Posted on 06/27/2011 8:13:40 AM PDT by van_erwin
Vanessa Perez was a homework scofflaw. The Marshall High School senior didn't finish all of it — largely because she worked 24 hours a week at a Subway sandwich shop.
Alvaro Ramirez, a junior at the Santee Education Complex, doesn't have his own room and his mother baby-sits young children at night. "They're always there and they're always loud," he said, explaining his challenges with homework.
The nation's second-largest school system has decided to give students like these a break. A new policy decrees that homework can count for only 10% of a student's grade.
Critics — mostly teachers — worry that the policy will encourage students to slack off assigned work and even reward those who already disregard assignments. And they say it could penalize hardworking students who receive higher marks for effort.
Some educators also object to a one-size-fits-all mandate they said could hamstring teaching or homogenize it. They say, too, that students who do their homework perform significantly better than those who don't — a view supported by research.
But Los Angeles Unified is pressing forward, joining a growing list of school districts across the country that are taking on homework — including Fontana and Pleasanton, N.J. In many districts, limits are being placed on the amount of homework so students can spend more time with their families or pursue extracurricular activities like sports or hobbies. The competition to get into top colleges has left students anxious and exhausted, with little free time, parents complain.
In Davis, a policy that took effect this year specifies homework maximums, with some exceptions for advanced courses. And it prohibits assigning homework over weekends and holidays while also addressing the quality of the assignments.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Yet Lincoln learned the law by candlelight between chopping wood and finding food!
Fast Food such as McDonald’s and Subway is all about repetition. Even for a manager...
At any rate, at that age education is more important than experience. Once over 30 I believe it reveres. Probably because most people have been out of school for a while at this point. Thus, what is important is what have you been doing since. The only time education applies after 30 is when you have two equal candidates applying for a position. Which by the way is very rare. Most of the time WHO and WHAT you know is what will get you a job. That has been my experience.
One day he got a bit too much for me and tried to excuse his behavior by using the ADHD excuse. I looked at him and said "That's your problem, not mine. You're the one who is going to have to learn how to deal with it, not everyone else around you!"
It was like a light turned on in his head. Nobody had ever told him that.
I added "You can learn how to deal with it now, while you are surrounded by people who care about you or you can learn how to deal with it later, when you are on your own and nobody cares. Which will it be?"
The Dad (decent guy and a family friend) finally got full custody from his useless ex- was able to reclaim his kids about two months later and told me that was a transformational moment for his son. It is just sad that our asinine court system had to suck him dry financially before they finally did what was best for the kids and got the enabling ex- out of the picture, permanently.
The bigger trouble for my students: if homework was only 10%, classwork got bumped up to 40%. And *I* am the one deciding how good your classwork is, and if I tell you that copying the "Aim:" into your notebook and one problem with no answer isn't doing your classwork, you aren't getting a big chunk of that 40%.
I just finished “The Homework Myth” by Alfie Kohn. Very interesting.
“Can’t they find some Asian examples? “
Almost certainly not :)
“Not too many years ago, my wife and I took on a family of six foster kids, three girls 11-14 and three boys 6-9.”
Awesome save, Vigilanteman, way to go.
I’ve heard that the amount of homework that should be assigned is about 15 minutes per grade level, for everything.
Anything more and it starts to resemble work, for the sake of working.
The Educational “system” won’t ever get fixed. Think about it, how would that benefit the Powers that be to have a populace of critical thinking, highly educated masses?
What a load of BS. I worked 24+ hours a week a Farrell’s Ice Cream during my senior year and never missed a homework assignment. In grad school, I worked 42 hours a week with 16 units of course work each semester. During all the years I attended school, my parents ran the TV or stereo at a high volume level. Sometimes I just had to defer working on my homework until the 10 PM to 2 AM time slot when the noise was gone. I didn’t let that stop me. Losers make excuses.
Right on. No one likes the prospect of having to work hard as well as overcome adversity. I guess the few that manage to overcome will be the only ones who enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Final Exam Question (90% of school year): “In a five paragraph essay, explain why Sarah Palin is a dangerous bimbo and a ditz.” (/s)
Bump
Student performance is largely dependent on their lives at home, their parents, and their own desire.
If their PARENTS cannot provide an environment for them to do their homework, and enforce the need for them to do it, they won't do well.
A 'One size fits all' policy is part of the problem - not a solution.
Remember the parable of the ant and the grasshopper? The reward for years of hard work will be hordes of grasshoppers claiming the prosperity you worked so hard to attain isn't "fair". It must be seized and redistributed to those who made no effort.
Alvaro Ramirez could go to the library after school or perhaps in the evening... with his father (???). He could also buy ear plugs. His mother could step up and teach the little kids that she babysits to respect education by enforcing a period of quiet play or story time for the kids she babysits.
My mom’s smoking crack all night. And the guys she is with are all very noisy. Do I still have to do my schoolwork?
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