The Homework Debate

There is a growing homework debate across America. While some teachers completely give up assigning homework to students, others still believe in the power of homework to shape young minds.

Teacher Brandy Young is one of the teachers who sparked off a national debate, by completely renouncing homework.

Young works in the Godley School, in Fort Worth. She gave a notice to parents that she will not assign work outside class.

She says she bases her decision on research, which has shown no conclusive evidence that homework helps a child perform better in school.

Instead, she asked parents to spend the evenings in ways that are proven to ensure success for students. Methods like eating dinner together, reading together,  playing outside and tucking the child in bed early.

It sounds like a great advice for all families. However some wonder if a little bit of homework could go a long way.

Some parents tell stories of teachers who give their students with boring, mindless homework that wastes a lot of time. These are families already stressed out from parents’ jobs and kids’ homework activities.

Some newspapers are touting the homework apocalypse, even, with headlines like “We’re destroying our kids with homework” and others along those lines.

Some parents tell stories of fifth graders who are supposed to be in school from 8 pm to 5 pm. Others are upset because their child is supposed to read 10 books every day and can’t get enough sleep.

There is some research which supports these parents and teachers – a 2006 survey found that homework in primary grades doesn’t have to do with academic performance, and it’s only beneficial to older students, in smaller doses.

However, upon a closer look, most researchers agree that smaller amounts of homework help students get good study habits, act responsibly and involve parents in their child’s education.

These studies recommend between 10 and 20 minutes of homework daily, for the youngest students. Most teachers only ask their students to do simple things, together with parents- things like practicing counting, reading aloud and recognizing words.

What’s your opinion on this article? Do you think that your child receives too much homework? Or maybe we should focus on our children more? Please leave a comment below.

Image Source – Wikipedia