Hating Homework

I realized after I posed my comments on David Shenk's anti-homework inquiry that they would make a good blog post, so when you look at the bottom and see text very similar to the rest of what you're reading here, don't think less of me. As an educator, I have a knee-jerk reaction against anything that suggests doing less to further a child's intellectual abilities. However, I do understand that homework frustrates a lot of students, and that there might be alternatives. It should be no surprise though, that Shenk's rather lazy suggestion that homework is altogether useless made me cringe.

I think it'd ridiculous for anyone to write off the opportunities that homework offers. That said, I can understand why it's scoffed at by kids and parents: People (often including teachers) don't understand how to use it. Of course homework completion doesn't correlate with success in school. It's been shown time and time again that the only real push factors in student achievement are socioeconomic status and parent involvement. To take it one step further: success (usually) begets success.

What homework offers is not a laundry list of isolated, tedious tasks. Homework offers parents and their kids a chance to gauge, reinforce, and support academic success through cooperation and parental guidance. Is this a lot to ask of parents today? Sure. But that responsibility is what comes with having kids.

There are plenty of arguments to be made about whether or not too much homework gets given out, but keep in mind that teachers are under incredibly tight deadlines with regards to their curriculum. Sometimes, homework teaches new material, and that's just an occupational hazard (and a topic for another discussion). Also remember that the vast majority of studies that explore how kids spend their leisure time don't show them rushing to libraries, music lessons, etc... they're watching TV, playing video games, or surfing the web.

Maybe if parents started showing a little more finesse and willingness to engage and co-navigate the educational experiences of their kids, we'd have more successful students