Homeworkin'

[moominmolly]

this article from mzrowan got me thinking about homework -- one of my favorite things to hate. The article details one father's attempts to do his 8th-grade daughter's homework every night for a week, and it gave me chills. 3 hours! a day

Comments

[blk]

Our house has homework. Rather a lot, at times. It sucks. My attitude is that it is something that needs to be done, because it is expected at the school they go to. They like their school a lot (science/tech magnet school) and so they trade doing homework for the opportunity to go there (which in turn will give them better access into a college they want). If they chose to go to their regular district school, they would almost certainly get less/easier homework (as observed by seeing what other kids nearby have to do

[prosicated]

Once I got to the collegiate level, I used to love homework: it was the chance to dig into subjects with my own pace, my own questions, and my own motivation. No matter how complex, long, or hard the subject, homework was self-directed in a way that class time wasn't.
I frequently wonder if I would have done my homework much, if at all, as a younger person if I'd been given that framework: that homework is a chance to be self-directed and to dig into subjects in whatever order or manner pleases you, whether that means working backwards, working in the backyard with your toes in the grass, or taking a break after every 5 minutes of studying.
This is only sort of related to your question, but in answer to WTF homework, I had to chime in with the tiny piece of reframing that changed my life as an academic. =)

[gosling]

I know parents who have decided to homeschool their kids because the homework load on top of a long day at school was just too overwhelming. Their children were not getting a chance to do anything else (much as the article describes

[rosefox]

This is so incredibly sad.

[beloitst]

Not a parent, but I did have 3 - 4 hours of homework a night in junior high and high school, and keep in mind I went to 4 different high schools. The homework/study loads were pretty consistent across all of them.

[twoeleven]

The amount of homework assigned these days seems excessive. ISTM that the motivation is that more work = more learning, which is only true to up to a certain point (and with the usual stars and daggers of outrageous caveat, especially WRT Bloom's Taxonomy).

My main objection to homework hasn't changed since I used to get homework, back in the pre-pottery neolithic. It seems rather silly -- and rather stressful -- for all of the teachers to assign homework due the next day at once. Because, clearly, exhaustion, anxiety, and boredom are the best teachers. :P