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The Homework Debate – Is It Time to Get Rid of Homework?

Women and child doing homework together

Why should students not have 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 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.

See why homework is necessary and everything else homework related.

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