Child Labor: Enough With The Crazy Hours Of Homework
From what I see from friends who have children, kids today -- even those in first, second, and third grade -- get more hours of homework assigned than I did as a high school student.
Though I see that government meddling so often comes with unintended consequences, and I think the regulation people seem to gravitate to is not always necessary, I think there's a good point made in this Vicki Abeles LA Times op-ed about cutting back on the level of homework thrown at kids:
Children and teens are in school an average of 25 more days a year today than in the 1950s, and a University of Michigan study found that children between 6 and 17 spend about 7½ hours per week more on academics than they did 20 years ago.This additional work has not led to a significant improvement in overall academic performance. The nation's Program for International Student Assessment scores have been falling for years. It also hasn't correlated with an increase in future employability. Scores on the Torrance Test for Creative Thinking, which assesses one of the qualities employers seek most, have plummeted since the 1990s.
At the same time, the importance of unscheduled time for children has been well established. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, passed in 1989, recognizes children's rights "to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities." The United States is the only U.N. member state that hasn't ratified the child rights treaty.
U.S. states and school districts determine the number of instructional hours that American children and teens will have in the classroom. At most schools, the day starts sometime around 8 a.m. and lasts until 3 p.m. This alone makes for a nearly 35-hour workweek, not counting extracurricular activities and homework.
The National Education Assn. provides recommendations for time spent on homework, but at least one study indicates that the amount of homework given to elementary students far exceeds those suggested limits. A 2014 survey of American teachers found that high schoolers are assigned 17½ hours of homework a week, or 3½ hours per night.
This is absolutely insane.
And where does the time come from?
According to one recent study, only 15% of teens are getting the recommended eight to 10 hours of sleep on school nights. Studies suggests this could have a host of harmful effects, causing them to age faster and be more susceptible to disease as adults.Too much schoolwork also cuts down on essential play time. The U.N. declared recreation a right for children for good reason. It is an essential contributor to their physical and mental health, and it helps them develop the social and decision-making skills they need in order to find fulfillment and success later in life.
The United Nations? When did we care about them?
The biggest question I have is this: is this level of homework new? There CAN'T be more to learn, of actual substance, than there was 50 years ago or more. How did the Greatest Generation ever get Apollo to the Moon, anyway?
35 hours is less than these same children will spend looking at their TV or phone. I'm just not impressed unless somebody wants to talk about the curriculum instead of hours spent, and I suspect the curriculum sucks because teachers themselves test poorly.
Radwaste at September 21, 2018 12:54 AM
And they are in the factory an average of considerably fewer days today than they were in the 1910s. Overall, school is where we'd rather they be.
Rad's point about the curriculum is well put. What are the teachers (and students) doing with the scheduled class time? Are they using it effectively? Or is one student (class clown, slow learner) monopolizing the education time of the entire class?
Our school model is still rooted in early 20th century techniques with one teacher, a blackboard, and a classroom of students moving at the same pace, restricted to that of the slowest student. Computerized learning modules with independent study and a teacher acting as proctor would let students learn at their own pace. We have the technology to vastly improve the delivery of education to our students. Why aren't we using it?
Oxford University uses an independent study model with discussions and papers - vs. the US model of lectures and tests. Could we not adapt some form of Oxford's methodology to our own schools where applicable?
Conan the Grammarian at September 21, 2018 4:38 AM
Could we not adapt some form of Oxford's methodology to our own schools where applicable?
Yes, probably. But who could teach it?
I R A Darth Aggie at September 21, 2018 6:53 AM
"What are the teachers (and students) doing with the scheduled class time?"
Watching TV. Schools show movies like Ghost Busters or other entertainment stuff.
As for the level of homework, that varies a lot. Even in the same school. If your school has an 'honor' track you essentially have two different schools in the same building. One school I know of the honors track high school english was working on Chaucer and other old english classics, while the regulars track was working on four letter spelling words.
Ben at September 21, 2018 7:08 AM
"And they are in the factory an average of considerably fewer days today than they were in the 1910s."
And that is kinda the point. But not in the way Conan intended. Schools to a significant extent are day cares. They keep the kids occupied while the parents are at work. And from a union perspective they reduce the labor force thus driving wages up.
Ben at September 21, 2018 7:10 AM
For the first few years of elementary school, there were "no homework" policies in place for our kid's school. The kids were expected to read with their parents for 20 minutes a day, but that was it. That was in two different districts, because we moved from NW of Austin to SW of Austin between my daughter's first and second-grade year. The districts were also quite different, b/c the first was kind of mid-size suburban and the current one is rural with maybe 1200 kids in the whole district. This year daughter is in third grade, and there is homework again. (My understanding is that the "no homework" policy was for K-5.) The kids going into sixth grade, who had not had real homework until then, lacked the time management/study skills/discipline to complete the assignments they needed to do at home. Now they get their assignments at the beginning of the week and turn them in Friday. My kid usually spends 1-2 hours on hers, plus the nightly reading.
My 20-year HS reunion is coming up, and I recall having hours worth of homework every night in the late 90's, so I'm not sure that heavy homework load is anything new. I was on the Honors/AP track, though. Consider what the homework load is for kids in Asia and I think that American kids have it pretty easy.
ahw at September 21, 2018 7:42 AM
...To clarify, my kid is spending an hour or two PER WEEK on the homework, and the reading is whatever she chooses to read.
ahw at September 21, 2018 7:44 AM
I've been told by teachers that the push to increase homework is/was part of a move to expand the range of grading criteria, away from testing. Homework now constitutes a larger proportion of final grades than it used to.
platopus at September 21, 2018 8:18 AM
When my girls were little and getting ready to start school we thought that one to four hours of homework a day two to four days a week would be about right (i.e. anywhere from two to sixteen hours a week not counting summers, a month around Christmas and New Years and the weeks before and after Thanksgiving and Easter) To make time for that and still have lots of time to play and have fun with them we decided not to send them to school. It worked out well. They always got their homework done, often asked for more, and never failed a single class.
Ken R at September 21, 2018 10:01 AM
My kids graduated high school in 2008 and 2012. There was WAY too much homework in the grade school years. What I really resented was that it wasn't possible for the parents to be relatively uninvolved in the process. We worked all day at demanding jobs and then only had a few precious hours with our kids in the evenings before they had to go to bed. I didn't want to have to spend a large amount of that time supervising homework. I wanted us all to be able to talk and relax together. And the projects and reports?? Ack, it was so awful. There wasn't a way for them to get done unless the parents spent a whole bunch of time figuring it out with the kids. What were they doing all day?? I DID my schoolwork already, for twenty years counting from kindergarten through law school thank you very much, and my mom didn't have a thing to do with it. Now it's so competitive and the school just presumed on our time in the evenings and weekends.
RigelDog at September 21, 2018 10:05 AM
@Rigel - I had the same experience with my kids when they were in school. It was miserable, for all of us. I was irritated that I had to invest so much money and time into projects for 3 kids, and the time suck that was homework, and late nights crying (me, mostly). I am starting to see that pendulum swing back the other way with my grandkids. Grandson #2 started a new school this year, he's in 2nd grade...no homework packets! His teacher's philosophy is 30 minutes or reading every night and family time. I'm already seeing a less-stressed kid. I can see sending home an occasional work sheet to reinforce a math concept learned that day/week, but honestly stop with the pages and pages of homework! Except spelling words, still my favorite!
sara at September 21, 2018 1:05 PM
If you want to think about the motivation of the education industry, consider this:
We must "mainstream" the slow and disruptive students, because leaving a student behind or excluding them in any way will cripple them - but we must mainstream the gifted or merely bright, also, because allowing them to get ahead will... what? Hurt them socially?
Just who would Sheldon Cooper socialize with? Why don't we notice that all schools have kids far better than they are allowed to be?
Don't miss that the brightest students ARE smarter than the average teacher - and that some teachers are toxic due to ego issues.
It would hurt headcount to let the gifted kid move on. That's the bottom line. If (s)he's not sharp enough to break free of the system without its help, you can't expect admins to reduce their own importance for the sake of someone else.
Like welfare, the Department of Education measures its success on the number of people who "need" it, not the number of people it has freed.
Radwaste at September 21, 2018 1:19 PM
Government school (kinderprison) is child abuse. Homework is child abuse and steals valuable family time.
My family largely works in "public" [sic] schools, and defends them-- and homework-- tooth and nail. They believe they are "necessary"-- no matter how much evidence I show them to the contrary. Child abuse is never necessary.
My appreciation for education explains my opposition to "public" schooling.
Kent McManigal at September 21, 2018 2:01 PM
I've been told by teachers that the push to increase homework is/was part of a move to expand the range of grading criteria, away from testing. Homework now constitutes a larger proportion of final grades than it used to.
platopus at September 21, 2018 8:18 AM
Which further discriminates against bright boys particularly since learning the material and then being tested on it, doesnt count for as much of your grade as the tedious busy work that girls excell at.
No way to tell who is actually doing that homework, but you darn sure should know who has their butt in the seat taking the test.
Coincidentaly democrats and unionized teachers favor homework over testing because it obscures accountability.
Isab at September 22, 2018 12:50 AM
Isab, I resented that so much when I was a kid. I got mostly As on my tests and projects and class participation, but because I didn't do my homework every night it often dragged me down to Bs or sometimes Cs.
NicoleK at September 23, 2018 1:35 AM
I wasn't a boy BTW. It's any kid that can learn the material fairly quickly.
When I was a teacher the other thing that got me was how angry the pricipal and staff were that sometimes people pulled their kids out for a vacation. Staff said it didn't matter if the kids were getting all As, but I'm of the opinion if the material is so easy that they can take an extra vacation and still get good grades, maybe their time is better spent wherever they are going. These were wealthy families who took their kids to interesting places. I'd say a week in Brussels or Venice or wherever is probably giving these kids a lot of exposure to culture. Of course if the kids have bad grades it is another issue.
NicoleK at September 23, 2018 1:40 AM
I used to do most of my homework in the next class or on the bus. The last thing I wanted to do when I got home was homework. Reports and projects I did at home because the logistics did not support doing them on the bus or in another class.
I made sure the classes I took were the ones in which I could get away with minimal effort, a habit that bit me in the ass when I got to college. There, I was not always the smartest kid in the room and I had to learn to study. I eventually made Dean's List, but my poor study habits did hold me back in the beginning.
So, maybe having homework that requires you to work at it is not a bad thing.
Conan the Grammarian at September 23, 2018 9:23 AM
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