aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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- Apr 5, 2007
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Here is interesting article I found on StumbleUpon
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/tx/586
http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/tx/586
How much homework is too much?
- Thread starter aimeeandbeatles
- Start date
Perfection
The Great Head.
Kids these days do too much homework and not enough housework.
ParadigmShifter
Random Nonsense Generator
I never did homework and at University we even had to do assignments and stuff so I used to not bother with it and then skive off the lectures. I think I went to 8 hours of lectures out of over 200 in my final year. The only revision I did was for about 4 weeks before the exams started (borrowed someone elses notes and got books from the library) and a last minute cram session the night before the exam, staying awake all night, going to the exam, and then going home to bed. I still passed though.
If I could have my time again I would have actually gone to the lectures and done the work though. It was a shocking waste of a great opportunity. I guess I was too busy with the drinking and the smoking and the partying. I enjoy the subject I studied (maths) alot more nowadays, 15 years after I left.
I'm glad I didn't do any work (well, as little as I could get away with) when I was at school though
That really was a waste of time.
My maths teacher at A-levels (aged 16-17 here in the UK) used to always give me grief about my homework being incomplete or non-existent. He stopped hassling me when I got the highest mark for the class in the mock A-level exam though, I didn't have to do any homework after that.
If I could have my time again I would have actually gone to the lectures and done the work though. It was a shocking waste of a great opportunity. I guess I was too busy with the drinking and the smoking and the partying. I enjoy the subject I studied (maths) alot more nowadays, 15 years after I left.
I'm glad I didn't do any work (well, as little as I could get away with) when I was at school though
That really was a waste of time.My maths teacher at A-levels (aged 16-17 here in the UK) used to always give me grief about my homework being incomplete or non-existent. He stopped hassling me when I got the highest mark for the class in the mock A-level exam though, I didn't have to do any homework after that.
I got 30 minutes of homework a day in elementary school. All work that makes me think and not "color inside the lines" was worthwhile. This rounded out to about 20 minutes of my homework.
I got an hour of homework a day in middle school. All work that makes me think and not "color inside the lines" was worthwhile. Unfortunately, this rounded out to about 15 minutes of my homework.
As a lowerclassman in high school, I got about 3 hours of homework a day. I was fine with this load.
As my first few days of an upperclassman, I've gotten days of 2 hours of homework, 2 days of 6 hours of homework, and about to finish a day of 5 hours. This is fairly excessive, but I think I'll learn to get used to it, and I'm already planning ahead much better than I did in the past.
I got an hour of homework a day in middle school. All work that makes me think and not "color inside the lines" was worthwhile. Unfortunately, this rounded out to about 15 minutes of my homework.
As a lowerclassman in high school, I got about 3 hours of homework a day. I was fine with this load.
As my first few days of an upperclassman, I've gotten days of 2 hours of homework, 2 days of 6 hours of homework, and about to finish a day of 5 hours. This is fairly excessive, but I think I'll learn to get used to it, and I'm already planning ahead much better than I did in the past.
Gilder
Deity
The Article said:
Kidding, right?
That's just ridiculous.Tomoyo
Fate
My grades have always varied directly with the percent of total homework I do. In elementary school, I did most the homework, sometimes half heartedly, and got good points on the report card.
In middle school, I didn't do much of the trivial homework. I did very well on all the tests, but not doing the homework got me some really bad grades. However, middle school teachers didn't care as much, so the grades ended up pretty respectable.
This continued into early high school. Even though I understood everything perfectly (except math, for some reason I could not understand ninth grade math and had to teach it to myself in eleventh grade), not filling out worksheets hurt my grades immensely, especially in Global Studies, where one test was worth the same as one homework assignment.
However, in junior year, I barely did any "homework". None of my teachers assigned it often enough. As a result, I did whatever homework I had very well, and ended up doing very well in my classes. Meanwhile, all my grademates were complaining about their five+ hours of homework every night. I don't get it.
Actually doing the homework in any class other than math doesn't help me at all. English essays about whom the bell is tolling for and history questions about what the social effect of The Jungle was doesn't help me understand the topic at hand any better. I do though, do my Latin homework because I like translating.
In middle school, I didn't do much of the trivial homework. I did very well on all the tests, but not doing the homework got me some really bad grades. However, middle school teachers didn't care as much, so the grades ended up pretty respectable.
This continued into early high school. Even though I understood everything perfectly (except math, for some reason I could not understand ninth grade math and had to teach it to myself in eleventh grade), not filling out worksheets hurt my grades immensely, especially in Global Studies, where one test was worth the same as one homework assignment.
However, in junior year, I barely did any "homework". None of my teachers assigned it often enough. As a result, I did whatever homework I had very well, and ended up doing very well in my classes. Meanwhile, all my grademates were complaining about their five+ hours of homework every night. I don't get it.
Actually doing the homework in any class other than math doesn't help me at all. English essays about whom the bell is tolling for and history questions about what the social effect of The Jungle was doesn't help me understand the topic at hand any better. I do though, do my Latin homework because I like translating.
Synobun
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2006
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- 24,896
Kidding, right?
I did that in grade 1, wasn't too hard.
Gilder
Deity
The most I ever had to do in first grade was read a book.
Ansar
Détente avec l'été
The principal at my school keeps announcing that teachers should be pushing students to their academical limit by giving plenty of homework each night. He says students should be going home with plenty of homework to keep them busy.
All I have to say is: The teachers are doing a fine job. No need to add any more homework.
All I have to say is: The teachers are doing a fine job. No need to add any more homework.
Four hours a week? Wimps!
I think they have a point when it comes to elementary school, and to a certain extent, middle school age kids. But if high school kids are only getting four hours of homework at week, then that's crazy. You should get at least an hour or two of homework, at a minimum, per class her week.
CIVPhilzilla
Reagan Republican
I did a 50 page atlas in 4th grade. Had to handwrite a page about every state, and have a rough and good copy for each state. I lived.
kulade
Deity
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
- Messages
- 4,545
I feel homework is too focused on inconsequential short-term assignments than substantive ones. Long term projects should be the primary focuses of homework not cute but menial worksheets. I'll be frank, when I am told to do fifteen problems in a math book, forget that! Lugging another book home home to do a pitiful fifteen problems? I don't think so. Papers and projects should be standard homework, even for lower grade levels, kids in first grade shouldn't color and paste for homework...
Kennigit
proud 2 boxer
Elementary should have very little homework, especially before 4th or 5th grade. Any homework for little kids, ie 1rst graders, should be fun stuff like coloring or learning lines for a school play, etc.
Middle school I didn't have much, but it varied teacher to teacher. 7th grade I had 30 minutes of math homework every night, but other than that I had around 15 minutes or less. 8th grade my math had 0 homework, but my science flip flopped and had 30 minutes or so (mainly reading textbook, which no one else did in my class).
High school I haven't had much more, but some days I had a lot. Mainly because I put off everything for all my science projects & social studies junk & reading material & spanish reports until the last second. My classmates complain that they have too much homework, but it is a result of 3 things.
1. They actually do have a bit of homework. I'm a fast worker, so if I have 2 hours of homework they might take 3.5. This is relatively rare.
2. Same boat as me. Put everything off, but they shouldn't do it because their rushed work doesn't get A's or B's like my rushed work
3. Kids don't actually know what "homework" is. They complain about taking 5 hours to write an essay when 4 hours was surfing myspace and youtube. This seems to be the majority of complaints.
I'd say <30 minutes for elementary (but 20 should be reading a book), middle <hour, high school <2 hour (and should be appropiate for difficulty of classes and the value of doing the homework).
Middle school I didn't have much, but it varied teacher to teacher. 7th grade I had 30 minutes of math homework every night, but other than that I had around 15 minutes or less. 8th grade my math had 0 homework, but my science flip flopped and had 30 minutes or so (mainly reading textbook, which no one else did in my class).
High school I haven't had much more, but some days I had a lot. Mainly because I put off everything for all my science projects & social studies junk & reading material & spanish reports until the last second. My classmates complain that they have too much homework, but it is a result of 3 things.
1. They actually do have a bit of homework. I'm a fast worker, so if I have 2 hours of homework they might take 3.5. This is relatively rare.
2. Same boat as me. Put everything off, but they shouldn't do it because their rushed work doesn't get A's or B's like my rushed work
3. Kids don't actually know what "homework" is. They complain about taking 5 hours to write an essay when 4 hours was surfing myspace and youtube. This seems to be the majority of complaints.
I'd say <30 minutes for elementary (but 20 should be reading a book), middle <hour, high school <2 hour (and should be appropiate for difficulty of classes and the value of doing the homework).
Ansar
Détente avec l'été
In Middle School, Algebra I and Geometry were the only classes where I got a certain amount of homework (30 - 45 problems every night).
All the other classes were easy because the teachers wanted us to have a good time.
All the other classes were easy because the teachers wanted us to have a good time.
Lucius Julius
Imperator Romanorum
I agree to this. Education is a good thing in general, but western society (North American, and most European countries) as a whole is emphasizing education too much. What ever happened to the way life was lived in the 19th century, when kids did go to school (many still didn't though), and after school, instead of homework, they would help around the household or farm. Basically, because of excessive homework, children are being less productive nowdays.
cubsfan6506
Got u
Why don't they just extend school. This is a much better solution. Then they can have the teacher's help on it.
Japanrocks12
tired of being a man
Any night that requires you to stay till two and past (and this has happened to me many many times in tenth and eleventh) , is a bit excessive. Course, it should gradually steep up in demand, but never should take its toll on the student.
Rarely did nightly homework. Did big projects. Graduated highschool with a C+ Don't regret it.
Fugitive Sisyphus
Escape Artist
School systems are for teaching students useful information not for giving homework. 9 times out of 10 homework is a sign that the school system is horribly enefficient.
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