learning, and we were going to take as long as it was going to take until she got it.

"One size fits all" educational techniques really don't work when humans don't have a "One size fits all" brain.
I would love to home school my kids, but would need to have someone way smarter than me to teach them.
 
I feel like they just need to revamp the whole thing whether its elementary school or college. Too many useless classes. They need to concentrate on the core subject like math, science, English, tech. The other classes can be electives, stuff that appeals to kids. This should go all the way up to high school, then once high school comes around, start introducing more subjects that will transfer into college. Once in college, cut out all the fluff and really learn their chosen profession. Less electives and more co-ops and internships.
 
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I believed this for as long as I've done homework. If you're naturally intelligent and attentive in class, homework does little for you. Likewise, if you're naturally dumb and not paying attention in class, it also does little for you.

Because of homework, I experienced years of misery growing up. Halloween holidays where I was with my family and stuck in a room doing math instead of out trick-or-treating or watching horror movies. Stuck in the back of the car doing useless and boring shit while my mom drove us to the mall or whereever... and then getting out with her and having that shit looming over my head the entire dead until I got home at night. Losing sleep because of it. I wrote a giant English essay about Sir Francis fucking Bacon that clocked in at 12 pages (the requirement) that kept me up all night. Literally stayed up 48 hours with only an hour of sleep in between. There was the time we had Dracula assigned as summer reading, and of course, me being me (and liking shit that actually engages my mind and isn't boring as hell), I turned on the back light in the living room and read as much as I could for the inevitable day 1 test on the material. No sleep. I ended up renting the VHS of Bram Stoker's Dracula and watching it as a stand-in. It was misery. There I am reading this shit and watching the movie at like 2:00AM on a hot Sunday when everyone else on my street is sleeping. Wishing I could sleep. Knowing I have a long day ahead of me. Knowing I'll have to be out the door in 4 hours.

FUUUUUUCK HOMEWORK, and fuck the people who gave it so self righteously.
 
I agree.

College is basically no homework....just read, and its much better.


I grew with strict homework crap, and all it did was stress me the fuck out....Some kids are battling depressions, adhd, OCD, and then you throw homework on top of that......It's a recipe for disaster IMO.
 
K9Y98.gif


I believed this for as long as I've done homework. If you're naturally intelligent and attentive in class, homework does little for you. Likewise, if you're naturally dumb and not paying attention in class, it also does little for you.

Because of homework, I experienced years of misery growing up. Halloween holidays where I was with my family and stuck in a room doing math instead of out trick-or-treating or watching horror movies. Stuck in the back of the car doing useless and boring shit while my mom drove us to the mall or whereever... and then getting out with her and having that shit looming over my head the entire dead until I got home at night. Losing sleep because of it. I wrote a giant English essay about Sir Francis fucking Bacon that clocked in at 12 pages (the requirement) that kept me up all night. Literally stayed up 48 hours with only an hour of sleep in between. There was the time we had Dracula assigned as summer reading, and of course, me being me (and liking shit that actually engages my mind and isn't boring as hell), I turned on the back light in the living room and read as much as I could for the inevitable day 1 test on the material. No sleep. I ended up renting the VHS of Bram Stoker's Dracula and watching it as a stand-in. It was misery. There I am reading this shit and watching the movie at like 2:00AM on a hot Sunday when everyone else on my street is sleeping. Wishing I could sleep. Knowing I have a long day ahead of me. Knowing I'll have to be out the door in 4 hours.

FUUUUUUCK HOMEWORK, and fuck the people who gave it so self righteously.
There's a point where I'm convinced it is necessary, and I remember that being the same while I was in school. It is hard for students to work some things out on their own even though it comes easily in class when somebody else is explaining it to them. Students will benefit from homework in any class where that applies. Every year I have a couple of students who say, "I understand it when you do it." The issue is that they really don't; if they did, they'd be able to do it on their own too.

I also have a kid or two every year who refuses to do his/her homework because he/she thinks its unnecessary. They do well enough until we hit Trig, and then they fold under the pressure and pretend it's the class (or me) that is the problem.
 
I agree.

College is basically no homework....just read, and its much better.


I grew with strict homework crap, and all it did was stress me the fuck out....Some kids are battling depressions, adhd, OCD, and then you throw homework on top of that......It's a recipe for disaster IMO.
That's got to depend on your major, because I had plenty of homework.
 
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