Stop Homework

Please take a look at the FAQ section I just added to this blog.

I just watched the DVD of the Fall, 2008, Stressed Out Students conference, with keynote speeches by David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child and The Power of Play, Dr. Ken Ginsburg, author of A Parent’s Guide to Building Resilience in Children and Teens, Dr. Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege, and Denise Clark Pope, author of Doing School. There are also 3 student speakers–2 highschoolers, and one college sophomore.

A parent from Calgary, Canada, recently told me that she was able to persuade the committee studying homework at her school to listen to the podcast interviews of Harris Cooper, Alfie Kohn, John Buell, and me at Senior Dad, before the committee begins to rewrite policy–a brilliant tactic, in my opinion.

For the same purpose, I would suggest getting copies of the DVD of the Stressed Out Students conference. Or, you could host a get-together in your community, watch it, and figure out a strategy for reducing school stress. (For ideas, read The Case Against Homework.) The DVD is under 2 hours, costs $4, and is very compelling. You can order a copy of the DVD here.

I was recently interviewed by Rat Race Rebellion. You can read it here

This is not the first time I’m linking to one of my favorite education bloggers, Donalyn Miller. Her most recent column One Size Does Not Fit All: Ways to Make Reading Assignments More Engaging for All Levels of Students addresses the problems of English classes assigning the same novel to the whole class.

One Size Does Not Fit All
by Donalyn Miller

My seventeen-year-old daughter is what we here in Texas call “a long, tall drink of water.” I, on the other hand, have a full-figured glass that has overflowed. When shopping, we laugh when we see clothes sporting tags that claim “one size fits all,” remarking, “Not us!”

Stretch this t-shirt over the ubiquitous practice in reading classrooms of teaching whole-class novels, and you can see that it doesn’t fit most readers.
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In The Case Against Homework, there are dozens of sample letters to teachers and administrators which you can use as a jumping off point (or copy verbatim) for your own letter to your child’s teacher. Today, I am posting a very lengthy letter by Diane Hewlett-Lowrie, whose comments and letters I have posted before, here and here and here.

The reason Diane’s letter is so lengthy is because she’s written several letters before and hasn’t yet received the kind of response she’d like. In this one, she touches on everything, from the importance of play, to “nature deficit disorder,” to obesity, to the lack of research showing a correlation between homework and academic achievement. If I had had this letter when I was writing The Case Against Homework, I would have included it.

And, don’t forget that today is First Monday.

Dear Teacher
by Diane Hewlett-Lowrie

Please let me say, first and foremost, I admire your dedication to teaching. As you know, I was a classroom teacher for a couple of years (one in second grade) and it was the hardest job I have ever had. [My son] enjoys being in your class and, so far, seems to like the Weekly News Report assignment. I would like to revisit the issue of homework with you and try to explain, as best I can, my reasons and rationales for desiring no homework for [my son] at this age. I know you are bound by certain rules, but maybe we could reach a compromise together.

I understand that, in the USA, homework has been viewed as a necessary part of the education process for many, many years and that it is expected that school kids will do homework – because everyone has always done homework. I was brought up in Scotland and I don’t remember getting homework (except reading and spelling words) until I went to High School (age 12) and even then I don’t remember it being a burden on my life. I went on from High School to complete one undergraduate (B.Sc.) and 2 graduate degrees (one, a Master of Arts in Environmental Studies, with a concentration in Education). I say this not to boast, but merely to illustrate that the lack of homework does not necessarily result in a poor student.

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I know lots of schools use packaged, mandatory reading programs. Here’s a great opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times by a children’s librarian explaining the problems with those types of programs. (Thanks to this parent who alerted me to the piece.)

Reading shouldn’t be a numbers game
Applying numerical ratings to books does nothing to help kids read better.
By Regina Powers
Los Angeles Times

School has started. I can tell because frazzled parents drag their embarrassed children up to the reference desk at my library to ask, “Where are the fifth-grade books? We need a 5.6 level that’s worth at least 7 points.”

I avoid frustrating both parties with an explanation of how the Dewey decimal system works, and ask the child, “What do you like to read?” The response from both adult and child is all too often a blank expression.

Although I am elated that many families are visiting my public library more frequently because schools send them, I am disturbed at how infrequently parents and teachers are allowing young readers to choose what to read.

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In a piece called, Recalculating the 8th-Grade Algebra Rush, Washington Post education reporter Jay Mathews admits that he has second thoughts about pushing all math students into algebra by 8th grade. The reason: a new study by the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, which found that almost 1/3 of the students who scored in the bottom 10th on the National Assessment of Educational Progress eighth-grade test were enrolled in first-year algebra, geometry or second-year algebra. Almost all were grossly misplaced, probably because of the push to get kids into algebra sooner.

This is not the first time that Mathews has changed his mind. Last year, Mathews, who had called himself “Mr. Homework,” wrote a column advocating the abolition of homework in elementary school.

In a survey conducted by AskKids and released in late August, 43 percent of parents admitted to having done their kids’ homework. According to the Los Angeles Times, here’s what the survey found:

Forty-three percent of parents queried in a survey this month admit to doing their children’s homework at least once to ease the strain. Almost half the dads, 47%, owned up to doing the homework, while 39% of mothers did so.

Kids who hope to persuade (con?) parents into doing homework have a better shot if mom and dad are older. Of parents 18-24, 33% say they’ve done their children’s homework for them, compared with 45% of 25- to 44-year-old parents.

The survey of 778 parents, conducted for the homework resource website Ask Kids, showed that 84% of parents help with homework — more with math and English than with other subjects.

The survey was conducted by Kelton Research using an e-mail invitation and an online survey. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

If parents stopped helping their kids with homework (or doing it for them), teachers would have to stop giving it, or, at the very least, cut back on the amount. It’s a rare elementary school child who can manage homework without a lot of parental involvement and help. Just imagine what would happen if parents got together and stopped asking their children whether they had homework, stopped helping them do it, and stopped making sure that the homework made its way back to school. A little homework disobedience anyone?