| Should students be assigned homework over the weekend?
during March Break? over the Christmas Holidays?
Should tests be given on Mondays?
Should teachers be prohibited from giving out big assignments just
before exams?
 The
issues of how much and when to assign homework are getting more and more
"air time" around board rooms, staff rooms and parent meetings.
No homework on the weekend, during March
Break or even the Christmas holidays. Forget about tests on Mondays. No
big assignments four days before exams.
A toughened curriculum; the compression of
high school from five to four years; the high numbers of students holding
down part-time jobs; the pressure to enroll you children in a wide variety
of groups and organizations after school; and many more issues such as
parents who do not have much time in the evening to spend any time with
their children have all given rise to the fact that homework overload is
now one of the hottest topics of concern among parents and students.
Most boards have recommended a guideline of
about 10 minutes of homework per night per grade level. For example, a
child in Grade 3 would expect to have 30 minutes of homework while a child
in Grade 8 would have 80 minutes of homework. Nevertheless, there are many
parents who find that their children are doing hours of homework every
night while others complain that their children do not get any homework.
The problem with homework is that it
punishes families that try to give their children an all-round education
outside of school. If your child is involved in sports, cultural or
recreational activities during the week, it often means having an early
dinner before being rushed out of the house for a 7 p.m. start time. By
the time you get back home it is close to 9 p.m. and there is just enough
time to have a bath, a snack and then get into bed so that you can have
enough sleep to be fresh in the morning. There just isn't time during the
evening for a couple of hours of homework so families are being punished
for getting their children involved in extra activities.
Many children are denied the opportunity to
ride their bikes or play in the park after school because their homework
comes first. And yet we continue to hear critics point out the problems of
overweight youth and a lack of activity among young boys and girls.
Many studies have proven that there is no correlation between the amount
of homework and success in school. This means that teachers should really
wonder whether homework is actually achieving its purpose. If it is not
achieving an education goal, then what is it doing.
Unfortunately, homework is often the
residual work that is not completed during class time as teachers load the
students with seatwork just to keep them busy and occupied as a form of
classroom management. This is having a detrimental effect on the
conscientious students who will spend hours each night to complete the
assignments, while the hard to manage children often ignore the homework,
choosing to face the consequences ( if any ) the following day.
This is an issue that is going to remain
around for a long time.
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