Homework should be abolished

I'm merely a single individual, however it has been my personal experience that the best means of alleviating the sense of pressure and struggle associated with homework, while also improving attendance and retention of material, would actually be to reduce the amount of time spent in a classroom and to increase the amount of so-called homework.

The problem the vast majority of students seem to have is twofold:

1) The classroom environment and/or the method of teaching employed are not tailored to their learning style, resulting in frustration and criticism of the student who has simply been asked to absorb information in a way literally and fundamentally incompatible with the way they learn. You can't force a fish to breathe out of water. Many students can adapt; some, quite simply, cannot.

2) Classrooms present distractions, challenges of confidence, and are often invalidating or overly-critical (and in ways which aren't always constructive, to say the least,) which can hinder the student's ability to truly comprehend and subsequently retain the material, particularly during the tumultuous period of adolescence. All of this amplifies the student's first and ongoing question - a question not usually answered to their satisfaction - "why should any of this be of interest to me?" While we as adults (usually) have perspective and experience sufficient to answer that question for ourselves in retrospect, the student may not be capable of being convinced of this simply on the basis of "we've been where you are now, and we said so."

I've always felt that exploring new ways of demonstrating to students the importance of learning, making learning truly engrossing to them (not merely fun or interesting, but truly immersive and captivating) in the ways that they find videogames, films, or books to be engrossing (yes, it's true; many young people do still partake of substantive literature,) would negate the latter problem substantially. Once students feel invested in and excited by their studies, then a potential solution to the former issue could very well be a greater ratio of home (or computer based) research on their own time, at their own pace, to classroom attendance.

The challenges would be to maintain some sort of standards while allowing this sort of academic freedom, while not making them so arbitrary or standardized that we quickly ended up back where we started. I have no experience as an educator, though, so I could be way off base. These are just thoughts I've long harbored regarding education, at least as it pertains to the U.S. where I live.

Wonderful, more hate mail. For one, I am no muppet. I am stating my oppinion that homework and even the school structure is flawed and should be improved where well off and not so well off students come a little closer in there environment. And speaking of gaining an audience. Am I seeing a relapse here? I could name hundreds of great historic people who have been in my position from the beginning, trying to state there ideals... Yes, I have expected the worse case scenario that I would have to eleviate the turmoil. Lets not hold a grudge but just think of a solution to the problem in schools, by not 'setting' the not so well off aside - please. There can be a better way that does not have to undermine them!

..Speaking of getting an audience. Fact is, many is better than one.

[edit on 27-9-2006 by 7Ayreon]

When i was still in school less than 3 years ago, i got away with doing an ammount of homework that was criminal. I managed to do no more than half an hour per WEEK at home. I came out of school with good grades despite the total lack of effort in the homework department. My grades were well below my ability throughout the whole year but somehow i managed to pull it all arround for the final exam.

However when the next year came i found myself totaly swamped by the step up in speed demanded by the new level of learning. The previous year i had managed to lear everything as we were going along remember it and just about recall it without too much hard work at exam time. After the first months of the new year i was so swamped i had to drop a subject and move on, after droping one more by the end of the year i managed to coem out with 2 top grades and a c out of my 5 subjects.

The lesson is maybe you fell you can get away without much effort now, it will catch you up as you move on through the system, be it to college university or work. By the time i learned that you HAVE to work to get the grades out it had cost me 2 subjects.

The only other posibility is the school day is extended a few extra hours and the subjects compacted down so they have no real educational value left. Even id you totaly abolish homework and extend teh school day most people will still hate the extenion to school hours.

What is "homework" but a part of the learning process? If you can read, complete the associated exercises, and comprehend and recall based on your "work" during the school day, you'll have no home "work". If you can't do the "work" of learning during school hours, then you'll need to do it outside of school hours. If you find that unpleasant, then it's more a matter of your atitude toward learning than anything else.

Why do you consider it to be home "work". That suggests that it's something unpleasant. If you find intellectual pursuits unpleasant, then resign yourself to a blue collar life and quit bitching about having to do unpleasant things now for the sake of your future.

It's all in your attitude. You need either a genuine interest and a natural motivation to learn, or the willingness to experience some discomfort now for the sake of a "better" future, i.e. a future in which your choice of ways to earn your living are maximized rather than narrowly limited because today all you're willing to endure is the path of least discomfort. Don't forget, learning has benefits that go far beyond your career path.

Granted, it is somewhat uncomfortable to grapple new material. At first you experience a sense of confusion, you have little or no comprehension, and your brain works to integrate the new material with all that you've learned and experienced to this point in your life. Hopefully, you desire to gain understanding and mastery of your subjects, rather than just to please your parents, teachers, and look good in the eyes of your fellow students and out-of-school chums. But understanding and mastery only comes by the doing the work of learning, i.e. the home "work" (whether you do it at home or at school). It's been my experience that the work of learning really boils to down a willingness to devote your time to it rather than to other pointless activities, such as watching TV, hanging out, etc., which in the big picture of your life are largely self-defeating.

It's all in your attitude. Change that and your learning experience will change with it.

While school districts may be different, it seems that many districts in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area allocate plenty of time to do homework during class. I remember this distinctly from when I went to high school, and my wife (who is student teaching) at schools in the area also notice this today. Her observation is that a majority of the students in the classes that allocate 'homework' time do nothing but talk during that time. In that situation it's pretty self deserving: you could have did it at school, but you decided not to.

However, at university I took a lot of mathematics courses, and I think they had a great method for homework. We went over a lot in class, and the professor would recommend problems to do out of the book. These problems were not for a grade, but rather as practice problems to do if you needed the extra study material. It was the best of both worlds: extra practice if you need it, and not being forced to practice if you don't.

No mean to offend, but you sound ignorant. More like apes? please. I know what your getting at, KIND OF, but your being extreme about it. When you said the youth of today would'nt know working if it slapped them with a wet fish. I'm 100% sure that by 18 I've done more physical labour than you have, up to date. I started at 14 doing construction, then couple years on roofs, some landscaping, and other part time jobs. Sure some kids are lazy nowdays, but why you worried? Look where thier going to end up in 10 years, if they do nothing. So you should'nt propose more work, longer hours, at school, its ridiculous. If something can be done to school to stop lazyness, is encourage more physical activity, more then P.E.

[edit on 27-9-2006 by sympthons_WDF]

Abolish homework!?!?

Sounds great to me! Also, lets burn all books and make learning illegal. Anyone caught trying to educate themselves should be punished with the death penalty.

Life will be so much simpler when people can be controlled and think for themselves.

Of course you know I'm being sarcastic!

Education is very important to maintain a free society.

[edit on 27/9/06 by Intelearthling]

I'm in agreement with Sardion.

Where I am in Missouri...as much as our schools suck already, we have about 30-35 kids to a class, barring the electives. (Those are never as full)

I've always been fairly intelligent, though I have a hard time with math. (B+ average compared to about an A average in everything else) Where I moved from before I was supposed to be set up for AP classes, but since they don't have the funding here for that, I'm stuck with everyone else re-doing things I did 5 years ago.

There really needs to be some kind of restructuring of the education system to benefit the gifted students. Instead of doing the pc thing by not making anyone feel bad and staying stuck together, create some program to further challenge the smarter students. Find a way to keep them from slacking off and getting bored in class.

Hmm..

I never did homework.. I went to school some of the time, but most of the time I was there I was sleeping or planning on excaping after lunch.

Now as a "self educated" college student I can say I firmly disagree with you. When I think back "why is it I never did my homework?" I now know it was because it was to easy. Not bragging, not saying I am highly inteligent or anything, I am simply saying that I personally felt I was beyond what public school could do for me.

I went to a Catholic school all my life, had a few "minor disciplinary" issues and had to go to public school in high school. I am not joking when I say I learned in 8th grade at a private school what I was learning as a junior.

America has laxed its education standards, and every time someone does bad or the standardized test are poor they lower them some more.

Why do we have homework? It is supposed to tone your skills, to get you to further understand the material and as an obvious source of self discipline.

My problem is with the kids, not with the teachers as far as who puts more into there own education, I would then blame teachers for being weak minded and giving into parents when they argue to raise a kids grades when the kid deserves to fail. I blame America as a whole for not puting enough strain on the need for education under the college level, the government for under funding and interferiance. But mostly the kids. Kids don't want to learn, they don't want school work none the less home work, they want to relax, sit in front of the TV, watch American Idol. They care less about the world around them, wrapped up in their own self importance, the give it to me now generation that demands instead of working for what they want or need.

lets get rid of homework, lower the standards another notch. Then lets move on to getting rid of "boreing subjects" because they interfere with our social needs in school. Lower the standards. Then lets ban grading all together, whos to say who passes right? Who cares if you know the material right?

Like I said, I never did homework, the material was irelivent, not challenging. As an adult I see why, if those are the same reasons for you then more to you my friend, educate your self, make your own difference and get into a good college. If not, you fit right into my view on American youth.

I have a question for recent graduates and those still in high school:

When did the schools stop emphasizing the importance of spelling, grammar, and punctuation?

I'm not being sarcastic here. But I have never seen such mangling of the English language as I've seen from school-age kids today.

Is it that the schools are emphasizing math and science skills instead? Is that the situation?

yeah, we need to fall further behind as a country in engineering, science and technical fields. We need more slackers !

I'm not saying we need more slackers, im saying we need to alleviate and improve the system where it significantly increases attendence, stamina, and efficiency. I see one of many ways that could do so, one being that homework is concentrated at school and focused more in on the students themselves enstead of allowing teachers to leave more to them than affectively teaching them.

I am stunned to see this thread still going.

Part of my current job includes hiring entry level people. My files are full of applications filled out by young people with college degrees who can not fill out or comprehend a simple application. I can not hire them. Their degrees are worthless to an employer. How they get these degrees without basic communications skills boggles the mind. The teachers who gave them passing grades have ruined their lives and their futures. The parents who let this happen are guilty of child abuse. They will make great fast food workers and future food stamp recipients. There are no jobs playing video games in the real world.

Oh well. If nothing else this thread reminded me I need to file 19 their applications. They are just wasting space in the file drawer.

I think they should just re-think the whole system. Keep the teacher's union, but change how they teach students at the middle school and high school levels especially. They don't give you Enough homework in high school, when most students should be learning more of the stuff they teach in AP classes.

They should increase it by an hour or two then, so people can adjust easier to a college education, and to a better chance of increasing the GDP, GDG, GDNG of the working classes. You know, people who aren't Paris Hilton, and trying to save their family fourturne by work like that.

They should make textbooks more affordable and the goverment should fine all textbook companies, if they publish the "updated" of a specific textbook every year. They should have to do it, every 2-5 years instead. And should print more indepth textbooks that make tough subjects like math, computers, computer programming, web desigining, web programming, and science, instead. So students can learn how to use the one with all the problems and reading at a college level in high school.

They need to make those subjects more applicatable to everyone. Not just the already too smart Havard and University type students. This is stuff that has to be made for most students in middle class areas, in urban areas and rural areas, they need to keep arts and sports programs especially, and after school free-tutoring to high school students.

While I agree that homework is needed, there needs to be some way of organizing it, or finding an alternative approach. Sleep is a big issue. When doing sports and a few clubs, homework is something that you usually end up doing late at night. I usually get from 4 1/2 - 5 hours of sleep. My AP classes usually assign work that isn't incredibly long, but requires lots of reading to do, while my english classes seem to assign LOTS of busy work; work that teaches you very little to nothing but takes a LOT of time.

Lack of sleep caused by homework is sort of reversing the effects that homework hopes to achieve. Sleep is essential to the learning process. When you're forced to do homework late at night, and don't get nearly enough sleep, your brain won't retain the same amount of information from the subject as it would of had you gotten the needed amount of sleep. While I turn in my assignments and keep my rank in school, I have to say that I don't even spend nearly as much time as other students do on homework. There are students who don't participate in sports, clubs, or any other extracurricular activities or have a social life just because they go home every night and study, study, study to make sure that they are doing all of their homework right and that they can get perfect grades. In my school, these students aren't usually the ones that learn the material. Some of them may be ranked high, but when it comes to AP exams, or some type of curriculum tests, these students usually don't do as well as those that don't do their homework, but just listen to the material in class.

So I'm not really sure what I would do with the whole homework issue if it was my decision. I see how we need it, but most often, from my point of view as a student, it constricts my fellow students' learning more than it reinforces it.

For me it stopped in.....8th grade. When everyone got cell phones, instant messaging, and started abbreviating everything.

It's quite sad when I know juniors who spell family, famley.

I wouldn't even say either of those disciplines are stressed much either, but if anything it's math.

The whole system, does however need to be completey re-thought. So you don't have the 3/5 students learning in a class. While the others goof-off. I think school should be fun at all levels, but homework, should be made fun like it is Japan, and Switzerland. So that students can understand their stregnths and weaknesses better, instead of just waking up and figuring out what they should be doing with their lives at 20 years old. While others figure it out sooner, because their parents didn't "follow" the system as much.

Their has to be some way to catch the students in the tracks, and to make summer school more effective, as appose to homemork with punishments for the school during the summer.

You get my drift, and they should get rid of "The punishment Building" for teachers, and spend that money on books, etc. that students may need in more desolate areas or harder to "Grow" areas. But find some other way to more effectivly punish teachers who make their students cheat or do whatever is deem punishable.

[edit on 9/27/2006 by brokenwindows]

This is an amazing thread with comments like "lack of sleep is caused by homework". I suppose you're not spending time on anything else and the only activity in your life that can be blamed for lack of sleep is homework. Un***ing believable!

What is it about "homework" that all you slackers don't like? Is it the subject matter? You don't like learning how to read, write, add, subtract, and multiply? Is it the basics that have you stymied? Did you slack off and fail to learn the basics?

Education is cumulative. It's like body building. It's progressive. You can't bench 360 lbs until you've paid your dues starting with 50, then 100, and so on. Same with education.

If you haven't mastered the basics, you'll never be able to grasp the subjects that cannot be understood without a solid foundation in the basics. Do the work needed to build your foundation and quit bitching about "homework".

Figure out what your problem is and then deal with it. I can safely gurantee you that your problem is not homework. It's something else very close to home and personal within your own being. Figure it out. Deal with it. get over it. And then do whatever it takes to accomplish what you truly want to achieve. Maybe you've already arrived at the pinnacle in your life and bitching about homework is just a form of self-delusion for you.

A wise person said that if you tell yourself that what you have is not what you want, notice that you're lying.


[edit on 9/27/2006 by dubiousone]

Respectfully, does homework need to be abolished are just unnecessary topics that one will never be used again in ones lifetime unless that is, they become a school teacher. Are some things taught just so an actual genius might be exposed to them, that one in a million person who might actually use the knowledge?

I agree with this completely. Why because I get straight A's in classes that dont have graded homework and have failed my two classes thats biggest grade is on homework. Just my personal experience that I shouldn't fail the class because when I get out of school I have a job or something to that extent. Homework and studying may be necessary for some, but I have never needed it, and its been a complete hinder to my education.

Honestly the reason I won't get a scholarship for grades is probably because homework brings my grades down 2 letters at least, some classes more.

when you have homework as 50% of the grade, it doesn't matter whether you know the material or not, you don't do the homework and you fail.