Many people believe that schools are expecting too much from kids and students generally. Both parents and children are frazzled at the amount of homework assigned to students, and unfortunately, most of the homework is not productive or necessary.
Homework Studies
Brian Gill said, “there is no evidence that kids are doing more homework than they did before.” He also stated that “it’s a tiny proportion of kids who are spending an enormous amount of time on homework.”
The History of Homework
Homework has been a controversial issue over the years. In research carried out some years back by Brian Gill, he reported that people’s idea about homework is that, “it has no academic value.” He further explained that people believe that kids who got homework did not learn any more than kids who did not.
Some believe homework is not necessary because it is not a determinant of academic success. They also stated that homework tells on the health of the students – with the recorded case of bent spines as a result of heavy loads of books and stress.
However, some believe that it is a beneficial practice. One of the benefits of homework is that it extends classroom work with additional time on any given task. Also, homework is believed to foster communication between parents and teachers. Furthermore, it helps students to develop independent study habits.
The more-is-better movement
Some educators do not give homework to students before. They started assigning homework when parents challenged them. However, those parents are high – achievers who want the best for their children. Also, they want their children to compete for the best universities in the country. Hence, they support that more assignment is better to get the students prepared.
Too much homework vs. the optimal amount
One of the surprising findings of some researches carried out was that more homework does not correlate with higher test scores. It is believed that there is hardly any relationship between much assignment done by kids in elementary schools and their academic performance. However, the research is tested positive in middle and high schools. Research shows that short and frequent assignments are pften more effective than longer but fewer homework for young children. This is because young children have short attention spans and need to feel that they have completed a task successfully.
The optimal amount of time to spend on assignments should be one to two hours. Doing tasks beyond these hours would not make the kids any better than those who do them for one or two hours.
Homework is a Complicated Thing
Some teachers give out homework without checking it. An effective homework must be used in a certain way. When homework is assigned, teachers are to use submitted assignments to ascertain students’ areas of difficulties and then devise a means to help students understand better the topics not understood. Unfortunately, teachers don’t have this in mind.