Wisconsin student sues over homework

CNEWS ^ | 1/24/05

[KidGlock]

Wisconsin student sues over homework

MILWAUKEE (AP) - A student whose vacation plans were spoiled has sued to end summer homework in Wisconsin, claiming it creates an unfair workload and unnecessary stress.

Peer Larson, 17, had lined up a dream camp counsellor job last June, but honours pre-calculus homework turned his summer into a headache. "It didn't completely ruin my summer, but it did give me a lot of undue stress both at home and at work," the high school junior said Thursday. "I just didn't have the energy or the time for it."

Larson and his father sued in Milwaukee County Circuit Court seeking the end of summer homework across the state. They argue that homework shouldn't be required after the 180-day school year is over.

"These students are still children, yet they are subjected to increasing pressure to perform to ever-higher standards in numerous theatres," the suit said.

School administrators have told the family that honours courses require some summer work.

Whitnall School Supt. Karen Petric told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the district did its best to address the Larsons' concerns.

"I strongly believe the district acted appropriately and didn't do anything wrong," she said. "Court is not the place to solve it."

While students will probably root for the Larsons, lawyers contacted Thursday questioned the suit's legal grounds. Larson and his son had acted as their own legal counsel.

"This is the sort of thing that has been traditionally handled by school boards," said attorney Thomas Schrimpf. Another attorney, Timothy Baldwin, predicted the case would be dismissed.

The Jan. 10 lawsuit names a math teacher, three school administrators and the state's superintendent of public instruction. Wisconsin's attorney general's office will assign a lawyer to respond to the suit, said spokesman Brian Rieselman.

[luckystarmom]

If your working as a camp counselor, it probably does take the entire summer.

[KC_for_Freedom]

It would not be a full summer job at my scout camp but regardless, if it is a full time job, and his honor class wants a bunch of summer work too, then he simply has to start making choices. We all have had to do this. That this Boy Scout has not had to make any choices and now that he has one his father is suing to fix things does not bode well for the young man's maturity. What is the lesson here? When times get tough sue someone? If the kid is going to be an honor student he may as well learn now that some personal gratification has to be passed up. I can see him using his spare time at camp studying instead of going into town. I think I could live with that, but I would be mortified to have my dad sue the school I planned to attend next year.

[luckystarmom]

I have 2 concerns about summer work. One is what happens to kids that move to the district and start in September, are they going to be behind?

Also, kids need to take things like honors classes in order to go to college, so I think the school needs to get all of it's work done during the school year.

The teachers have a break during the summer, so why should a kid have school work.

I understand kids that are failing that need to take summer school, but I don't think that there should be a choice for a kid that actually does his work and must be smart.

I don't think the summer should be for academic school work unless it is to keep a child from failing.

[KC_for_Freedom]

You are entitled to those opinions. The issue in this case is that the young man wants it all. And the class HAS summer work. For students who transfer in, they probably have a non-honors class or if the student is strong enough then he/she can do the summer work as make up and turn it in the first few weeks of school. (If they have this option, then the summer camp guy should be able to do it that way too.). But if a course is a special course then maybe it is the summer work that entitles it to be called honors. Maybe the teacher has no way to make it through the school year if he/she has to spend two months re-covering the material from last year that was forgotten by half the class. You see a college course like this guy is preparing for will not slow down because kids are falling behind. Thats the nature of a college class. They just push on and if you are not prepared than you don't get the same grade as someone who does as well. Its not that you can't take a break in the summer, (and some teachers work like h*ll in the summer to gain additional skills or prepare for a new course in the fall); its that if you want the break, then maybe you don't want all the work an honors class is going to lay on you. The idea that summer is an aid for those falling behind is a good idea. The idea that summer is an opportunity to pull ahead is an equally good idea. Here is a poem about it:
The lives that great men gained or kept
Was not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept
Were toiling upward through the night.

Its part of the idea that all of us will not end up with equal outcomes, some will be more gifted, some will work harder, and some are gifted and work harder. This guy's father is not helping his son.

BTW, I worked out all summer with my fall sports team. (Except when I went to camp) Not everyone did the extra work in the summer, and the teacher was crazy to do all those hours without pay, but we did win the league each year so it seemed worth the extra effort.

[elli1]

Your post reveals that you didn't read the linked article.

[quietolong]

bump

[muawiyah]

Your reference to a BFA degree is a needless insult. There's absolutely no evidence that this kid has any artistic talent in the first place. Secondly, if you don't have the talent you aren't going to get a BFA since nobody will let you in a BFA program, and even if you did get in, you wouldn't be able to finish it.

A good artist who qualifies for a BFA should be able to handle colors well, do 200 to 1000 drawings/paintings/pieces per year, and provide focus in more than one method or standard.

I think you were referring, instead, to a degree in Physical Education and Recreation ~ that's where we get our coaches and recess teachers! Those who can read and write need not apply.

[muawiyah]

BTW, if you go after a BFA at any large state university, you will have to complete all the basic courses required of all other BA applicants, and that includes the 4 semesters of a foreign language.

No business major needs to aspire to anything like that.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

http://www.bartleby.com/61/33/H0323300.html

[luckystarmom]

I did AP (advanced placement) classes in high school twenty years ago without summer work. I don't see the necessity. I think that if two semesters worth of college engineering calculus can be covered during the school year, then I don't see what topics would need extra summer work.

I gained more by working in the summer.

[grellis]

Thinking back, I had to work part-time jobs all through high school so I could afford to go drinking on the weekends. I could have been out debauching every night if those funds had been made readily available to me.

Whom do I sue?

[KC_for_Freedom]

What would you have done if one of your AP teachers assigned summer reading? (Which is common now BTW?)

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Your parents?

:)

[grellis]

God bless my folks...I am the fifth of 6 kids. They didn't ransack my room nearly as often as they should have so I got away with quite a bit, but they refused to bankroll me!

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

They sound like wonderful parents.

-good times, G.J.P.(Jr.)

[luckystarmom]

Probably would not have been able to do that, and then my parents would have had to spend the money for me to take calculus in college. I may have had a more difficult time with engineering in college. In fact, I may have been so behind that I would have never been able to be an engineer, and then I would have never been able to pay all the taxes that I paid as an engineer.

[KC_for_Freedom]

You should have gone to law school by the way you evaded my trap, But I suspect if you were really faced with this situation, you would have gone to camp with the summer reading books packed in your duffle bag. (My son had this problem, and found the time dispite his incessent need to play video games.) I took calculas in college with my engineering curriculum. Back then it was assumed that a kid would need first year calc in the freshman year. Now with AP classes, most college bound kids are able to bypass some of the freshmen courses to enable them to take more multicultural courses or more bredth classes or graduate a semester early thus saving their parents or school loan one terms worth of tuition and housing. (a bunch I admit).

Thanks for giving this situation a good going over. I am glad you did not say your parents would sue over the extra work.

[luckystarmom]

I don't think that the parents should sue, but I also don't think the schools should have summer work.

[redneckerinBoston]

I personally support summer homework and I'm still a student. It doesn't take that long and it does serve a purpose. There is nothing worse than going to class and finding out that you have to waste the first two weeks reviewing. In college, we also lose the first discussion because nothing has been done to be discussed. If one has a moderate amount of summer homework (just a few hours), that would be better for all involved. In addition, all of the classes I had in high school had summer homework. My senior year, that homework gave us enough time to really study genetics instead of skimming over it like normal years. That extra bit of studying translated to 3's or higher for most students on the AP exam that year. Summer homework isn't a bad thing; no person in high school or college can truly claim to not have two or three hours in an entire summer to complete an assignment.