I hope that when you saw the title of this post you thought I had gone completely mad. Am I really going to write a 463 part series on homework? No way. My point is that it seems educators perceive the “issue” of homework as a topic that you either believe in it or you don’t and that’s final. The bottom line is that there is no definitive answer to all of the questions that exist when it comes down to homework so addressing every issue at any given point in time is impossible. Instead I offer a highly radical way for educators to deal with the homework issue: use logical thought. (Crazy right?)
The truth of the matter is that most homework IS useless, but at the same time it is very necessary. Our curriculums have become inflated with so much extra garbage that we all feel as though every single item is vitally important to the success of a student’s future. It isn’t. At the same time, there are concepts that need to be reviewed once the student leaves the classroom so that they can practice that particular skill in order to understand problems at the higher end of the pyramid. This does not mean that I agree with teachers who distribute an essay every night, 1-50 odd in the textbook, or 50 pages of reading based on their rationale that students only remember with repetition. I just understand where they are coming from. The homework problem will be argued over until the point at which we realize the true culprit behind it: our fifty-mile deep curriculums.
In my mind there is only one way to deal with the homework issue directly: start revamping curriculum guides. For instance, let’s discuss the AP College Board curriculum for history courses. These curriculum are regarded by many as some of the most rigorous history curriculum in the country, and they come with a test in May that is designed to assess how much students have “learned”. Sounds like a good idea in theory, but upon a closer look one can see a glaring issue. With the test given in May it effectively cuts the learning preparation down to 8 months (nevermind the breaks and days off along the way). Now you tell me what teacher can cover a vast amount of content in eight months without giving homework that contains some degree of monotony and rote memorization? It simply cannot happen.
In short, teachers can only be expected to use common sense when assigning homework until the point at which curriculums are rewritten to be more conducive to the “big three” of learning: interdisciplinary thinking, critical analysis, and transfer of knowledge. Students who are in “Honors” classes suffer from homework syndrome the most simply because their curriculums are often the thickest and not because they are necessarily the most rigorous. The debate on homework will continue to rage until the point at which society realizes that more standards don’t really mean tougher standards.
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I think you have hit on some of the major problems with the “no homework” rational. Mainly, we don’t work in a industry that truely values class time.We have so much to cover and so little time to do it. Kids do need repetition to learn something, but with 45 minute classes (the length of my periods) there is little time to provide that in a meaningful way. While I personally don’t assign homeword for the sake of homework, I often have to have kids finish classwork at home, usually essays, that I simply don’t have the time to finish in class without cutting out another necessary part of the curriculum. Thank you for recognizing that not all homework is assigned by old school teachers out to punish their classes. Some of us are just doing the best we can.
Heather,
I completely understand where you are coming from, and I truly believe that 3/4 of homework really is a symptom of what you are describing. There is simply not enough time to address all of the content in an overcrowded curriculum. That’s why we need to start slicing and dicing to get down to what is really important without creating gaps.
Great insight!