Childrens is tender ... we don't want to do anything that might bruise their little egos ... or cause teecher any extra work!
Childrens is tender ... we don't want to do anything that might bruise their little egos ... or cause teecher any extra work!
She didn’t mention being on the internet or gaming at night.
Years ago, when my youngest was in 2nd grade. . .both girls were sick with bronchitis for an entire week. I stopped by the school daily, and the teacher had zero assignments for her.
Friday of that week, she hands me a pile of workbooks and papers nearly 6 inches high, and informs me they all needed to be completed prior to her return on Monday.
I took the pile directly to the Principal’s office, noting that I had signed in each afternoon for 4 days, and gotten nothing. The teacher was called to the Principal’s office, and claimed she was “too busy to provide work on a daily basis”.
Needless to say, my youngest was exempted from the work. Not that it mattered, we pulled both out a few weeks later, and began homeschooling. . .
The “essence” of homework is to provide additional time for practicing and reinforcing what was learned. If the teacher is giving half the class time to practice and do what would’ve been their homework, it doesn’t seem like much time is left for the actual lesson.
If only the education system actually used this standard. If only our education system was held to the same standard the drug industry was held to.
A new drug goes through clinical trials that test the efficacy of that drug. The drug must be proven to be more helpful than harmful.
New education ideas do not have to pass these sort of standards before they are implemented and our children are forced to endure their often deleterious effects.
New Math and Whole Word are just the most recent failures that have been forced on our children to the detriment of our children and our society with no research or testing to support the decision to implement the policy.
No homework?. . .but what will all the puppies eat now??
If a student reads for 30 minutes per day, including the newspaper, by the end of the year, that student will perform better than 80% of his/her peers.
It just makes sense. The more you read, the better you read. School work takes reading. So does work.
In my experience...
I attended public school back when they had sectioning with the slowest kids moving down and the achievers moving up to more challenging classes.
Beginning in 4th grade, I had 4-6 hours of homework per night working math problems, reading chapters in the textbooks, writing essays, research papers, etc.
We had great teachers who pushed us hard. By 7th grade I had finished calculus and was studying the Existentialist philosophers.
When I got to West Point, I saw nothing new in math or physics; I had the same books in high school for the most part.
I also found time for reading thousands of science fiction stories, playing sports, church, the school band, etc. What I did NOT have time for was an extensive social life and getting into teenage trouble.
I still have a teenage child-by-marriage at home. Her time is filled with texting, chatting, Facebook, watching TV, etc. Utterly empty except for the SJW programming and propaganda.
Little wonder that our society is going to Hell in a handbasket!
I am not going to imply all, or even most, but I have seen some teachers who simply babysit kids during the day, and send “homework” so the parents can teach their children.
We have a lot of kids that if it weren't assigned, they would never read.
Were people smarter 100 years ago?
https://www.quora.com/Are-individuals-today-smarter-than-those-who-lived-100-years-ago
It is a fact. Americans read more in the 1920’s than at any other time.
Then came the radio.
And movies
And TV
And computers
And smart phones
Mix in the scourge of progressivism and do what feels good and you have what we have today. No responsibility. No tolerance. No basic skills. Even worse - a refusal to accept or face facts. Just self-aggrandizement.
There is an app for that. It’s called good parenting and homework ( where facts are learned ).
A bit off subject but Jacques Barzun’s pithy aphorism rings true:
Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred.
The same goes with outside reading and the required book reports........
Sorry but I'm a firm supporter of homework..............Without the education my nephew received in high school, which required lots of homework, I doubt the educational opportunities which were open to him after high school would have been available.
Homework used to be the time when the kid gets to practice what he learned during the school day, and build upon it.
Nowadays, homework is nothing more than regurgitation that requires no thinking and understanding whatsoever and as such, it is basically useless. In that sense, I agree with this teacher.
You don’t become a great athlete by watching football games on TV. You don’t become a great musician by watching music videos. You don’t become a great writer by composing texts.
Physical exercise makes your body stronger. Mental exercise makes your mind stronger.
Both forms of exercise are what kids need to discover what they are capable of doing, and that is exactly what education is supposed to be doing.
I’m not apposed to homework in general - kids need to hone the skills they learned through practice and repetition.
The thing I HAVE learned, from my home-school friends, is how much time is WASTED in public schools every day. Kids do not need to be there 7 hours, as they are now. After paying attention to it, I see the point - so much time is wasted on useless courses, assembly, announcements, teacher dithering, and especially discipline and order in class.
Kids and their parents who have ambition will still put in the extra work. And those same students will be prepared for the demands of college, where “homework” (really dorm room and library stacks work) isn’t going away.
I pretty much never did homework as a child, anyway. Couldn’t see the point of most of it, which nothing but make-work - repetitive drills and such. Drove my teachers crazy because when called on I could pretty much always give the answers. But I was quick learner - I suppose some kids probably need the extra practice.
“Let’s see, now. Which of these candidates do we hire? Priyanka and Rohit were first in their classes and obviously worked their butts off to achieve what they did. Or should we hire Bobby or Sue who ate dinner with their families every night and excelled at capturing lightning bugs?”
How can homework not help? Anything that reinforces what you have learned has to help. Yes, it is a long day in school, most of it wasted. There is very little serious work done. There is certainly no repetition of what is taught.
All of my child’s work is homework. She is homeschooled.
My grandson was bringing home homework by the third grade and I thought that was a little much. He is still today even as a sophomore a book worm as far as reading books go. He has the concentration and yes he does play video games. My oldest grandson who didn't do much homework graduated with honors and got a full ride scholarship for college to begin preparation for his goal becoming a surgeon. Both grandsons are honors students and neither one did that much homework because they finished it at school. With teachers asking for and getting Block Scheduling meaning 90 minute classes that really should be enough study of a subject for a day.
All of that said I am not against voluntary advanced classes or courses where more intense studies are offered requiring homework if that is the intellectual interest of the student. My reasoning is the students interest will motivate the additional homework. Most students are not college bound yet our education systems gears itself to try and make all kids college prep and by doing so meaning in many cases learning to take test rather than acquire and retain practical and functional knowledge that will actually help them in life and the job market.
Signed,
Former Sweat Hog