Posted on 04/21/2009 6:04:14 AM PDT by Sam_Damon
MOUNDSVILLE - Days of lugging home heavy backpacks filled with textbooks could soon be over for students in Marshall County, where school officials may stop requiring them to complete their homework.
Bonnie Ritz, director of curriculum and instruction, said administrators have discussed a policy that would not penalize students for failing to do their homework. The idea is that students who do their homework would improve their grades, but students not doing the work would not see grades suffer as a result. She said the concept grew out of concerns that some students in the county don't have sufficient help or resources at home.
"We want to do what's best for the students," Ritz stressed. "Right now it's something we're just looking into. We are into discussion research but have not come to any conclusions yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at theintelligencer.net ...
Hey, here’s an idea...why even penalize them for NOT going to school too! What the heck, just give them a trophy and their diploma and call it even.
Actually, depending on the content of the typical homework, this may be a good idea.
A lot of times, homework is just mickey mouse busywork (ranging from build a diorama—that *really* teaches history—to mind-mumbingly dull worksheets). Provided the exams actually test the content, allowing students to base their grades entirely on exams isn’t a bad idea. Quite frankly I’d rather the homework not improve the grade—don’t perform on the exam, you don’t make the grade—with homework just as a service to help students study.
I’m becoming more and more sympathetic to the British system of high-stakes exams (O-levels, A-levels, and year long university courses with just a final at the end of the year) as I get older.
Excuse me, but could someone remind me of what we're paying the public school teachers to do?
They used to teach, but today it's hard to figure out what they do all day. Do they nap? Blog? Paint their nails?
No, let’s not penalize them for not going to school—provided they can pass the equivalent of British A-levels (or maybe O-levels).
“homework” is way overrrated imho
In my kids’ situation it is just an excuse to let the kids slack off for 7 hours a day at school with focus groups music PE and eco science, then expect the parents to teach them math, spelling and how to research and write book reports after they come home tired
My 5th grader spends 2 hours a night or more doing “homework” (3 book reports for 2 different classes in 2 nights last week), giving her a 9-10 hour work day
I for one am tired of spending our limited after school family time teaching math to tired burned out kids, and will probably just homeschool next year
And then don’t penalize them for not showing up for work - and don’t you dare fire them or not promote them. You might hurt the little darlings’ self-esteem.
There is much more homework assigned now then there was in the 60s and early 70s. Text books are much heavier than the text books back then.
This woman’s idea is just plain silly.
Homeschooling is the answer.
I suspect that many other schools are doing the same thing as the one my kids attend. So, while this may be a dumb idea, I think that less homework would probably be a good thing ( as long as the schools actually started to teach, rather than expecting the parents to do it).
Oh, yes, I forgot.
Here’s the index page of email addresses for Marshall County, West Virginia’s school board members. I’m posting it in the event some Freepers feel like, well, you know...
http://boe.mars.k12.wv.us/boe/address.htm
Have a nice day, all.
In the good old days before AGW / Cap & Trade nonsense, you didn't need an education to follow Dad and GrandDad and Great GrandDad down into the coal mines. Now the libs are destroying the coal industry AND further destroying education. Where will the uneducated yobs go and what will they do when the public school system releases them from their bondage?
My guess is they'll be welcomed as ACORN organizers and census walkers.
Without homework, the information gets stored in the short term memory. The repetitious homework reinforces the information and it enters into the long term memory.
Without long term memory, the entire process is moot. Why bother?
On the other hand, it depends on what the indoctrinators are trying to store in the students long term memory. (This is the dark underbelly of the public school system.)
Today they mainly function as bureaucrats and political officers. Lots of paperwork and policing of “attitudes”
Instead of Facebook, these kids can go to homework helper.
So far as lugging schoolbooks home, I used to get the ISBNs for all my kids schoolbooks and buy used versions on Amazon. That way they had a copy at home and one at school. I’ve gotten their physics and chemistry books for $3 apiece. You have to do this as early as possible before all the really cheap ones are sold. The longer a school system uses a book, the cheaper used ones are on Amazon.
Then at the end of the school year, I tried to give the books to our local public library so other students could use them, and the library refused to take them. So I gave them to other parents who needed them the next year. We kept the books our daughters wanted. My daughter has her HS physics book with her at college.
That's the problem. There's nothing in this article about teaching academics during school hours to make up for the loss.
According to Hillary's Education Reform Package, the socialist revolution has to come first and academics can come later. Students would receive a diploma for "thinking correctly" rather than academic skills. Once the revolution is complete (the goal was the year 2000), some academics would come back because parents would no longer be considered a threat.
There's day care, pre-pre school, pre-school, before school programs, after school programs, weekend programs, summer programs - all designed to separate the child from the parents influence. All comforts are also included, so the home is no longer necessary.
Great minds think alike.
I agree, the short term memory needs to transitition to long term memory - just learning it in class for 20 minutes is not ‘good enough’.
I suspect that the entire purpose of ‘discouraging’ homework, is that this is simply less work for the teacher to do. Teach 9 months a year, get every state and Fed holiday, 3 months off during the summer, fall and spring breaks (1 week each), better benefits than any other federal or commercial job - then demand higher pay.
The fact that the quality of their ‘product’ has spiraled downward for the past 30 yrs is overlooked. Now we drop the homework requirement, use some DVD’s to play during class - then all they have to do is show up, load a DVD into the projector, take role and administer computer tests.
The teacher’s hours go down, their students learn less, but they make more money, work fewer hours and don’t have homework to fuss over.
You could homeschool them in the time it takes for you to help them with their homework. What you are essentially doing now is homeschooling them after they come home from school. It is a rare day when we arent finished with school by noon. No school today, we have drama practice at co-op.
Here’s the corollary — we’ll make paying the teachers and administrators optional as well!
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