Category Archives: General

Last month, my daughter’s tenth grade math teacher told me that when students fail his tests, it’s his fault, not theirs. He takes it as a sign that he needs to figure out a different way of teaching the material. You’d think that’s a no-brainer, but I think it’s the first time I’ve ever heardContinue reading “What Makes a Great Teacher”

I’ve finally created a Stop Homework facebook group. Please send the link to all your friends and post it on your own facebook.

I received an email from a parent of two high schoolers in Arlington, Virginia, where she articulated the problem with schools that never seek feedback from either students or parents. She wrote: I recently read the book Cure Unknown on the Lyme epidemic and was struck by a quote from Jonas Salk. He talks aboutContinue reading “A Parent Speaks Out – Arlington, Virginia”

I was thrilled to see that the Heritage Academy Christian School in Los Altos, California, suggests that their parents read this blog and highlights some of my posts. The School’s homework policy states: HOMEWORK POLICY Elementary school children need family time and play time at home. In the upper grades, homework may include nightly reading,Continue reading “Heritage Academy Christian School’s Homework Policy”

(Welcome back and thank you so very much for your generous donations to Stop Homework) Over a decade ago, the economist and Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen, formed the Partichi trust to examine the issues of primary education and health in India. Last month, he released the Partichi Education Report II, which recommended ending homeworkContinue reading “Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen Calls for End to Homework in Elementary School”

(I’ll be back in 2010. Have a wonderful holiday and please don’t forget to put Stop Homework on your holiday giving list. It’s really important for the future of this project. Read how to give a donation here.) I have just added a nifty feature called Urtak to my sidebar. It’s a collaborative polling tool,Continue reading “New Feature–Stop Homework Urtak”

If you’re hoping that 2010 will be a better school year, homework-wise, why not give your child’s teacher a copy of The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It? If s/he reads it over the holiday break, s/he just might return with a new, informed, andContinue reading “How to Have a Homework-Reduced 2010”

Over the summer, I read a wonderful op-ed in The New York Times, Your Baby Is Smarter Than You Think, by Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at Berkeley. She explains why unstructured play and discovery is so important for babies and young children. She writes: Babies and young children are designed to explore, andContinue reading “The Young Brain”