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More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

philly.com

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Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#61

Post by Mz »

robotresearcher wrote: post #57

The main benefit of homework is instilling the habit of working to a deadline without direct supervision, instead of giving in to distractions.

You can get similar benefits by giving kids chores at home. Bonus: Chores at home are typically more meaningful than homework. Homework is often "make work." But the trash actually needs to be taken out for reasons of basic sanitation to protect your health and quality of life. So you aren't teaching kids their lives and labor so do not matter that we can have them simply piss their lives away on make work.

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#62

Post by munificent »

zaccus wrote: post #8

Seriously, parents are complaining about 10-20 min of homework a night? Kids should be spending 1-2 hrs on homework every night, and if they run out of homework they should be working on a personal project or reading. That doesn't have to encroach on their fun time; I'm talking about 2 hrs max. Every night. That's not asking a lot. It's about learning how to manage your time and developing a productive routine. Kids…

Let's look at my first-grader's schedule. Kids need more sleep than adults, so we aim for about 11 hours. (For teens, they recommend 10, last I checked.) School is 7 hours. 1.5 hours for gymnastics, sports, or some other extra-curricular activity. An hour of transit. Another hour for breakfast and dinner (assuming all they do is sit down and eat, and don't help prepare anything or do the dishes). An hour for a bath. About thirty minutes to get dressed, brush teeth, pack bag, etc.

    11   - sleep
     7   - school
     1.5 - gymnastics
     1   - meals
     1   - transit
     1   - bath
     0.5 - get ready
We're at 23 hours, and there has been zero unstructured time (outside of playing in the bath). This is a first-grader. When she's older she'll be in school longer, have more extra-curricular activities, and more socializing.

You're telling me two hours isn't asking a lot?

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#63

Post by vezzy-fnord »

lordCarbonFiber wrote: post #54
michaelbuddy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you're losing me with this. Parents, exhausted after work, kids already 7 hours of school, then there's this new set of chores to deal with instead of enjoying life, you know life, the finite thing that runs out. that AND this goal of "education" you seem to have is not the actual goal for most people. My goal for me or my kids is not to "be educated" Just like a goal of a society is not to "have laws"

It's an investment sure and you're right in asserting that childhood is finite. Fortunately, the US is interesting in that they give you the freedom to home school. If knowledge isn't a priority we as a country give you the right to deny it to your child. In my personal experience (and I suspect yours given you're on this site) my entire livelihood is dependent on my knowledge. For me, this was cultivated on the latt…

Fortunately, the US is interesting in that they give you the freedom to home school. If knowledge isn't a priority we as a country give you the right to deny it to your child.

That you equate homeschooling with "denial of knowledge" makes me strongly question your intentions. If homeschooling is the denial of knowledge, we must also concede compulsory public schooling is the institutionalized withholding thereof.

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#64

Post by Kalium »

kha wrote: post #49
Kalium wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only there was something in there that could be easily cut and is significantly less important than homework...

I agree, sleep is overrated.

Exactly! Get that caffeine addiction going early. It's good practice for when you're in YCombinator later trying to develop your hyper-bacon-geo-social-game.

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#65

Post by JadeNB »

Kalium wrote: post #31
thedufer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not being a parent, I don't know what it's like now, but high school was by far the busiest and most stressful time in my life. I saw an average of 2-3 hours of homework per night, after 1.5 hours commuting, 8 hours at school, and 2-3 hours at sports practice. On an average day, that leaves an hour for breakfast/dinner and 8.5 hours for sleep; multiple nights in a row of 4-5 hours of sleep and no other breaks were no…

If only there was something in there that could be easily cut and is significantly less important than homework...

Assuming you mean the sports practice: I also personally value homework more than sports practice, but it seems callous and self-centred to assume that our own preferences are automatically right for others.

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#66

Post by dctoedt »

lordnacho wrote: post #37

The problem with homework is it's used as a form of accountability. My French teacher used to joke when collecting papers : "Ou est votre dette a la societe?" (Apologies for missing accents.) Of course what it should be is like at university. The professor can't spend all his time with you, so you get a rough list of what you should know about. It's then up to you to judge whether you need to read a bit more or a bit…

> ... you can simply ask your kid some enlightening questions. It's probably a lot more interesting for them that way.

Part-time (law) professor here. Thinking of enlightening questions is often quite difficult.

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#67

Post by s73v3r »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #3
tjr wrote: post #2

Hmm. The article alludes to some studies that back up their point, but, anecdotally, I think I got more out of doing homework than I did out of sitting in class...

Exactly! This dovetails with the Khan Academy approach, of listening to lecture online, then doing homework in class with the teacher there as tutor. Public school is usually run upside-down from what makes sense.

What data do you have to back that up?

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#69

Post by Kalium »

JadeNB wrote: post #65
Kalium wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only there was something in there that could be easily cut and is significantly less important than homework...

Assuming you mean the sports practice: I also personally value homework more than sports practice, but it seems callous and self-centred to assume that our own preferences are automatically right for others.

Broadly, I think there's a price to be paid for any given life choice. You don't get to have it all for free. In this case, the person chose to pay in sleep. I'm suggesting that they had other options on offer.

Yes, I understand it can seem callous. In this case, I honestly believe that my preferences are superior in the vast majority of instances (although demonstrably not all).

Re: More parents, students saying 'no' to homework

#70

Post by mikeash »

mayneack wrote: post #32
jsvaughan wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the learning benefit could be because of the change of scenery, not because one side is better

Or because they select for people that are able/willing to make a choice to move across the world/border.

Indeed. Shake a box of rocks for a while and you'll find the largest rocks at the top. It's not because the top makes rocks grow, or because moving to the top makes them bigger, it's simply that larger rocks move up more readily in this environment.
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