Do relaxed homework policies help or hurt children?

[UltraViolet]

I know I will be in the minority here,
but when I send my children to school,
I will in no way enforce that they do homework.

I will also not be involved in assigned projects.

If they want to do it fine,
if not fine.

If the schools cannot teach my kids in the ??? 6 hours a day they have them,
(besides basic things like math facts, and life discussions, music and arts)
I will not be assisting them.

I have a life too.
If I need to home educate them when they get home,
then I may as well just home educate them in the morning
when it's more convenient for me.

I want my kids to do OTHER things THEY want to do
when they come home.
Stupid projects and busy work are not to be found on my priorities list.

But that's just me.

(they're not gunna like me.)

I'm not too concerened about grades either.

I'm more concerned that they know what they need to know,
to be who they want to be.
I want them to be educated individuals,
not standardized products of a school system.

[Apex]

Originally Posted by Wandered Off

Dallas ISD adds some new policies:

Dallas ISD defends changes in grading policy | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Front Page Stories

Do you think these are helpful for the students in the long run?

If you want to set up those kids to fail when they get into the real life, then those rules are great. However, the last rule is a good one. They use that one in college. When I took chemistry here there was such a high number of students who failed they put the entire chem. department on probation and completely reformatted the class for the next semester.

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Originally Posted by Apex

However, the last rule is a good one. They use that one in college. When I took chemistry here there was such a high number of students who failed they put the entire chem. department on probation and completely reformatted the class for the next semester.

Of course, your college probably had entrance requirements and the course probably had prerequisites (which would have included exams where if you didn't know your stuff, you wouldn't get the course credit), and because of that, the administration would have been able to reasonably assume that the students had a certain base level of knowledge and ability before they took the course in question.

If every teacher is passing students for fear of creating trouble for themselves, then that assumption probably wouldn't be a reasonable one to make.

[Zephyr]

Originally Posted by YmirGF

Jumbo post

Very thorough and echos my thoughts exactly. You're pretty good at that. School should prepare you for real life, above all else. Not so much to get a job, but to be able to survive on your own. These policies are just trying to legitimatize mediocrity.

Originally Posted by UltraViolet

I know I will be in the minority here,
but when I send my children to school,
I will in no way enforce that they do homework.

I will also not be involved in assigned projects.

If they want to do it fine,
if not fine.

If the schools cannot teach my kids in the ??? 6 hours a day they have them,
(besides basic things like math facts, and life discussions, music and arts)
I will not be assisting them.

I have a life too.
If I need to home educate them when they get home,
then I may as well just home educate them in the morning
when it's more convenient for me.

I want my kids to do OTHER things THEY want to do
when they come home.
Stupid projects and busy work are not to be found on my priorities list.

But that's just me.

(they're not gunna like me.)

I'm not too concerened about grades either.

I'm more concerned that they know what they need to know,
to be who they want to be.
I want them to be educated individuals,
not standardized products of a school system.

Thank the gods not everybody has this attitude. Without guidance, can you trust a kid to turn out alright in modern society? Haven't you realized that kids are dumb? Allowing your kids to not work, and not helping them when they need it will only set them up for failure in the future. It's really kind of sickening. I understand that sometimes, yes, kids need to be alone and think for themselves, but this is just negligent.

How can you not be ashamed of yourself here?

[UltraViolet]

Originally Posted by Zephyr

Thank the gods not everybody has this attitude. Without guidance, can you trust a kid to turn out alright in modern society? Haven't you realized that kids are dumb? Allowing your kids to not work, and not helping them when they need it will only set them up for failure in the future. It's really kind of sickening. I understand that sometimes, yes, kids need to be alone and think for themselves, but this is just negligent.

How can you not be ashamed of yourself here?

I knew that I would be judged within one or two posts.

I'm sure this won't be the last.

Good thing then that your kids are yours
and mine are mine.

(why you ever conclude that I do not provide them guidance I do not know.
except that you do not know me at all.)

And I do not agree at all that kids are dumb
(based on the fact that they are kids.)
Kids are not cookie cutters either.

And I ask you, 6 hours a day in school is not enough work?
How many hours to adults spend a day on the job?

[MoonWater]

I have to agree with you vi that I don't think there should be homework unless it's a long term thing, and even then I feel that most of the work should be at school where they can go right to the teachr with any questions. Though I do disagree on the notion of 6 hours being enough, don't forget they may be there for six hours but will only spend 1 hour on each subject, which in my experience is barely enough to get through the days lesson, let alone any work. So, while I do think there is a better way though, I do think that school should be longer. Besides if school is supposed to prepare kids for the real world, and in the real world the majority of adults need to work at least 8 hours a day to make end's meet, then it would seem reasonable to me that starting by high school, kids should be in school about 8 hours a day as well. Certainly not so long in elementary school, but definitely by high school. They could work their way up... 6 in elementary, 7 in middle, and 8 in high school, so the transition isn't such a shock. Besides the home is rarely a good working environment. I know the first thing I want to do when I get home from a long hard day at school is relax, not spend a long hard evening working on my homework. Most of which just seems like busy work.

[Heneni]

•Homework grades should be given only when the grades will "raise a student's average, not lower it."

Good idea because the child will never feel that they are in competition with their peers but rather in competion with themselves. Positive re-inforcement 101.

•Teachers must accept overdue assignments, and their principal will decide whether students are to be penalized for missing deadlines.

NOPE, bad idea. Time management is a key skill that they will need as adults.

•Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.

Good idea. It means they can learn from their mistakes. Remember they are just kids, who need to do just that. Give them the opportunity to correct themselves.

•Teachers cannot give a zero on an assignment unless they call parents and make "efforts to assist students in completing the work."

Time consuming and emotionally draining. Parents can be terribly unreasonable when contacted as well. But alas, it is our job to give the child every opportunity to succeed. Every effort must be made by a teacher to motivate inspire and have high expectations. Unfortunately many students are diseffected, not interested in education, which when we analyse it, comes down to poor self-esteem and a sense of worthlessness and hopelessness. Sure there are the no gooders, but teachers are expected to always give the extra nudge. It isnt even really 'extra' its what a teacher does. A child interprets a zero as 'im useless' or worse, their parents interpret it as a reflection of uselessness. Stricktly speaking no kid is a zero. The score is intented to reflect on their skills and abilities. A zero does not mean they have no skills and abilities, it means they didnt try.

•High school teachers who fail more than 20 percent of their students will need to develop a professional improvement plan and will be monitored by their principals. For middle school the rate is 15 percent; for elementary it's 10 percent.

Absolutely essential. An educator does not have the luxury of standing back and shaking their heads at the underachievers. Nope, every educator is employed to do just that...educate. If that means changing strategy, methods and assesment tasks, then so be it. Every child has the ability to succeed, if they are taught in a manner that they can relate to. Its a tought job being a teacher, but when you do these things every child can have 'access' to learning and succeeding.

All of the above,(except handing stuff in late), places the responsiblity for improvement of scores on the child, makes him/her their only competion, and it makes the teacher accountable for poor results, and at the same time, it allows for a change in course for both the teacher and the student.

[YmirGF]

Originally Posted by Heneni

•Homework grades should be given only when the grades will "raise a student's average, not lower it."

Good idea because the child will never feel that they are in competition with their peers but rather in competion with themselves. Positive re-inforcement 101.

The simple reality of life is that the precious little smurfs are IN competition with each other regardless of how they feel about it. I'll check by on your sentiments in a generation or two.

•Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.

Originally Posted by H