Ditch the Homework!

According to educator Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, multiple educational studies have found that contrary to our currently accepted thinking about schooling, "all empirical evidence dispels the notion that there is any causal relationship between compulsory homework and increased student achievement. And yet parents and schools attempt to find justifications for its value."  Compulsory homework for students is rarely questioned by school personnel, parents or students.  The assumption is that homework is good for you and more is even better.

The idea that homework must be assigned is a premise that is rarely examined by the school establishment or parents.  Why should it be explored?

1. There is sufficient empirical and practical evidence that homework actually detracts from the concept of quality work.
2. Most kids deplore receiving homework and it tends to detract from developing curiosity and a love of learning.
3. Teachers complain about the lack of compliance they get from students in completing homework.  This reality typically creates an oppositional pattern with students. 
4. Parents complain about the way in which homework prevents their children from engaging in family-related activities, but rarely inform the school of their concern.
5. Parents feel pressured to involve themselves in directly instructing their children over content they know little about.  Invariably, this issue creates power-struggles at home. 
6. There is no evidence that spending more time on schoolwork or homework actually leads to increased achievement.  The issue of quality taking precedence over quantity is missed.
7. Homework puts enormous stress on students as they try to balance various activities in their life. 
8. Schools are providing homework to students at earlier ages, starting with worksheets in kindergarten and pre-school. 

 According to William Glasser, psychiatrist, educational consultant and author of The Quality School,  the way to solve the homework problem is to drastically reduce compulsory homework and emphasize the importance of quality class work.  Students should be taught to evaluate their own work and be given the opportunity to raise their grades by improving it.  Students should be encouraged to take their work home to re-evaluate its quality and most students would do this without question. 

Currently, most students do homework because they are supposed to, not because they want to or consider the work meaningful or relevant to their experience.  Compulsory homework promotes a climate in which students, parents and teachers lose respect for the educational system.  Coercive approaches to gain compliance generally spike, and the opportunity to promote quality work is undermined.

Although the merits of compulsory homework are questionable, student can easily be persuaded to do meaningful homework as an extension of  classroom work.  For  example, students can finish uncompleted assignments or improve classroom work.  They may also do tasks such as interviewing people regarding careers, watch educational television programs associated with school themes, do research within the community, volunteer service to the community, or play educational games with family members.  There are many enjoyable experiences and games that involve reasoning, problem-solving and logic that may be valuable learning resources.

Schools need to promote academic programs to reflect quality.  As psychiatrist William Glasser indicates, quality may be hard to define, "but teachers and students tend to know what it looks like when they see it."  It certainly is not the rote, meaningless, irrelevant busy work that students currently receive in many of our schools.  As administrators, school board members and teachers re-evaluate their curriculum and add meaningful, purposeful tasks to the learning experience, quality work will emerge.  Students will be more willing to "buy-in" to a program where quality work is the norm, not the exception.  Once quality work becomes a commitment and is established in the schools, students will be more likely to adhere to non-compulsory learning experiences that can be accomplished at home. 

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Comments on this article:

» left by James Carrick ⁽¹¹⁷⁾ (194 days 12 hours ago.)

James, great article. I wonder if homework is helping or actually hindering some students. My oldest son is a very bright, gifted child but carries a C average because he doesn't do the homework he is required to do, but scores exceptionally high on his SAT's and OGT (Ohio Graduation Test). He gets frustrated because he says they require him to do things a certain way on his homework but that is not the way he does it in his head. I agree that there needs to be more quality work in class instead of making kids do the work themselves out of class.
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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (194 days 7 hours ago.)
James,
Thanks for your response. You are on target. My point is really about quality. Many kids who are very bright end up doing rote, meaningless work that does not meet their needs. Other kids may be school failures and not even have an adequate environment at home to complete compulsory homework!
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» left by susan thom from nj (194 days 7 hours ago.)

hi james,
wow, who woulda thunk?
all these years of trying to get 3 kids who hate homework to do it. a lot of aggravation could have been saved by your suggestions. i still have one more with the remainder of this year, and next. always hated homework. rarely does it, amid all kids of ways of dealing with it, ie. no TV, no computer, no nintendo, ah, forget about it:) thanks for a great article james,
my best,
sue
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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (194 days 7 hours ago.)
Thanks Sue,
Sorry about all those years of pulling teeth to get them to do their homework. I find that 95% of all parental power-struggles with kids are around the issue of that nasty word, HOMEWORK!. my kids did it, but I'm not sure how much it benefited them. The teachers felt great cause they were following POLICY.
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» left by J. Louise Larson ^(1,452)
J. Louise Larson (194 days 1 hour ago.)

Great article, James. Preach it! I'd love to see more emphasis on inquiry and independent study and less on "homework." Most homework is wasted on gifted students in particular, and frequently counterproductive.

Students who test out of material should be allowed to soar with independent studies, and even average to below average students would benefit greatly with such an approach.
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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (193 days 19 hours ago.)
J. Louise,
Thank you for your ideas. This issue is important to kids on both ends of the academic spectrum. If you're successful, you should be able to opt out. If you are failing, I believe you should be given the opportunity to continue the work until it is mastered and you have succeeded, good grades and all! Why the arbitrary time lines for achievement?
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» left by Terry Mitchell ^(1,320)
Terry Mitchell (193 days 14 hours ago.)
Where were you when I was loaded down with homework every school night of the week, beginning with the third grade? :-)
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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (193 days 12 hours ago.)
Terry,
It's like spinach. It's good for you! Thanks much for your comment and sorry about the trauma of third grade on. LOL
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» left by Myla Madson ^(2,333)
Myla Madson (179 days 20 hours ago.)

I don't know if you read my article, Bibliophobia...A better Excuse Than My Dog Ate My Homework, but it's right in line with this article. My daughter absolutely hates homework and spends more energy avoiding it and then worrying herself sick over the consequences than she would if she just went ahead and did it. Great article and your brain still intimidates me. I'll try to comment more often, I just hate giving away how linguistically challenged I am. Thank you for your comments on my articles, I love the positive feedback! lol
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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (179 days 16 hours ago.)
Myla.
I will read your article about your daughter and homework. Thanks for commenting and I do appreciate your writing! Thanks
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» left by Myla Madson ^(2,333)
Myla Madson (176 days 12 hours ago.)

Hey, when are you going to add a new article...don't you know it's impolite to keep a girl waiting?
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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (176 days 7 hours ago.)
Myla,
Well, here ya go? Thanks for the request, but I think that searchwarp has had enough of me. LOL. I'm a rebel with a cause!
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» left by Jane Bullard ^(1,276)
Jane Bullard (59 days 20 hours ago.)

James, I am one of those strange people who actually enjoyed homework most of the time. I liked that it challenged me on my own, to think, problem-solve, and evaluate, even with math, my least favorite. I learned most by working the problem on my own. I did often try to avoid homework, but I never felt it was bad.
What I do agree with you on is that homework-giving is often linked with outward achievement or "points." I think that one function of homework is not to turn a kid off a subject by overloading it on him/her; another is to give students the responsibility to spend some quality time working it out themselves, learning to think, reason, do research reliably, etc.
Thanks for a challenging article that makes readers think!
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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (59 days 17 hours ago.)
Jane,
Thanks for your response. There are many good reasons for giving homework as you suggest. My issue is more with the quality and amount that is given that can actually create a counter-reaction. My kids always did their homework on their own, never complaining. I am glad I never had to get caught up in conflict with them over doing it. I am more concerned about the student who struggles in school and ways to build on success for that child. Thanks again!

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» left by Paris (25 days 16 hours ago.)

Wow. If only this could actually become reality! I don't hate homework...I just hate finding a time to do it...or doing it right. I don't know, its a huge stress factor on my life. I'm dreading the upcoming school year because I still remember how bad last years work was. I'm really smart, I tested above average on all the OGT's...but I nearly failed math. School curriculum is not working for me.

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» left by James P Krehbiel ^(1,382)
James P Krehbiel (25 days 15 hours ago.)

Paris, 

 

We can dream can't we?  Thanks so much for your comment.  I wish you the best for the upcoming school year and I advise you to have your teachers read my article!  LOL  Be well.

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