Homework should be abolished

I believe it's time that adults finally listen to the youth and take there word for it that homework SUCKS. Therefore, teachers should not issue studying, homework etc. be done at HOME. School takes a large portion of our lives as it is, and half of our bloody day. So what I'm saying is that once school is over for the day - that is IT! No homework or anything to do with school until we go to school the next day. Studying for tests should only be done at school, period. Why do I think it should be this way? Because I believe this will SIGNIFICANTLY end students from skipping school. Homework = skipping school, no homework = ends skipping school significantly (not completely because of bullying etc. etc).

Take the message from the Media themselves for example, "ReFresh". They are telling employees to Relax more during lunch hour and STOP over working. Its the same thing with education. Get the point I'm trying to make?

Vote 7Ayreon for president. I agree.

Well the problem is that the majority of the people agree but nothing is being done about it. I would like to know why? What's the opposition on this theory?

If I were still in my teens, in high school, or back in University I would probably agree with you. There are times when studying and homework simply interferes with one's life and, as it was so descriptively put, "homework sucks".

I will have to say that now, as a parent, I can view the other side of the fence with a bit more clarity and understanding -- a perspective that I simply did not have when I was your age.

Study and homework are essential parts of the educational process. More so, it is a part of the maturation process. That is, accepting that one has to, at times, do things that they might not like to do but do out of a sense of self actualization. You might not like to do homework or to study but you do it out of; a sense of obligation, because you will get "in trouble" if you don't or because you know that it is in your own best interest to do so -- not now, perhaps, but it will help in the future.

Unfortunately, the teen age years are the most difficult ones. There is a scientifically reported "shearing" of brain cells that takes place at this time that makes many activities like study and homework more difficult. I have heard one educator say that it is actually more difficult for teens to function intellectually than it is for, say, a ten year old. Teen behavior is more erratic and less rational than at any other time in their lives. Sleep patterns become disrupted and often thinking processes become more chaotic.

Study and homework are, perhaps, ways of allowing the teen to maintain control over oneself, teaching and establishing patterns of self-discipline that will remain for the rest of one's life. Of course, another aspect of these developmental years is a state of "perpetual urgency". I think every parent will acknowledge that their teen seems to actually believe and feel that "this weekend is the most/last/best/ "good" weekend of the year or even their lives. Time seems distorted for the teen and, of course, time management is often non-existant. But after school assignments is one way to help develop those skills which will be used for the rest of what we can only assume will be a very long life.

I know that I sound like a stick-in -the-mud but, believe me, I'm telling you a truth that you will surely discover for yourselves in a relatively short time.

Okay, well I can somewhat depict what your saying benevolent tyrant, but can there not be some other way to learn this life skill other than homework, which is a constant struggle for many students? Wouldn't better attendence be preffered than councellors and all trying there best to get this into youths minds? Let's put it this way, if homework were to be abolished - what technique would need to replace it?

If homework were to be abolished, I would imagine some sort of practicum would have to be developed. That is, the student might have to be part of a program where he/she is involved in the practical application of the material that needs to be learned.

For example, a student might have to work at a placement where math skills are needed. If a student does not "get" the lesson taught during class time, then he/she would still have to learn the math lesson through practical use.

Note that these "practicums" would still take up several hours after school. If the concept of practicum is not quite understood, think 'apprenticeship'.

Without getting into a "back in my day" or "back in the good old days" sermon, let me simply say that in many ways, things for teens are easier and, at the same time harder than they were "back in my day".


Socially, the pressures today are extraordinary. The social structure back in "my day" was certainly just as clique-ish and demanding but not the extent that things have evolved into today. On the other hand, I would have to say that the material, subject matter and curriculum that kids are given today is, in my opinion, considerably easier than the level of material that I remember being assigned. Of course, this could be subjective or it could have to do with the fact that I did attend a private school with rather exacting standards of scholastic acheivement.

Homework is used as a component to create responsibility.

When you enter university, 95% of the work your required to do is at home or on your own time. Most students are in school 25 hours a week, lets say you do 1 hour of homework a night. Your left with a total of 30 hours a week of work to do. Enjoy this while you can.

I applaud your effort for backing up this claim with honest opinions but the importance outweight the problems significantly.

Responsibility needs to be instilled in our youth, and Home Work is just the first step.

By the way I still am a student who does homework on a regular basis. Your class time is used to learn. If your spending all your time in class doing the work you could at home, you would severely restrict your opportunitys to learn new information.

The problem with high school is you don't really appreciate it until its over. When I was in high school I cursed it left and right. Always said I would never miss the place and couldn't wait to leave, but when graduation came around I was alittle upset and I miss it just like anyone else.

[edit on 26-9-2006 by chissler]

our kids are getting dumber and you want to stop homework????

homework including my own issued "homework" is what keeps my kids above the lowered expectations of the US school system, and namely the Florida Dept of Education.

I haven't been out of school that long, a little over 10 years and homework today is no where near the workload we were given back then. Now at least you can get away with internet research and well with technology everything is at our children's fingertips unlike let's say 10 years ago, when you still had to go to the library and pull heavy volumes of encyclopedia.

I wish they would give our children more homework. 2 pages of tear out worksheets a day doesn't constitute a heavy workload. (my kids are still in elementary school btw) Without homework and hopefully some parental supervision, I don't think our kids would learn or retain as much as they should since classrooms tend to be overcrowded and kids rarely get the one on one or small group attention they need.

In order for your "no homework" plan to work, classroom size would have to shrink significantly and the school day would need to be extended.

Sounds like a formula for failure to me. If you can not handle the slow pace of High School you will not be able to handle a University or a job. You had better remove further schooling from your plans as you will not be able to handle it. Get ready for a life of minimum wage and poverty. Being lazy has no rewards attached, only negatives. Absenteeism is a sign of unreliability which is also another nail in your coffin. Forget nice computers or high speed Internet as you will not be able to pay for them. Learn to like driving an old junk car or using public transport. Enjoy living in a sleeping room and sharing a bathroom with a half dozen drunks who live in the same building. Learn to get along with the gangs that live in the only neighborhood you can afford.

Have a happy life of failure and poverty.

I think homework is kind of preparing people for a life of work...
Do I think thats good? NO, I don't.

I think 7 hours of school a day is more than enough. Why should kids have to come home and work on top of that? Because thats what the corporations want them to do.

They want us to work all damn day ever day and then come home and work some more.

We don't need to work this much to run a society! In order to run a productive society... in reality, everyone only needs to work 5 hours a day for 5 days max!

40 hours a week = full time... what have we come to?

I'm not denying that Americans have it a little easier than some countries but...

We could be living in a utopian society where work isn't even an issue.

The fact that companies demand 40 hours from a person a week is disgusting.

We could have everyone working for much less hours and still making the same ammount of money... but the greedy penny pinchers at the top will never have it that way.

What will it take for greed to end?!





[edit on 26-9-2006 by Techsnow]

I can't believe this one...

Originally posted by InDirectViolation
Sounds like a formula for failure to me. If you can not handle the slow pace of High School you will not be able to handle a University or a job. You had better remove further schooling from your plans as you will not be able to handle it. Get ready for a life of minimum wage and poverty. Being lazy has no rewards attached, only negatives. Absenteeism is a sign of unreliability which is also another nail in your coffin. Forget nice computers or high speed Internet as you will not be able to pay for them. Learn to like driving an old junk car or using public transport. Enjoy living in a sleeping room and sharing a bathroom with a half dozen drunks who live in the same building. Learn to get along with the gangs that live in the only neighborhood you can afford.

Have a happy life of failure and poverty.

I am merely speaking for thousands if not millions of students who slave away on too much work that interferes with so many things that we'd all love to do more often like spending time with family or doing our own time alone things. The work force has shot us up to the point where we have limited time for such, just as Techsnow stated earlier. I believe there is a problem with the way our education works, do you not see that thousands are homeless? It's an obvious problem, and every problem has a solution. Like many would say than don't be lazy? Suddenly, it's all about the ones who aren't "lazy". There different from those who don't have there strengths, well I believe those who struggle for such strength should get a new corner to success...

Like I was saying earlier, if we devise a new way where this problem is no longer the issue, it all ends up for the good, for everyone. We work to be equal, well let's not ignore those who lack success nowadays and show the lighter side of ourselves by devising a solution!

[edit on 26-9-2006 by 7Ayreon]

I frankely think the entire system needs to be abolished and rebuilt from the ground up. (At least from K-12, the is so much diversity in choice in higher education that messing with it could prove disastrous).

The system should be tailored to the individual and should be a more or less "work at your own pace" schedule. Instead of having due dates and hand in dates and such, just have one hard Hand all work in before this date or you fail type of thing for each course.

Also allowing students to work on one course at a time rather then taking on 4 or 8 courses at once could focus their minds much more at the topic at hand. Boredom may set in though, so students who want to overacheive should be allowed to take 10-12 credits a year(or more if they are able). They should be encoraged to finish school as fast as possible. Some will fly through, others will take as long as it did before and others will take longer(but will remember the material much more thorougholy cuz they studied slowly never moving on until they understood the subject etc)

Life will give you what you put into it. THAT is what homework will teach you. You put in the effort, you will benefit from the toil. My son is in grade 11 and has a term project about trading on the stock market. He's in second place and wonders why. He's been active BUT the student in 1st place has more trades than he does. That means that he has done more research, taken the assignment MORE seriously.

Are you willing to sell yourself short? No homework means less knowledge and less dicipline. Is that a good way to go about life after school? Let's look at it from a management point of view. You're going for a job YOU really want. Unfortunately someone else is is more motivated and better qualified. Why? S/he did the homework.

That being said, you're looking at this from a damn selfish point of view. What about the parents that work 1-2 jobs, come home from providing and go through 1 or more hours of homework, additional kids, additional time. How about some appreciation for those parents that want to make sure you are the one that is prepared enough to get that job?

I still think there is a better alternative to homework. An increased school day would be a good start. 8 hours starting in grade 1. They'll get used to it by age 10. After school is after school and should be utilized as family time and rest and recreation(as well as SLEEP, not enough children get enough sleep these days. I didn't get enough sleep when I was in HS and I slept 9 hours a day back then!)

Another bad thing about homework in all grades is that they usually require children to lug around backpacks that weigh almost as much as they do!?! I'm talking 8 year olds for fricken sake(I live down the street from Withrow Public School so I see it every mourning and it seems to get worse every year, and younger as well)

The system is broke and it needs to be fixed.

[edit on 26-9-2006 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by sardion2000
The system should be tailored to the individual and should be a more or less "work at your own pace" schedule. Instead of having due dates and hand in dates and such, just have one hard Hand all work in before this date or you fail type of thing for each course.

7Ayreon andTechsnow I agree with you 100%. Sardion 2000 I also agree with your proposed school plan 100%. Both my husband and I used to be teachers and we both agree that homework should never be assigned, not if the teaching is teaching right. I've talked to numerous parents over the last several years and I'm actually shocked at all that is expected from high school kids. It seems they have a MINIMUM of at least 3 hours and usually 4 to 5 hours homework each night and then on the weekend. This is just plain wrong. They are still kids and they need time after school to be with their families, do their chores, relax and rest. There are better ways to teach kids responsibility. Turning them into workaholics benefits no one and there's not one single good reason to do it. I have also liked for a long time, the idea of individually tailored lessons at school. Every kid is different as is every adult and everyone learns at different rates and in different ways. I do think there's a hidden agenda somewhere to socialize kids into all being the same. After all, if Susy could do the work, why can't you? Martin Luther King, Jr. said it well. It was something like this: school lasts 13 years because it takes that long to brainwash kids. My paraphrase.

I taught like this with my kids and they seemed to do very well, they liked it, too. And the other teachers commended me as well, so these ideas must have some merit to them. Learning can be and should be fun. If it isn't, the teacher isn't teaching right.

Up to 5 hours of homework a night? I'm not buying that for a second.

My one problem with our education system is the way we test. Children learn in different ways, and if one child scores alittle lower on a test does not indicate much. The problem is we can not afford to have a staff of that size. Class sizes are normally atleast 25 children and well one teacher can not measure the progress of each child. If the system was overhauled and we had more bodies, we could measure the progress of each child thus taking the importance off of one test.

A computer in every home.

Hell, if I had a computer when I was in school or university I would have solved the Caramilk secret, possible fission alternatives AND the location of Jimmy Hoffa.

I'm really not getting the bitchery on this topic. Teaching kids to be self sufficient is a bad thing? Sorry, not going to happen here. That being said, one of my kids needs the comp. in a couple of minute to do his homework.

Originally posted by chissler
Up to 5 hours of homework a night? I'm not buying that for a second.

It depends on the student. Me personally, what one normally would finish in a couple of hours would take me like 40 minutes, but the kid who sat next too me worked twice as hard and finished half the work in twice the normal time(4 hours normally, I used to help him in English). That's why individually tailored lessons are needed. All kids are treated equal depending on the class, this is bad because we aren't all equal learners even though we are all equal in our right to education. There are people out there that are increadibly slow learners, but they have eidetic memories. A lot of these people end up either feeling harried by the pace or neglected and left behind. The result is they usually drop out and get a low wage job until they realize they need that piece of paper to make money so they go and get a GED(Good enough diploma) to get themselves into a trade. Some of them are truely wasting their potential. Some have found it through this way(which could have been guided and encouraged by the system instead of trying to fit everyone into a static mold...erm "curriculum"...)

Originally posted by intrepid
A computer in every home.

Hell, if I had a computer when I was in school or university I would have solved the Caramilk secret, possible fission alternatives AND the location of Jimmy Hoffa.

Libraries are better. A new class should also be inacted in grade 1 onward to 12, where everyone is required to go to the Library and learn how to use all the resoureces there available to aid in their learning(including the reference books, computers, etc) By 12, they should already be intimately familiar with the reference library if one is available near their location and they will be well prepared for the University libraries they will encounter during their higher education.

Originally posted by chissler
My one problem with our education system is the way we test. Children learn in different ways, and if one child scores alittle lower on a test does not indicate much. The problem is we can not afford to have a staff of that size. Class sizes are normally atleast 25 children and well one teacher can not measure the progress of each child. If the system was overhauled and we had more bodies, we could measure the progress of each child thus taking the importance off of one test.

More bodies aren't needed. We just need to add in more imformalized group quiz sessions. There is this technology being debuted at the UofT where students will be able to choose on a clicker the answer to a multiple choice question. When the session is over various graphs and such get projected onto the screen and immediately the teacher can see just how many of the class got the lesson.(And it will also allow him to quickly identify struggling students)

[edit on 26-9-2006 by sardion2000]

If the current education system wasn't such a joke, they could probably get away with giving less homework, but I think it would still be necessary to have it. There is only so much you can learn by listening to someone talk. The rest, you have to go out and do it.