Your Thoughts: Do Kids Really Need Homework?
August 28, 2012 at 9:02 am
by Jonna Gallo
When we (the editors of Family Circle) started kicking around the idea of a piece on homework, I grabbed the reins because it’s a huge issue in my household. To put it bluntly, after a full day of school, my 8-year-old son doesn’t want to do more work—and frankly, I’m not at all convinced he should have to. I mean, he hasn’t even reached a double-digit age yet. Shouldn’t seven hours of school cover it for younger kids academically?
Apparently not, as evidenced by his homework assignments in multiple subjects. This necessitates me having to suggest, ask, nudge, prod, and finally, flat-out demand that he do the work, which is a dynamic between us that I have come to loathe at the end of the day. (If he’s forgotten a book he needs, because of the crush to pack up quickly, that’s a whole other source of aggravation.)
Of course, absolutely and without exception, whether it is technically “assigned” or not, I would insist he spend time every day reading. I would think that would go without saying, but I will say it lest anyone be tempted to call me out on the reading issue. When I say “homework,” I’m referring to worksheets and similar tasks.
Anyway, I’m fascinated with the writings of educator Alfie Kohn, who makes a convincing case against after-hours assignments. In his piece in Family Circle‘s October issue, he writes:
Doing homework has no statistical relationship to achievement in elementary school. In high school, some studies do find a correlation between homework and test scores, but it’s usually fairly small. And in any case, it’s far from clear that the former causes the latter. And if you’re wondering, not a single study has ever supported the folk wisdom that homework teaches good work habits or develops positive character traits such as self-discipline, responsibility or independence.
Other educational experts obviously, and vocally, disagree. In my mind, the topic at least merits spirited debate, rather than just rote compliance.
So speak up! Tell us your stance on homework in the comments below.
Jonna Gallo Weppler is articles director at Family Circle magazine.
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My son is in the 1st grade and has less homework than when he was in Kindergarten. We would spend at least 30 minutes a day with Kindergarten homework because his teacher was crazy about having the kids draw. Not just simple pictures that explained the story but in depth illustrations. For example a picnic picture to her standard would be a plate with food on it at a table or blanket, with grass and a tree with the sky colored blue. Why would 5 and 6 year olds need to color so detailed!? Some kids just are not into coloring that much. And he would have to draw at least 4 pictures like that each week. I understand the theory behind it, but she was zealous about it.
Now that there is less homework, he mostly enjoys doing it and is doing better in school. Who wants to go to work for 8 hours a day and then have their boss give them another hour of work to do at home? I wouldn’t be motivated to work there anymore.
I am both a mother and an educator. Some parents seem to feel they want their child ready for a top-notch college and career without an education equal to what students in other countries are receiving. If a parent is “de-valuing” the educational time spent at home doing assigned homework, he or she should read what the national and international standards of learning consist of for each level of learning either by age or by grade if they want their student to be competive for a future career! The good teachers are aiming at reaching those standards but have large classrooms of students where it is impossible to help each student individually. Instead of asking whether the homework is done, a good parent will ask to see the homework or papers and books brought home and see where your student may be having difficulties and encourage them with all the work they have done. Instead of playing video games, your should be seated in front of the national news (yes, you can tape national news as well as any other programs!)and sit with a globe or atlas and find our neighbors around the world. You should be encouraging your child to read a good book by example, not telling them to go to their room to read, while you watch television or talk on the phone. If parents show no value in education, their children and their children’s children will not value education. “Homework” is what you make of it. It can be a drudgery to you and then also for your children or you can make it a learning and growing experience for both the parent and their child. The few hours a day that your child spends in school is not enough to gain a competitive education in today’s world. I am finding that the students succeeding do not only have parents that encourage homework and research projects, but even ask their children to go beyond the “required” learning by continuing family activities that help their children learn on weekkends and summers. It doesn’t have to be expensive. A weekly trip to the library through the summer will keep your students from forgetting the reading progress made throughout the school year and enrich them in many other areas of learning.
Also, don’t gripe to some magazine or neighbor about your child’s homework until you have talked to their teachers to see what your child is actually doing during his/her time in the school. You may be surprised as to how much they acutally care about your child. Do you think they are assigning your child homework so they have something to check in their “spare” time?
I think homework is ridiculous, my daughter is petite, she is a 5th grader. Her bookbag is heavier then she is, I feel like 8 hours of school is enough, its like a full time job. If children need the extra help, I think they should have an after school program or some time out of the school day to work on it. I am a single parent and homework is the most frustrating part of my day. I am not making this about me, but I feel that at home there should be family time. and with homework, there is arguing, frustration and annoyance. I dont want to have that time after school where my child dreads having to sit down with me and have to do this work she has learned over and over when we could be doing an outside healthy activity.
I am going to respond to MomoFour first. What you discovered, about wasted time, I realized from the time my son was very young, but my husband said he needed to go to a “regular” school, and not be schooled at home by me. I am surprised it took you so long to figure this out. Almost all the time they are there is wasted. And, for socialization, that is not the best place to do it.
Regarding homework: I have never thought that there was a need for homework. Reading at home, of course. Everyone should want to spend time reading, in my opinion. I feel that if the teachers are doing their job properly, the students will learn the material, and if the students aren’t learning, it is due to the teacher not teaching it in the proper way, unless there is a learning disability involved, of course.
My son went to a regular public school until 4th grade, then he went to a private school for 3 years that was an experiential learning school. They took field trips once a week, and got out into the world to learn, not just classroom learning. for 8th grade he went to a small, newly started school, that only had 9 students. He ended up ahead in math by a whole year because he got so much individual attention.
For 9th and 10th grades, I convinced my husband to let our son do his schooling at home, but, it was through an on-line public charter school. It was a great experience. My son spent no more than one hour a day on actual school work, but there were “Elluminate” sessions by each teacher each week, where all of the students and the teacher met on line at the same time. The teacher would go over anything they wanted the students to know, and help any student that needed help at that time. The teachers were also available by e-mail and phone to the students that wanted more input. In all of our free time, my son and I joined in with different home school groups, and also did any activities that we felt like doing. If we wanted to go to the science museum, or some other adventure, we were free to do so. The kids that my son met through the home school group are still good friends to this day, in fact, better friends than anyone he met through the public schools he attended.
For 11th and 12th grades, my son wanted to try out the regular public schools in our area. He said it was a good experience, but, time is wasted, and it is hard to make friends there because there isn’t a lot of free time to socialize (which sounds like a contradiction with all the wasted time).
He is now in his 3rd year of college.
My conclusion, from my experience, is that homework is not necessary, and should not be assigned. If a kid wants to do it, the teacher could have it available to those that want to do it.
The reason it took so much less time for the same amount of information & learning is that your son was getting one-on-one tutoring and individualized instruction. There is no way the teacher can replicate that experience in the classroom in 60 minutes with up to 34 other students all needing attention as well. If most of us were being honest, we could predict that our children would be engaged in such \meaningful\ activites as texting, game playing and internet surfing if not doing homework. As a college professor of math, I can tell you my students who do the most homework get the best grades and those who do little or none will fail the class. While passing a class may not seem \meaningful\ to you or important in the grand scheme of life, it will be crucial when a student wants a degree to get a good job.
I am a mother of 4. 3 of which are school age. They are in 1st, 2nd, and 11th grade. My first and second graders come home with 20-45 min. of homework a night. Ridiculous! I have to say I do agree with having some homework but not the amount I see my children coming home with! As far as my high school student, I used to think that the homework was important because as a high school student he is learning about much more in depth topics,(ie: Calculus, Biology etc.) But recently I have come to have a much different stand on the amount of homework my high school child has and I will explain why. About a month ago my 11th grade son, who has a learning disability and is a well rounded student and athlete, suffered a back injury during a Varsity Football game. Due to the injury he has not attended school for nearly a month now. The school has set up tutoring for him until he can return. Now here is the kicker….( especially for those of you who state that there is not enough time in class for teachers to go over everything and that homework fills those gaps) His tutoring requirements state that 8-10 hours of tutoring a week with no homework, other than reading, is equal to the 45 hours a week that he attends regular school! Now I’m no math whiz, but I know something doesn’t add up! If he only needs 10 hours a week to receive the same education that he was spending 45 hours a week to obtain than why bother wasting the other 35 hours! Do you know what my son and I could do and learn together (about real life that is) in 35 extra hours a week! It\s apalling to me to know that he he is spending, what most people put into a full work week wasting time! What did this teach my son? It taught him that most of what he does all week long should take no longer than 1 ten hour day! Now he’s angrier than ever! I am definitely a parent very concerened with my childrens’ educations. In my family growing up there was nothing more important than having an excellent education. I myself am a member of the International High I.Q. Society, my sister is a High School English teacher and my mother is a computer programming scientist. So the importance of a good education has been instilled in us and also in my children. However, now I feel as though I have just taught my oldest son how to \waste\ as much time as possible. Does anyone else feel this way?