Easing homework stress for high-gear students (Palo Alto says no homework on weekends, breaks)

San Jose Mercury-News ^ | 8.25.03 | Nicole C. Wong

[mhking]

The blasé summer days of hangin' out, lyin' around and doin' nothing are ending this week for many Bay Area teenagers, but that doesn't necessarily mean a return to the manic mode typical of ambitious high school students.

Lynbrook High School in San Jose will kick off school today with new guidelines that discourage teachers from assigning homework over weekends and holidays.

And Palo Alto High School, which welcomes students back Tuesday, is granting its first homework holiday at the end of the semester to give high-gear students some time to chill.

Administrators' attempts to lighten the homework load are part of Bay Area high schools' efforts to ease student stress.

The gestures acknowledge that the intense competition to win admission into elite universities by cramming teens' schedules with unwieldy amounts of academic classes and extracurricular activities may be taking a toll on students' physical, mental and emotional well-being.

`Kids are people'

``It's recognizing these kids are people. They're not just these little academic machines,'' Assistant Principal Chuck Merritt said of Palo Alto High's efforts to alleviate student stress.

[LiberalSlayer99]

I just shake my head when I read stuff like this. The public schools are seriously failing the majority of students in this country...so what do the libs in the NEA come up with? Less homework.

My son started in a new parochial school...at orientation, we were told to expect 10 minutes of homework per grade level. By the time he's a senior in high school that's 2 hours...which doesn't seem so unreasonable to me. Build up the homework slowly...teach the kids to study (with the parents help, of course), and they'll be well-prepared for college.

These libs seem more concerned with the kids' feelings than with preparing them for life after school... Where you work 8-10 hours a day...and you sink or swim.

[ladylib]

When I went to high school in the mid-60's, we were told to expect 3 hours of homework every night. Ten hours is ridiculous and probably counterproductive -- but if these students and parents feel they have to do it to get into good colleges, fine.

I'll bet their teachers (probably educated in the 70's and 80's -- the pits in public education)never pulled that many hours on homework.

[Whateducation?]

Unfortuneately, I do not find this shocking. The intentional dumbing down of our students will continue, and our nation will end up with a populace of uneducated people. Some of the key words to look up regarding this issue are "Goals 2000," "Outcome based education" and the "school to work program." Anyone with children should know exactly where this is headed. Good luck.