The Homework Debate

I am so glad to see Catherine Crawford's article," Parents on Homework Load:'This is Not Sustainable' today. Homework is a hot topic, and causes much debate. Some parents believe it gives the child discipline, time management skills ,and better grades. Some parents feel it puts the child under stress, takes away from family time, makes the child sleep-deprived ,and makes their grades worse. Children learn from a wide variety of activities, from reading a book for pleasure, or just playing on a playground .After school, so much learning can take place, if children had the time. We were trained as a society to believe that children benefit from homework. I am a firm believer of "putting myself in another persons position'. To see if children( Elementary or High School-aged, benefit from homework, I propose this: That every teacher, principal, superintendent, secretary, and parent, come home from a full days work, put off everything that is waiting for them, and put in another four hours work relating to their job.  No time outdoors, no cooking dinner, catching up on laundry, or just spending time talking with their kids about their day. What this causes is an over-worked, stressed, irritable person who resents the fact they have to pick up a book or expand their life in anyway. In studies where children were given a "homework-free" week, children came to school happy, well rested, and eager to learn. Their grades instantly went up. The physical activity they had after school gave their brains the air and rest it needed to take on new things in school. The other night, after finishing homework late, I felt like my daughters and I were just not doing anything together, so I decided to bake with them before bed. In that half-hour, we laughed, got our hands busy, learned measurements, and time management. It felt great. Let school be during school time, and let the "home"work be what children should be doing at home, being children..