Complaints Outweigh Homework Assigned

Detroit Free Press ^ | November 11, 2003 | Teresa Mask

[ShadowDancer]

Audible groans begin at the end of class, build throughout the evening and turn into full-blown complaints by the next school day.

"We don't like getting it, so we complain about it," Monique Fischer, 17, said of the homework doled out at Seaholm High School in Birmingham.

[AnAmericanMother]

Couple of comments on this one -

Homework can be worthless - just busy work. We saw the writing on the wall with my daughter's middle school (elementary school was great, middle school was o.k., but the high school was obviously inadequate - not a good trend!) and moved my daughter to a private Christian preparatory school. She has about the same amount of homework, but it takes her longer because now it's thinking work instead of busy work.

Homework can reinforce the lessons learned during the school day. But the teachers have to know what they're doing and assign that sort of homework, and kids who intend to excel and ace their courses have to do it thoughtfully and carefully.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Students lead legitimately very busy lives," said Noble, who teaches eighth grade. "They have religious things, extracurricular activities, sports, dance. . . . They just go, go, go and students just don't have the time.""

Methinks neither Ms. Noble nor the students correctly understand priorities. "Extracurricular activities, sports, dance..." are voluntary OPTIONAL activities. Homework is not.

[theDentist]

"Students lead legitimately very busy lives," said Noble, who teaches eighth grade. "They have religious things, extracurricular activities, sports, dance. . . . They just go, go, go and students just don't have the time."

It's a metter of prioritizing time. And parents should insist that schoolwork/homework is Priority 1. And TV is the lowest on thee list. If they can't fit homework into all their other extracurricular activities, drop one.

[fml]

--"There's more homework now than there used to be. We have to fulfill a state curriculum and a local curriculum -- there is so much more to cover. There isn't enough time to cover it all." --

Phooey!!

[Fresh Wind]

"Students lead legitimately very busy lives," said Noble, who teaches eighth grade. "They have religious things, extracurricular activities, sports, dance. . . . They just go, go, go and students just don't have the time."

Uh huh. Hanging out at the mall, watching MTV, playing video games. Yeah. It's tough being a kid these days.

[Labyrinthos]

Methinks neither Ms. Noble nor the students correctly understand priorities. "Extracurricular activities, sports, dance..." are voluntary OPTIONAL activities. Homework is not.

I wish you were correct, but when you apply to college these days, grades seem secondary to SAT scores and extra-curricular activities. For what it is worth, my daughter goes to a Catholic high school. Homework is about three hours a night if managed correctly, which leaves plenty of time for the extra-curricular stuff.

[T.Smith]

Two hours a night of homework is excessive. The kids in my neighborhood are outside waiting for the bus when I leave at 6:30 am. They get home around 3:00 and then have two or more hours of homework to do? The teachers ought to be able to cover the subject in class and then give broad assignments - research papers and such - that can be done outside of class over time.

Athletics, band and the like may be voluntary extracurricular activities, but they can still be considered essential developmental activities. The students are learning and growing as much from those things as they are from "homework".

[ladylib]

When I was in high school, we were told to expect three hours of homework every night.

[banjo joe]

I resented getting homework when so much time was wasted in class. Classes had to go the speed of the "average" student, but looking back, I think they geared to about moron level, and we didn't have that many certified morons.
I learned more from reading on my own than from public school curricula.

[Fresh Wind]

The teachers ought to be able to cover the subject in class and then give broad assignments - research papers and such - that can be done outside of class over time.

I speak only for myself, but "over time" assignments were always done the night before they were due! Seriously, all you really pick up in classes are the generalities, and the currently popular touchy-feely stuff. The real learning occurs when the student sits down and actually tries to do the stuff. That is why there is homework.

[meyer]

I am most certain that my homework almost never exceeded 1 hour per night back in high school. Then again, I wasn't the best student in those days either. Once I passed 9th grade, the learning for the most part seemed to stop (of course, there were a few exceptions).

College was a different story - I was considerably older by the time I decided to really apply myself. Something happens when you have a financial stake in the outcome of your efforts.

[meyer]

I speak only for myself, but "over time" assignments were always done the night before they were due!

I absolutely hated long-term school projects and would frequently do them at the last minute. I may well have been the world's greatest procrastinator in the 1970's.

[SamAdams76]

School is wasted on the young. When I was young, I hated school and I hated homework. I did not see the point of learning history and I thought literature was boring - my idea of literature was MAD magazine.

In my adult life, I love to read about history and I am avidly reading all the classics I dismissed when I was younger. I only wish I had more time to devote to them. I would love to go back to school and get lots of homework because I want to learn.

Similarly, my own kids need constant prodding to not only do their homework but to do it in a manner so that they get something out of it. They are just like me when I was their age and that is most unacceptable.

[Amelia]

Homework can reinforce the lessons learned during the school day. But the teachers have to know what they're doing and assign that sort of homework, and kids who intend to excel and ace their courses have to do it thoughtfully and carefully.

What I've found as a teacher is that the better students will do homework, and will often do it "thoughtfully and carefully", especially if they see it as more than busywork.

Average students may attempt to do the homework, or they may copy it from the better students who actually did it.

Poor students will not do homework, and often won't even bother to try to copy someone else's, even if it means they fail the class as a result.

[stainlessbanner]

my idea of literature was MAD magazine

And art was folding the back cover : )

[Fresh Wind]

I always aspired to be the worlds greatest procrastinator, but I never got around to it!

[ladylib]

Hysterical article over fuzzy math homework:

Arthur Hu Reviews Connected Math:

http://www.educationnews.org/arthur_hu_reviews_6th_grade_conn.htm

The people running the schools are pathetic, and the kids are paying for it bigtime.

[ShadowDancer]

Your entire post directly mirrors my own life.

[Wonder Warthog]

"I wish you were correct, but when you apply to college these days, grades seem secondary to SAT scores and extra-curricular activities."

If the student doesn't learn the material, he/she will NOT do well on the SAT, so the heavy focus on the SAT is appropriate.

Extrcurricular activities should only enter the picture in distinguishing between two EQUALLY QUALIFIED (SAT and/or grades) students.

I guess I'm old-fashioned---I feel that actually learning the academic material should come before band/dance/debate/etc.