The Homework Debate – Is It Time to Get Rid of Homework?
Where do you stand on the homework issue?
You may have noticed that there is a lot of talk surrounding the topic of Homework. A number of books(see below) have recently appeared criticizing homework claiming that kids gain nothing from doing the tons of homework they are assigned. Some even go so far as to say that homework is waste of time. These books draw on research that suggests that, for lower grades (1-6), homework does little-to-nothing to help improve grades. However, for the upper grades there has been some research that shows that homework can help with standardized testing scores — though there isn’t much research to thoroughly prove anything.
The books:
- The Homework Myth
by Alfie Kohn - The Case Against Homework:
by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish - The Battle Over Homework
by Harris Cooper
The books come at a crucial time, as parents have been saying that their children have too much homework, and that the increased amount of homework is putting stress not just on the students, but on the families too. An article on Newsday.com says that since 1981, time spent on homework is up 51 per cent.
Author Bennett agrees that too much homework hurts the whole family. “It takes away from family time, puts parents in an adversarial role with kids and interferes with the child’s ability to play and have other after-school activities.”
Parents also reported that they hate having to play the bad guy, as more often than not they have to police their children into completing assignments. Or they say that they have to devote hours of their own time in helping their kids with their homework — and that the amount of homework is destroying kids motivation and passion for learning.
But there has to be some good points to having homework, right?
Historically, teachers and parents alike have historically touted homework as being necessary to the development of good study habits, to building character, to teaching discipline, and boosting achievement. These things may be true, but author Kohn notes that they have “never been demonstrated empirically.” Kohn cautions that homework is behaviorally conditioning our children to not think for themselves, to just be obedient and do what they are told.
However, Kohn does say that homework has one solid benefit — mainly, if it is used as a tool to develop a love of reading. He also says that the point of education is to turn children into independent, critical thinkers that are responsible, happy people.
Homewurk dastroied mi brein
2 words: Homework Sucks!!! The school board is the thing I hate most in life besides sin and bratz dolls… which, if you ask me, are pretty much the same thing!
oh wait… I also hate the nazis. ALMOST as much as HOMEWORK!!!!!!!
i think home work is goood comeing from a 13 year old i think it helps me in my studys and when im siting at home doning nothing i like doing home work
i ment please ps.there is NO good thing about stupid useless itiotic homehork!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so so so love homework it so like rulei
like homework so sucks its like so borin
i think that we should have home work because other people who doesnt have guardens doesnt have any help at all i think that we should be happy when we get homework
we should have work i mean whats the hert of having homework !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE HOME WORK IT IS A WAST OF TIME…. IT DOSE NOT GIVE U THE TIME TO HAGGG WITH FRENDS AND FAMILY
I HATE IT….
i love homework because you learn new things everyday that you never knew before
I LOVE IT ITS FUN
Homework is a huge waste of time. I would like to enjoy a life outside of school rather than drown in assignments! We already spend time at school for so many hours a day, so why do we need more work from it at home? It’s redundant and time-consuming!
I think homework is not too bad… Well it can’t be that bad… I think that if you have good organization skills, and you can manage time well, you will succeed in homework assignments. But sometimes, I myself is very tired of homework… In that case, I’m totally against homework.
I abbsolutly resent homework! It takes away from possitive time with my mom and dad.
homework absolutely sucks ***
hey. im a middle schooler. i recently have written 2 persuasive essays and hav a 120 student signed petition against math homework from a teacher who has taken the job for math in the middle of the year. in all the articles ive read, my opinion stands firm here: to the adults(and teachers), you say it is good only because you no longer have to do it. granted, students like myself are also biased. truth is, there is no median. now my math teacher is for pre-alg. and she has literally given out packets of work to be finished the following day. for the students, yes homework sucks. i hate it. otherwise i wouldnt battle it like i do. i say, students need to PROVE that homework is bad. WRITE A BOOK! WRITE AN ESSAY! prove it with FACT! teachers can’t fight the truth, and my favorite saying is: “you should not be graded by the busywork that you do, but by the knowledge demonstrated on tests”. -students of a middle school my grade went from A+ to low B after the teacher change and the load add of homework. do you know why? i got a letter. it showed all my grades. for tests: 98, 98, 94, 95, 96, 98, 98 homework: 68 i have boycotted homework and payed for it. so now i have taken a new strategy. post your support, lets pray this works
allysa brown, you have the right mindset.
i hate homework. i have other thing to do with my life other than homework!! i hate it!!
homework should be about 30 min only. IT isnt proven to make someone dummer unless you are just plain retarded.
Homework rocks! But only when you are in the mood for it, which would never happen.
man i all know you guys hate homework so do i but there is no point in doing homework.We do work 6 to 5 hours a day of work then we have to go home and do more :O.please god help us down on earth who ever invented homework is probably the smartest a.k.a dumbest man in the world.peace
well see yah later going to do my dumb homework
hi? i hate homework
As a parent of 6 children (my youngest is now 13) I say get rid of homework until the junior year of High School. Instead, children should be doing independent work, during class, that will show the teacher if you are able to work alone. In the junior and senior years some homework should be assigned so as to mimic real life, when extra work is sometimes necessary. Our children seem to be experiencing ’burn-out’ with no love of learning, leading to greater difficulty for our teachers to teach them. LESS IS MORE! Send the parents e-mail notices, daily or weekly, about their child’s progress and they will be able to help the teachers do the job they are paid to do. Give the parents DVDs with all of their student’s school books. Give all of the parents CDs with a copy of the teacher’s lesson plan. If parents have the right tools then they can, and I believe will, involve themselves in the education of their children. This will relieve much of the burden from the teacher and remove the complaints from parents at the end of the semester that, “if I had only known.” “The times are new, and so we must think anew, and then we will save our country.” Abraham Lincoln The circumstances were different then but the principle applies now and the desperation is felt by many of us parents.
m duin a debate ryt now for homework nd m against ova herfe i found many point of views… m kinda confused i guess dere shuld be homework but the max time suld be 1 hr i live in saudi arabia aka KSA nd scools here giv loads of hw…poor me
i agree wit hmwurk hatter…. i 2 live in KSA..+ i got this debate on homework 2morrow
I m also agreed wth hmwurk hater…. nD i m also frm Jeddah,Saudi Arabia nD surfin fo ma speech fo 2morrows debate…………pooor fat black mee
What would you say if there was no more homework in the world?!? Now, how does homework prepare us for life if we’re never going to use? it’s not a life skill. And i dont think that we would use it for our furture job its point less. More reasons its useless is when you grow up and get a good job you will never use homework for a way to slove things.and those are some reasons i think homework should be banned It’s only adding to the 6 hours we have at school all ready. Homework is useless. And that only takes time away for fun things with your family like games and after school activites and it can ruine weekeds for familys. I think homewrok really gets into valluble thing with your family. and those are some reasons i think homework should be banned Homework is like repeating the lesson all over again as if we did not all ready have enough to learn in class. But we still have to do it and more and 60% of children don’t even do or like homework. Some times the parents even help the childern so they don’t learn at all and it waste time even more that it should take.and those are some reasons i think homework should be banned. It is said that kids spend an average of 7-10 hours a week on homework and that’s a lot of homework over 3 hours a day. Now if you ask me i think that is alot of time spent homewrok. And in plus some teachers dont even correct or grade homework. And if you stay up to late that can damege your health like sleep and can cause kids to stress. and those are some reasons i think homework should be banned. I know that some people say that homework is needed, but only some kid’s need homework only to inprove and help them learn and refresh but not all need this so it is a waste of time. Personaly i do not agree at all i think its a waste of time and only one in eight kids need help with there homework but if there was none it would be easer . And if those kids needed extra help they can ask the teacher. And as my conclusion i think homework is a wates of time and can runie family time and its is point less. Homework should be bannd in schools for point less use and waste of time and why should we do the lesson again if we understand it allready. I am a kid and i also think homewrok very much and i also think its a waste of time.
i think homework is badd.
yo homework sucks… everyone knows that but it also helps us develop into better minds. so banning it wouldn’t help nor would assigning endlass amounts. putting on a limit is the right thing to do.
Judging by the attrocious spelling in here, some of you could do with some extra study.
homework rules i love it i am on a debate against bad micheal for banding home work or keeping it i want to keep it uh oh here comes micheal better go bye!!!
i teach grade 4 and i have a
in my school we work 8 hours and some cienty people tell that we have to rest 8 hours and sleep other 8 so why they let us homework think it
why homework we are kids and we have to have fun
i am tired because i have a lot of homework
i agree that homework is a waste of time but i believe that they’re should still be homework but less of it.
Sheer Torture
i think homework is fun!!! it ruins our lives and we get really tired all the time. we start drugs to keep us awake we get addicted. teachers love to ruin our lives every day. do u think they are teachers to make us suffer?? only good teachers are sport teachers as the only homeowrk for those is make an exercise to do. so join me if you love homeowrk and want it to ruin our lives
i hate omework
homeworkk is useless. in science i always get homework and when i do it SHE NEVER CHECKS and when i dont do it SHE CHECKS! -_-”!
Homework is Fully GAY! Yeh! Totally!
O! homework is the worst thing in life, BILIEVE ME!!!!!
hello my name is shona and i love homework especilly 5000 word essays it puts me in my happy place. Homework is so awesome, i love who invented this thing called “homework”
hello homework is a poo!
Gosh, i don’t get it ! why does everyone hate homework? It totally refresens my mind. Everytime i go over seas i always take a book and write atleast 200words. I LOVE homework. Me & Shona must be cool. Yeah we are.
homework is poo we HATE it!!!!
My class at school is doing a debate about homework and being banned. My group has to agree with it. I reckon homework should be banned, but students can do privet study if they wish.