Stop Homework

Do you have any advice for this anonymous freshman?

Dear Sara,

You’ve devoted a lot of space on your website to the issues surrounding homework in elementary and secondary schools, but I couldn’t find any information on what to do when the onslaught continues into college. As a college student, I continue to experience the detrimental effects of excessive homework described in your articles (I had to sideline an independent study that I had wanted to pursue for years because I was falling behind on my homework). Since parents aren’t expected to have much of a role in the college curriculum (no PTA) and students are expected to be more independent, what can I do? How can I organize other overworked students? How do I raise the issue without looking like I’m just trying to get out of doing work (my parents are in another state and can’t vouch for me on this one)? I’ve been in college for less than a year, and I’m already exhausted. Help!

The other day I received the following email from a teacher in a private school in Toronto, Canada.

Teachers: She’s really looking for advice and support from you, so please help her out by posting a comment.

Dear Sara,
As a veteran English teacher, I totally concur with your views about homework. I do not assign daily homework, only longer term projects in which there is student choice and which serve as extensions to the curriculum - endeavors designed to take them out of the classroom and apply skills and knowledge.

So here’s the problem. Parents in our school are demanding more homework. Our principal is leaning on us to assign more homework, according to the ridiculous formula of 10 minutes per grade level, i.e. grade 8 should be doing 80 minutes per night. It’s like these kids have to be putting in a set amount of time chained to their desks. By the way, our school runs from 8:45 to 4:10 - a very long day.

I refuse to assign hateful content questions and word lists to fill this arbitrary homework quota.

Monday on our curriculum night, when I do my spiel before the parents, I am ready to try to educate them on the homework issue. Any ideas?

Each week, I get more and more email from parents around the country about how to handle homework problems. On occasion, if a person has a particularly difficult problem, I’ll answer their questions through a telephone conversation rather than just email.

I know there are a lot of other activists with ideas on how to change homework policy who can also provide advice and support. So, please post your suggestions, similar experiences, etc., in the comments.

NS and her husband, who live in Eagleville, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, have been meeting with their son’s middle school teachers and the school principal to try to reduce the homework load, but they aren’t having much luck. They have been discussing homework overload with their children’s teachers for years and, last summer, told the school that their fifth-grader would not do any summer homework. This year, though, they are having difficulty getting the middle school to reduce their son’s homework load and are unilaterally deciding which homework is worth their son’s time and which isn’t. At a recent meeting with their son’s teachers and the principal, the teachers had to admit that their son’s grades were reduced significantly because he hadn’t done much of the homework, but that if homework were not part of his grade, he would have received all A’s. Nevertheless, the school is now suggesting that their son be tested for a learning disability. These parents are also having trouble finding like-minded parents to join their efforts and are feeling a little isolated.

Is it possible that they live in a place where everyone else is comfortable with their children’s workloads, which, by the way, include weekend, vacation, and summer homework? Do you have any ideas of what they should do, how they can find other like-minded parents in their school of 1,500?

I suggested that she try writing a letter to her local newspaper to highlight the problem and to find other like-minded parents. Do you have any ideas? Do you have a sample letter you’ve written to your local newspaper?

Please click on the “Leave a comment” button below and help her out.

Are you frustrated with the nightly homework routine? Are you wondering whether a particular assignment is worth your child’s time? Are you thinking about saying something to your child’s teacher, but don’t know what? Do you want to get together with other parents and make some changes at your child’s school? These questions, and many others, are answered in The Case Against Homework.

Still, the book might not answer your particular question. That’s what I’ll do here. So send me your questions and concerns and I’ll do my best to address them.

Have you had success in communicating with a teacher, organizing other parents, changing school policy? Send me your success stories and I’ll post them here.

But, best of all, if you have a story you’d like to share and you want to have an ongoing discussion or get feedback from other parents, join the discussion under the heading “Success Stories” in the forum.

If you end up posting a comment here and I think other parents would like to respond, I’ll post your comment in the forum as well.