Posted on 08/23/2016 7:33:07 AM PDT by rey
From a post below, a Texas teacher is not assigning homework http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3462049/posts She claims they are unable to prove homework improves performance.
This is hard to believe. Repetition and further study doesn't improve performance? Somebody better tell major league athletes and professional musicians. Just because you can perform something right once does not mean that performance is ingrained or repeatable. I know professional musicians who are studying, practicing, refining 8-14 hours a day, same with athletes. Why would my friend earning his pro card drive bucket after bucket of balls down range if homework did not help? Why would actors rehearse? I think there is some credence to Gladwell's book that 10,000 hours in a subject makes you competent in it (I think the number is actually higher). The constant work is the professional's homework. They are true students of their endeavors.
If this assessment of homework is true, why study for a test? There is certainly no way you will learn well nor retain what you learn in the limited time in the asylum known as public school. I would concede that if the pupil (they are pupils at this point not students) was truly involved in study during the 6-8 hours they spend at school, homework may not be necessary. My homeschooler does not get homework (technically it is all homework) unless she goes away. The repetition helps, without a doubt.
It is silly to expose pupils to algebra for only a couple of semesters, only have them perform this study in class and expect them to retain it for use, sometimes years later, in college. Would you hire a doctor who said, "Oh yeah, I did that once." or, "I read about that in class."? Exposure, repetition, study, proficiency, it is all necessary to become competent in any field.
[Repetition and further study doesn’t improve performance?]
Practice makes perfect. The more that you practice the better you’ll be.
Homework is important.
Maybe this is a reaction to the modern trend of too MUCH hw. Which does not work any better than a moderate amount.
I’m sure it depends on the child’s age.
Does it?
Depends on the kid.
I rarely did any at home. I did mine during lunch in high school.
In college, I did it on my days off of work or if I had a gap between classes.
Taking it home doesn’t make it more “special”, nor did it give me some amazing insight. I suppose some people here love the concept of homework just because they get off seeing a kid getting tied down on something they hate doing because it “builds character” or something, even though the same people would be livid if their boss told them to take some of their work home every night and it would be considered off-the-cock.
But homework has to be graded ... And THAT takes up the teacher’s time!
Yes, the emphasis and the lesson must be repeated several times, and it MUST BE REPEATED after a separation of time and envirnment to be effective (you re-learn it) each time, until “it sinks in.”
That is why the old multiplication tables and the old “printing” and cursive repition lessons wqere HARD. They were needed to drive the lessons into the mind.
Like running, hitting, fielding, or any other sports, music or dance. No one would seriously take any of these for advice, would they?
“Yeah, I saw a piano played once. I can do it myself now.”
“Yeah, I saw a major league game once. I can play like Michael Jordon now.”
The two greatest lessons I ever learned about homework and studying:
Of course it helps. Only a government worker would say otherwise. It’s crazy talk so they don’t have to teach anything of value.
Figuring out how to logically solve math problems through logical deduction? “Research” demonstrates that homework doesn’t help? isn’t homework a type of research for some subjects? She presumes that the time spent in class is all the time necessary for a student to learn all he or she needs to learn. That is really, really stupid on her part. That is exactly why students are not prepared to be adults these days. And to think that message is being taught to the students themselves is ridiculous. This teacher must be tossed from the education community, and be forbidden from having any contact with anyone under the age of 21.
Prior to that it is just teachers shoving their teaching duties off on to the parents.
“Practice makes perfect. The more that you practice the better you’ll be.”
Not necessarily. Perfect practice makes perfect. Imperfect practice at best makes bad habits or is a waste of time.
One of the foremost jobs of a music teacher is teaching form and technique not just theory. If a child learns poor habits and reinforces them through practice they are a poor musician regardless of how much they practice.
Given that Common Core has such poor pedagogy and theory perhaps not practicing is a good thing.
Or the teacher could just want less grading
The REAL question should be “If there is valuable information my child can learn, would homework benefit him/her?”
If it is homework in new math or BS sociology and PC engineering, then the less of it the better.
QUALITY not quantity (nor political value).
Not entirely correct. I had a wise HS teacher instill in me an insight which has stayed with me until this day.
"Perfect practice makes perfect."
At least an understanding and an aspiration of the perfect does. Practicing in a flawed way or with an incorrect technique, even if practiced incessantly, puts you on the wrong path, no matter how diligent you follow it.
But you still did the work. And if yo had done more, would you have gotten better? Because you did well and did not need much homework doesn’t mean others do not.
I read a text by a math instructor who discussed how if all you did was one basic problem over and over how ingrained the method for doing that problem would become. Eventually you would see other ways of doing the same problem. Finally, the world of numbers would begin to take on a different meaning for you that few ever know.
I have advance degrees in English lit and comp; this is certainly true of that field. Reading the same text over and over changes your perspective on that work as well as others. Eventually it changes your perspective of the world.
The classroom lecture is merely an introduction to concepts. Homework let’s you dig into the concepts and ruminate on them at length. The better textbooks lead you through problems that are increasingly challenging and conceptual.
It should appear before HS. After that and it is too late. Yo start good habits young. Given what they teach, or should I say don’t teach in grade school, perhaps it isn’t necessary. I had my homeschooler doing algebra at 7. Homework was necessary.
“The more I practice, the luckier I get.” - Gary Player
Homework helps parents know what and how their children are being taught.
There are studies that show it doesn’t help for young kids, and really only help in upper grades like high school.
I think that is probably correct. I had a special needs daughter, and I think homework had a negative impact on her. She gets tired easily, so she only had time for school and homework eating and bed and speech therapy. No fun after school activities.
Her main problems were speech and social skills. Homework took time from working on those activities. She couldn’t handle things like play practice and homework.
Most of the homework was also busy work, especially in elementary and junior high. There were tons of math problems when she was great at math. She was slow at physical writing, so that was just tedious.
At the end of the day when she was tired, writing was hard for her (both physically and mentally). It was a terrible battle to get her to finish her work.it caused lots of strains in our relationship.
She’s in college now and is loving it! She just goes to community college because she wasn’t ready to leave home.
It’s been a breeze for her because there is no busy work. She gets most of her work done during breaks between classes. She wishes that school had always been lie college. She has a 4.0 so far.
I also had 2 gifted kids. Homework was boring and tedious for them because they were very smart.
I personally think the only homework in elementary school should be reading whatever you want. I would also just send home the spelling words/vocabulary words home. Let the kids/parents figure out the best way to learn them. Then have optional math homework. Maybe get extra credit for doing it. If the kids still do well on their tests, then you are doing the right thing.
I pretty much think that for high school too except it should be reading to prepare for class.
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