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

economist.com

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

#61

Post by haihaibye »

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.

India is not Sub Saharan Africa poor but has ~20% of their population living in poverty which they define as something like 50 cents a day.

This is a bit of a numbers/definition game.

I don't know if there's an official definition of poor but if over half of the population lacks indoor plumbing and makes only a few dollars a day, I'd say most people in the 1st world would call it a poor country.

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

#62

Post by germinalphrase »

dingaling wrote: post #27
bsder wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Never? I find that hard to believe. Writing, to take one example, requires practice. The amount of practice you can get in a single academic year maxes out at 180 hours without homework and you would have no time to actually teach. I can imagine that 5 hours a week of writing homework in English rapidly exceeds the amount of time you could ever spend in class.

If children aren't receiving sufficient formalised practice in 30 hours of school per week then the curriculum is too crowded. Imagine a manager saying "you need to brush up on your C++. But we're too busy to arrange training. An hour a day after work should help instead" Children need time to develop in ways other than rote education. Homework steals that time from them. I am quite happy to write "did not have time…

As a teacher, I can confirm that state standards are generally overcrowded. This naturally leads to (for instance) high school students who don't know their parts of speech, but - you know - gotta keep moving.

The discrete goals that schools are expected to fulfill are excessive, poorly defined, and politically vulnerable. It's a odd game.

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

#63

Post by potatote »

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.

I grew up in a poor SE Asian country, and felt the same as you (that my experience with parents' involvement in education is quite limited). I think most of what we read about in the US are biased toward China or developed Asian countries for better or worse.

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

#64

Post by vezycash »

haihaibye wrote: post #56
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?

Results from two countries should be generalized to every country in the world?

If you travelled a little bit like I have, you'll discover a few things.

E.g. The poor are usually uneducated. Meaning they can't help with homework.

Even in poor black American communities, house work is often more important than school work.

More important, the poor tend to work longer and harder on mental jobs.

They most impoverished behave like reptiles (no insult intended) give birth to many children and abandon them to varying degrees. (Fulani people actually, literally abandon their kids and may never see em again)

Read about how American Indian handled children.

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

#65

Post by BeetleB »

This article is rather poor. So many things not considered:

1. Perhaps people in some countries get a lot more homework than others. This does not look like a normalized plot.

2. Perhaps some countries see helping their kids with homework as a positive, whereas others do not.

3. What is the pressure to do well? We already have another HN submission on the pressures students have in India to do well. Maybe people in developed countries don't help them as much because they know their kids are not at risk of not being able to get into college.

Spend an hour and you can probably double the list above.

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

#66

Post by ksenzee »

samsonradu wrote: post #26
nothrabannosir wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Isn't it OP's job to present proof for his claim? No, it’s not his job. I’m guessing programming is probably his job. He’s not a researcher and this is not a peer reviewed journal. This is a place where amateurs of conversation come to discuss things that are of interest, but most of us know nothing about, in our spare time. It started out differently but that’s basically what it has evolved into. Providing citatio…

This is so spot on, and I guess sometimes people forget that internet forums are to be taken with a grain of salt and you should do your own research. The one thing I dislike the most is the IANAL - "Don't take this as legal advice" disclaimer that I see abused. I mean, really, who is naive enough to take random legal advice from strangers?

"IANAL and this is not legal advice" is not meant to help naive strangers. It's meant as a defense against a potential lawsuit. https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/683/usa-is-i-am-not-...

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

#68

Post by madengr »

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…

Ha ha, same issue with me last night. My 3rd grade boy brought home some horribly long reading comprehension homework. He HATES English homework. I do too. Fortunately my wife took over as I was becoming frustrated.

I do enjoy helping with math & science homework, but that’s it.

My 6th grade daughter is total opposite; never had a B student, science fair winner, violin & cello player. My son a video game & skateboard slacker; just like me. The joys of parenting.

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

#69

Post by bunderbunder »

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…

It's really too bad the inverted classroom model hasn't become any more popular.

In a nutshell, the idea is to take the traditional breakdown of what is done in class and what is done at home, and swap it: Kids do their readings and watch recorded lectures at home. And then they work on problem sets and projects in class, typically in groups.

It's a really clever idea. Compared to the traditional model, it has so many interesting advantages: It levels the playing field between kids whose parents have time and inclination to help them with homework and those who don't. It makes the teacher much more available for questions and any necessary 1:1 assistance. Having kids work together (even on math problem sets!) helps them to learn better, and has the side benefit of giving them more opportunity to develop social skills.

I've heard it criticized for expecting students to have better access to technology at home than they necessarily do. In the case studies I've read about, though, the schools supplied equipment to students who needed it, and the most dramatic relative improvements were seen among the kids from less wealthy families.

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

#70

Post by el_benhameen »

jchrisa wrote: post #44
CannisterFlux wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If my kid's school had homework I'd probably start looking for a new school.

What type of school does your kid go to? I was told by a parent with older kids that our kindergarten has homework, which I'm not thrilled about.
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