Homework is a vital part of a child's education because it teaches them
to develop independent work habits.
According to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (Newsweek magazine named him one of the 50 most influential rabbis in the United States three years in a row, including sixth in 2010.), "Homework is a vital part of a child's education because it teaches them
to develop independent work habits. But when it's overdone, it makes a
child nervous, stressed and unhappy. More importantly, it snuffs out the
very joy of learning and pulls a child away from the family. Therefore,
homework should be assigned by teachers in moderation."
"According to Rabbi Shmuley, homework for today's children is getting out
of control. When children are given excessive amounts of homework, they
become pressured, anxious, nervous and even depressed, he says. So what
is the purpose of homework, and is that purpose being fulfilled? Rabbi
Shmuley talks about the negative consequences of too much homework and
why teachers and parents need to rein it in."
The point of doing homework is to get children to
show initiative and help them absorb their lessons.
"Rabbi Shmuley says the point of doing homework is to get children to
show initiative and help them absorb their lessons. These objectives can
be met with 90 minutes of schoolwork a night, but when homework exceeds
two or three hours a night, it begins to encroach on family life and a
child's well-being. Children become overworked and detached from their
family and begin to hate school. "All pursuit of knowledge becomes a
chore, a burden," Rabbi Shmuley says."
"Excessive homework also interferes with a child's play time, Rabbi
Shmuley says. They have no free time for hobbies or time to develop
healthy interests in reading or music, he says."
Reasons why teachers should assign homework
"Reasons why teachers should assign homework:
1.
To let students practice what they learned. This is very important
when teaching a subject such as math, physics or chemistry. There are concepts
that can be learned, but skills need to be practiced to become an expert.
Ideally, this practice could be done at school, in the class, so that students
could have the opportunity to ask me questions if they get stumped. However,
the reality is that there is never enough time for practice in the classroom.
In fact, a lot of the time, the curricula are so
packed, so crammed, that there is no time for practice in the classroom, and
homework must be assigned. However, some teachers over-practice
concepts, and students start disliking the discipline, just because of the
monotony of the exercises. Too much practice is also no good! There needs to be
a balance.
2.
To let students investigate on their own, learn how to find answers to
questions, show that the teacher does not have an answer to everything. Again, just like with the "practice-type" homework,
"research-type" homework could be done in class time, but if
class-time is limited, homework is the only option.
3.
To let students build, work as a team, on their own time, with their
own schedule. This allows students
to work on their own time, to plan out how much effort they need to put in. A
lot of the time, projects are done in groups, and just because of that, there
is a need to learn cooperation. Because of these projects, many times strong
friendships are built. The students have to plan to
meet outside of class, in their own homes. They have to learn to work together,
to split up a job into individual parts. All of these skills are essential in real
life. Working on a group project is not the left-overs
from a class - it is the ultimate type of homework. (Read more:
http://www.nucleuslearning.com/content/what-purpose-homework)"
Homework
has a negative impact on the less able, reinforcing their negative
self-esteem.
Gasp! No homework! Heresy! Well,
interestingly, educational researcher, John Hattie was seeking to
identify factors which had positive impact on children’s learning: guess
what he found?
Homework has no significant positive impact at
all. There is “zero evidence” that it promotes time management or study
skills and while there can be advantages for the most able, it actually
has a negative impact on the less able, reinforcing their negative
self-esteem. In addition he hammers a nail into the coffin of homework
in a primary setting stating that, the younger the child, the less
benefit and more potential harm there is in doing homework.
Interestingly, the amount of homework a student has to do seems to have a direct impact on how effective it is.
Cooper, Robinson and Patall say that if too much is set any ‘positive relationship with achievement diminishes’.
Homework also throws up the age old chestnut of what to do with the
kids who don’t do it. The traditional view is that the blighters should
be punished with a swift detention. This is turn adds to the beleaguered
teacher’s already groaningly ponderous workload.
Phil has this advice to offer:
I set the kids homework, letting them know that it
was entirely at their discretion if they did it. If they did it I would
mark it with a degree of passion and interest but if they didn’t, I
wouldn’t chase them up for it. This spared up acres of time, relieved a
substantial plop of unnecessary stress and affected the kids’ attainment
how much? Not one jot.
Related articles
Alfie Kohn – The Homework Myth
(Read more:
http://learningspy.co.uk/2011/09/04/whats-the-point-of-homework/)
Question: Dear teacher, why do you assign homework?
Question: Dear parent, are your child overwhelmed
with too much homework?
Conclusion: What is the point of homework?
