Or, how about reinstituting the honorable decision implied by the letter, "F?"As many schools start their year this week, one in Holyoke, Massachusetts, is doing away with an educational staple: homework.
Like other schools in the district, the day at the Kelly School, which serves kindergarten through eighth grade, will be two hours longer next year. But then students are done.
Principal Jackie Glasheen says research is mixed on the benefits of homework and students will get more out of extra time with teachers than trying to do assignments at home.
Or, asking why, when shit flows downhill in the classroom, it seems invariably to leave the teachers gasping for air?
No more homework, but still a breath assailable, ain't complaining.
ReplyDeleteGiven Holyoke's demographics, it's right call.
ReplyDeleteSee
http://www.towncharts.com/Massachusetts/Demographics/Holyoke-city-MA-Demographics-data.html
The underlying idea is that in communities and cultures where parents are unavailable (missing, working two or more jobs, very sick, drug addicts, etc.) and / or not well educated, the children (K-10) do not and / or cannot benefit from homework. In order to do the homework correctly, they need to have already learned the material in class.
Conversely, children with well educated parents, guardians, an involved extended family, etc. (with time, energy, patience, and articulateness) tend to do better.
Anecdotally, in my career,I never had a great student without an excellent personal support system.
Homework has an interesting history.
Wikipedia does a surprisingly good job covering homework.
For those wanting to further consider the issue of homework think more along the lines of money, politics (including the fine art of finger pointing), preconceived & unexamined prejudices (eg culture), as usual, educational research itself is, for the most part, the last thing the majority of the American public seems interested as well as most journalists and politicians. Pity.