Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework • Hacker News Board

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#51

Post by bunderbunder » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:02 PM UTC

lumberjack wrote: post #24

The reason for this is pretty simple: you get free public education in these poor countries, but only if you pass the entrance examinations. For a lot of families this is the only way for their kids to get out of poverty. Moreover because of the way the school system is structured, your kid could easily fall behind at age 7 and never recover. The reason for this is because of stratified classes, where they group kids…

> For a lot of families this is the only way for their kids to get out of poverty.

By contrast, in countries that have been industrialized for over a century, the preceding several generations found that they could relatively easily find low- to moderate-skill factory jobs that secured a reasonably prosperous lifestyle.

There are also industrialized countries with stratified school systems, and I see that some of them fall toward the bottom of the graph.

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#52

Post by vezycash » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:17 PM UTC

This article conflicts with my experience. All I think this article proves is that data is malleable to a researcher's goals.

Also, the results from the highly competitive India and China might be skewing the results.

Finally, survey is the worst method for this research. Because parent would lie instead of admitting negligence about their kid(s) education.

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#53

Post by fhood » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:38 PM UTC

CannisterFlux wrote: post #37

lighthazard wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An argument can be made that doing homework with your child is the leisure.

Ha, I think that argument is made by people who don't have kids (with homework). It's not leisure for me at all. While I worry about being branded a terrible father for this comment, I will admit that I am a terrible teacher. I have no patience for it. My kids mess around, constantly want breaks ("Well I've written a line! time for a 10 minute break!"), waste hours doing shit that should take them minutes... When the…

Take comfort in the knowledge that you are not alone. My mother often spent an hour or more just trying to get me to admit that I even had homework.

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#54

Post by liberte82 » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:42 PM UTC

Joke's on them when the US decides educational facts are fake news and we pull a full 180.

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#55

Post by liberte82 » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:44 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #40

lighthazard wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An argument can be made that doing homework with your child is the leisure.

No it is not. I mean, that would be like saying that argument can be made that sky is green - argument can be made, but is rarely true.

In Japanese, blue and green are considered the same color, just different shades. So is true in some places.

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#56

Post by haihaibye » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

vezycash wrote: post #52

This article conflicts with my experience. All I think this article proves is that data is malleable to a researcher's goals. Also, the results from the highly competitive India and China might be skewing the results. Finally, survey is the worst method for this research. Because parent would lie instead of admitting negligence about their kid(s) education.

Maybe the 2 biggest countries on earth should count more than your personal experience?

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#57

Post by mjburgess » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

yoz-y wrote: post #12

mjburgess wrote: post #4

It's important to add here that homework has never been shown to improve grades or educational outcomes generally, and it's a very well-studied topic.

It has absolutely helped me to drill in my multiplication tables and learn to write at least somewhat legible letters. If there is one thing I regret about my college years it is not doing math assignments.

By "homework" i mean specifically comparing cohorts of students in high-school that do and do not do the homework they're set, and connecting that with long-term grade trajectories.

I dont have the sources to hand, but i recall an economist talking about large studies in this area.

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#58

Post by scubaguy » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

maire wrote: post #38

Ideally, parents shouldn't spend any time on their children's homework. I can understand answering occasional questions and giving encouragement but nothing more. Children learn by figuring out homework on their own. Otherwise, why have homework?

You can spend time on homework in many ways: Getting your children to think about problems from different angles; Understanding where they struggle and should spend more time; Understanding where they are fine and let explore on their own; Learning how to set the appropriate guidelines to foster good study habits.

It is amazing how even two kids from the same parents can vary greatly in personality and how they learn. It takes time and energy to find the best way to nurture each child.

Oh yeah, and it feels good too. Remember that time when you spent hours explaining something to your kid and he suddenly got that "Eureka!" look? It's hard to quit that.

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#59

Post by ivanche » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 3:07 PM UTC

walshemj wrote: post #50

devdas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In poorer countries, getting an education is the easiest way out of poverty. All else is not equal here.

But India - the top on the list is not a poor country and I suspect that the really poor in India are not doing this but the growing middle class are.

Wow, bold claim. India's GDP per capita for 2017 is $7,200, ranked 156th in the world. I'd say they're not far away from being poor. Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...

Re: Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework

#60

Post by josephorjoe » Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

CannisterFlux wrote: post #37

lighthazard wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An argument can be made that doing homework with your child is the leisure.

Ha, I think that argument is made by people who don't have kids (with homework). It's not leisure for me at all. While I worry about being branded a terrible father for this comment, I will admit that I am a terrible teacher. I have no patience for it. My kids mess around, constantly want breaks ("Well I've written a line! time for a 10 minute break!"), waste hours doing shit that should take them minutes... When the…

Exactly.

And on top of all that, you're lucky if the teachers even look at the homework they assigned.

My kid's teacher doesn't bother -- she emails photos of the answer sheets to the parents because I guess we are supposed to review the homework too?

Maybe this isn't obvious... but if I wanted to homeschool my kid, I would homeschool my kid.