| Vol.
I, No. 7 | May
Day / Mother's Day | Apr.
20th, 2001 |
Learning
& Education
Educational Ideas . The
Value of Homework = Boredom?
The
Debate over the Value of Homework The assignment
of homework, over time, serves to foster the kinds of qualities
that are
critical to learning -- persistence, diligence, and the ability to
delay
gratification. These [skills] become
increasingly necessary as
students
graduate
to higher levels of scholarship in middle school, high school,
and
beyond. The reality is we are living
through a period of massive
under-
achievement in
our nation's schools. ... We cannot simultaneously
bewail
the dismal performance of American
students on every successive
inter-
national comparison of
academic achievement and then complain that we
give
our children too much homework!
Janine
Bempechat In a recent study by the Rand Corporation,
they found that there are
three things that are tied to student achievement
and higher student
achievement levels. Those things are
pre-kindergarten education for
children, more money for teacher resources in
the classroom, and
smaller class size. Those are three very expensive
school reform
packages that actually can improve student achievement.
Homework
is a cheap school reform proposal that shifts the responsibility
from
the public school system to the parent.
Etta Kralovec
As a parent, homework may pose
one of the more difficult focal points for struggle. ... Whether
the homework gets done ... and when ... How much homework is
assigned ... and how it can interfere with home life ... And, not
least, whether there is a genuine value to homework ... and, if so, what it
might be. These questions, and many more like them, loom large in every
household of school-age children. But they are also questions that provide
the fodder for field work and research, including at some of the nation's more
prestigious schools. Two of the more high profile proponents
of homework reform in New England have been going at it in public forums:
Etta Kralovec -- author of The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts
Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning -- and Janine Bempechat
-- Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author
of Getting Back on Track and Against the Odds: How At-Risk Students Exceed
Expectations. As the respective titles of their books
would suggest, they come down on opposite sides of the coin. Kralovec
believes that the playing field for homework is not level, that homework places
students from poorer families at a disadvantage, and, moreover, that learning is
primarily a social phenomenon, and that, therefore, having students do homework
in isolation actually goes against the grain of much educational research.
Bempechat, on the other hand, believes it's time to stop demanding too little of
children. For her, the value of homework begins in the elementary years
where, she admits, its value is not academic but motivational. She
stresses, however, that it is in these early years that students learn to do
what is asked of them. "There are things in life that you don't want
do," she says. "But that you have to do anyway. End of
story!" Whichever side of the debate you come down on,
we'd like to hear from you. ... We invite you, then, to
take time to fill out this month's DownStreet Survey ... Lou
Colasanti, Ed. Lou
Colasanti taught writing & interdisciplinary studies for nearly twenty
years, primarily at the post-secondary level. He was also part of the
administration during those same years, and has run federally funded projects on
community education, faculty development & interdisciplinary teaching, and
Student Support Services. ... Responses to this article -- pro, con,
or otherwise -- are more than welcome. ... . *******
******* DownStreet is particularly interested
in publishing the Educational Ideas of teachers, students, and others from our
local communities. If you would like to submit an article to Educational
Ideas, please e-mail it -- in the body of the e-mail or as an attachment -- to
... learn@downstreetmagazine.com
We
look forward to hearing from you. *******
******* .
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