the great homework debate
Not too long ago, I watched an interview with this man, Alfie Kohn. He's just published a book entitled The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, which has brought the discussion about homework to the forefront again. He makes some very rational and compelling arguments for why the modern move to add more and more homework is actually harming children and their educational performance. In this article, he articulates the basic ideas of his position on homework. I tend to agree with him. In the interview, he stated that other than basic amount of math review, the most effective homework was simply reviewing or driling facts in the car on the way to school. It reinforces what they've learned without overwhelming them. Of course, high school requires more than that--usually a certain amount of reading, etc--yet, still not nearly as much as most high school students are being given. When I was teaching at BRCCS, the principal encouraged all the teachers on the grade school level to try to eliminate all but math homework as much as possible. It was not that difficult, and I really liked the results. The maximum we tried to give when homework was needed was about 30-45 minutes for gradeschool and an hour or so for upper school. I've also heard the idea of 10 minutes per grade: 10 minutes for 1st grade; 20 minutes for 2nd grade, etc. Personally, I think that may be too great of a steep as it leaves middle schoolers with over an hour of homework a night. But I'm wondering what you think. What was your homework experience like? Pros? Cons? If you could change one thing about the way homework was given in your school setting, what would you change and why? I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
Comments
I think things like reading, history and math are incredibly important for homework. If reading is considered part of the homework, that can take a while, but could we really say no more reading because it takes too long?
I dont' think homework should be measured so much in time- but in the overall picture- what should this child learn by the time they finish this grade and how best can that be accomplished.
Also, of course, there are many other factors involved in this. Such as- parental involvement- if parents want their children to learn, they will help the family environment be such as to help to that end.
A lot of parents today want their children involved in too many extra-curriculars- so that they truly don't have time for homework. So in the end, it's a matter of priorities.
I had a great balance growing up, but I honestly don't think I was made to read enough (probably because it took too much time.) :)
Posted by: Marlo | October 6, 2006 08:29 AM
But I question the effectiveness of most homework since kids already spend 7 hours a day in school learning what they ought to be learning for their grade. I'm not being contentious, I'm really just interested in analyzing this from all angles. What kind of bothers me isn't that teachers are figuring out what to teach and then sending home work as needed to finish up--they are assuming that homework should be sent every day and then figuring out what to send as they go. That seems backwards to me. Why must kids have homework every day. And what about the most at risk kids? They are already at risk because of lack of parental involvement--doesn't adding all this homework exacerbate the problem? Of course, I have to admit that I'm coming from a perspective that extra-curricular activities can have as much educational value in other ways: ie teamwork, learning to cope with loss/disagreement, handling confrontation, etc. I'm not discounting homework altogether--as a high school lit teacher, I have to have a certain amount of outside reading in order to host any type of discussion--but what about 3rd grade? Should 3rd graders really have to come home from a long day at school and spend another hour doing work? To what end? They'll be in school tomorrow. To my mind, why shouldn't homework be more along the lines of "Finish reading chapter 3, finish up the math lesson if you haven't already, read 4 pages in history." You know, completion rather than conquering.
I'm with you on the more reading, though. I think one reason more kids don't read more is because it seems too much like work. That's the impression I get from students--if they associated reading less with work, they would get into it.
(I hope I don't sound argumentive--I'm not trying to.) :]
Posted by: dramatic ren | October 6, 2006 09:19 AM
No- I really enjoy this discussion. And that's a great point that teachers shouldn't be giving out homework just because that's what they think they're supposed to do.
As for the time thing, I actually taught at a classical school (the same school I plan on sending my kids to)- that is in essence a morning school: 8:30 -12:30. There is time to get homework done and still do extra-curriculars and still have family time. I love that.
And I think it's a great compromise on the 7 hrs. at school then hours of homework at home problem. Plus- it streamlines the schoolday- no lunch or chapel time or any little extras- those are for after school.
(And I don't think you sound argumentative at all.) :)
Posted by: Marlo | October 6, 2006 01:09 PM
Hmm. I think perhaps the distinction that needs to be made is the one between good homework and bad homework. Like reviewing a history card and doing the worksheet would be good homework, while doing 40 math problems would be bad homework. Hmm.
I really like the idea of a concentrated school day. Both of the schools I've taught at (one of which is a classical school) had shorter school days, but not that short. the classical went from 8:10-2:30, but we had a 45 minute recess. Our principle was a staunch proponent of the idea that play can be educational. I tend to agree--I have definitely watched students learn negotiating and dispute resolving skills while playing organized games. But I think we could feasibly have done an 8:10 to 1:30 day or a 1:00 day. Interesting. I'm filing all this away. Thanks for the thoughts! And kudos on the sending of kids to classical school--I'm a complete convert to classical education.
Posted by: dramatic ren | October 7, 2006 10:08 PM
I often feel as if I have my students for too long of periods during the day. Some days it is too much. However, most of my classes are spent in preparing for upcoming events, such as the choral concert, musicals, and one-act performances. But the only homework I give is usually in speech class (sometimes in drama) and it consists of practice time and preparing the written work for speeches.
I don't remember being overwhelmed with homework in high school. I often felt as if high school had not properly prepared me for the workload I received in college. It was almost too easy for me in high school. But my freshman year of college I felt completely overwhelmed.
Posted by: Jill | October 8, 2006 02:41 PM
How do you think homework in high school could have been handled to better prepare you? Was it the amount or type of homework that left you unprepared?
I, unfortunately, have rarely felt that I had my student for too long. :) In composition class there were a few times, but with subjects like literature it seems like there is always something more to cover or discuss.
I do always try to have any homework I give be productive. Rather than just "Read chapter 5," I try to have it be "read chapter 5 looking for/being ready to discuss/answer these things..." That way they are seeing connections and ideas rather than just processing words. And I get a better discussion out of them in class. It's harder to do things like that with performance classes--homework would tend to be geared toward practice time which does seem to be a "good" homework.
Posted by: dramatic ren | October 8, 2006 10:08 PM
ryc: I think high school could have been more challenging to me. Most of my subjects came too easy, and because of that I didn't learn good study skills or even critical thinking. And our college sort of force feeding us what we were supposed to regurgitate later didn't help either. I still struggle with things that, if I don't grasp them right away, I give up. I wish I had learned that earlier in life.
Posted by: Jill | October 8, 2006 10:38 PM