No Homework - An Idea Whose Time Has Come

The other day I say a piece on the news about a school district that is trying a novel new approach: no homework. I don't have a child in school anymore, but what stands out as the biggest problem we had all through my son's school years was EXCESS HOMEWORK!

When my son was in early elementary, he had a teacher who sent home homework in nearly every subject almost every night, so his book bag weighed almost as much as he did. Because my son hated school, I had to carefully supervise his homework to make sure it got done. It often felt like I was homeschooling!

During grade school, I was a regular parent volunteer, so I had plenty of chances to observe the various teaching methods of different teachers. This particular teacher's class was like a party everyday. What I saw were a lot of games and play and fun, very little classroom instruction. That was left to the parents, of an evening, with all the homework sent home.

There was also little discipline in this classroom --- students were free to run around and do as they pleased, which was pretty chaotic most of the time. When my son entered the next grade and was struggling, his teacher asked me which teacher he'd had the year before, and she wasn't surprised by my answer. She told me she could almost always pick out the students that had had that particular teacher by their uncontrollable behavior and inability to focus on lessons.

School should not be a babysitting service, geared toward fun and games. After the children arrive home each day, their evenings should be a time of relaxation, family fun, extra-curricular activities, chores, and play --- not more "school" to be worked into an already busy family life (especially since most parents must work outside the home these days). School should be the child's "work", and home time should be "family time", not an extension of or substitute for schooling.

In this new method of teaching I saw on the news, kids listened to their teachers' taped lectures at home, in the evening (think of it, teachers being able to deliver a lecture without the constant interruption of disruptive kids to deal with); then children returned to school the next day, where what used to be "homework" was done in class, under supervision of the teacher. Students were happier, parents were happier, teachers were happier, and test scores were markedly higher.