Yesterday, I got the nicest note from Stephen D. Aloia, an associate professor of education at California State University, Fullerton. I interviewed Aloia for the book, so his comments, reprinted with his permission, are especially gratifying: Sara, Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed your book, The Case Against Homework. As aContinue reading “Praise for The Case Against Homework from California State University Associate Professor of Education”
Author Archives: Sara Bennett
Homework helps parents develop “good nagging habits”
A parent from British Columbia, Canada, Chris Corrigan, has issued a call for a Great Canadian Homework Ban, according to an article in the National Post of Canada, and his online campaign is stirring up support from like-minded parents across Canada. “The whole evening centres around this mad dash to get the homework done —Continue reading “Homework helps parents develop “good nagging habits””
Mom Laments the Waning Days of Summer
Today’s the first day of school for many children and lots of parents are dreading the school year and the work it brings for them and their children. In The Villager, Chapter books and homework? Uh oh, look out, Jane Flanagan, the mother of a child going into second grade describes why: Rusty will beContinue reading “Mom Laments the Waning Days of Summer”
NY Times Unskeptically Reviews Homework Web Sites
Whatever happened to the idea that children should be able to do homework on their own? Forgotten, it would seem, what with the proliferation of Web sites designed to give students help, feedback, and answers to common homework questions. An article in today’s Business section of The New York Times, If You Can Click aContinue reading “NY Times Unskeptically Reviews Homework Web Sites”
Fourth Grade Teacher on The Case Against Homework
My co-author and I received a very thoughtful letter from a fourth grade teacher with more than twenty years’ experience from upstate New York. She writes: There were a couple of times I found myself cringing with a tad of guilt as I read the book. Although I won’t do a cereal box or dioramaContinue reading “Fourth Grade Teacher on The Case Against Homework”
Time Magazine on The Case Against Homework: “What could be more welcome”
The Case Against Homework and Alfie Kohn’s, The Homework Myth, are the subject of an article in this week’s Time magazine. The author, Claudia Wallis, writes: Sachem was the last straw. Or was it Kiva? My 12-year-old daughter and I had been drilling social-studies key words for more than an hour. It was 11 p.m.Continue reading “Time Magazine on The Case Against Homework: “What could be more welcome””
Experts Decry Summer Homework
In a recent op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, Etta Kralovec and John Buell, authors of The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning (Beacon Press 2001) explain why summer homework isn’t a good idea. They argue, among other things, that “even if, as a recent ABC news story suggests, studentsContinue reading “Experts Decry Summer Homework”
Texas School District Still Suspending Students for Not Doing Summer Homework
For the second year in a row, students in Lancaster, Texas, were suspended for not doing their summer homework, according to an ABC News Report, 519 Students Suspended for Not Doing Homework. In The Case Against Homework, we report that, in January, 2006, nearly 1,000 students were suspended for not completing their Christmas assignments andContinue reading “Texas School District Still Suspending Students for Not Doing Summer Homework”
Unique Homework Advice: The Homework Shirt
Here’s some unique advice from an associate professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University—the homework shirt, Before-School Assignment: Find a Homework Shirt. “What a child is wearing can really help him get in the mood to buckle down and study,â€? says Dr. Haller, who also is a pediatrician at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. “ThereContinue reading “Unique Homework Advice: The Homework Shirt”
Coordination Among Middle School Teachers in One California School District Is “Not an Easy Sell”
Most middle school teachers who responded to a survey in the Las Virgenes School District in California stated that their homework should take between 16 and 30 minutes to complete each night, according to an article in The Acorn, Local Middle School Teachers Respond to Homework Survey. With each teacher handing out that amount theContinue reading “Coordination Among Middle School Teachers in One California School District Is “Not an Easy Sell””
Stop Homework 