Time For Kids Homework

At the same time, they are left frustrated when the students who most need more time to learn seem the least likely to complete homework.

Homework has generally been viewed as a positive practice and accepted without question as part of the student routine. As the culture has changed, and as schools and families have changed, homework has become problematic for more and more students, parents, and teachers.

The Internet and bookstores are crowded with books offering parents advice on how to get children to do homework.

At a time when demand for accountability has reached a new high, research fails to prove that homework is worth all that trouble.

(The research on homework is discussed in Chapter 3.) Although many people remain staunchly in favor of homework, a growing number of teachers and parents alike are beginning to question the practice.

This more critical view represents a movement away from the pro-homework attitudes that have been consistent for decades (Kralovec & Buell, 2000).

As a result, a discussion of homework stirs controversy as people debate both sides of the issue.See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. Homework is a long-standing education tradition that, until recently, has seldom been questioned.One hundred years ago, rather than diagnosing children with attention deficit disorder, pediatricians simply prescribed more outdoor exercise.Homework was blamed for nervous conditions in children, eyestrain, stress, lack of sleep, and other conditions.Progressive educators questioned many aspects of schooling: "Once the value of drill, memorization, and recitation was opened to debate, the attendant need for homework came under harsh scrutiny as well" (Kralovec & Buell, 2000, p. As the field of pediatrics grew, more doctors began to speak out about the effect of homework on the health and well-being of children.The benefits of fresh air, sunshine, and exercise for children were widely accepted, and homework had the potential to interfere.Attitudes toward homework have historically reflected societal trends and the prevailing educational philosophy of the time, and each swing of the pendulum is colored by unique historical events and sentiments that drove the movement for or against homework.Yet the historical arguments on both sides are familiar.Child labor laws were used as a justification to protect children from excessive homework.In 1900, the editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, Edward Bok, began a series of anti-homework articles.