RAMBLINGS ABOUT THE DREADED "H" WORD

Did any of you ever truly like homework? Didn't you prefer playing basketball or playing outside or doing just about anything else in the world except homework. I know I used to hate homework. I thought it wasn't fair that I had to pay attention all day in school and then focus on homework at night. My sister seemed to enjoy homework and I never quite figured that out. Maybe I hated homework because she actually seemed to like it and anything she liked I was completely against.

Now here I am about to write about why homework actually is important. I did some research recently and found a great deal that supports some of the thoughts I have been wrestling with recently.

Is homework worth all that time and effort? My answer is definitely yes! Homework, in a very real sense, extends the school day. The more our students are engaged in actual school subjects, the more they should be comprehending and mastering the material. The more they master the material, the more they should be learning. The more time they are engaged in homework, the less time they are spending watching TV or playing video games. I found recent research that verifies the fact that children spend more time watching TV and playing video games than being instructed by a teacher. Yet, our teachers have a captive audience from 8:00 AM to 2:45 PM. One study showed that most students have spent about 13,000 hours in class by the time they reach 12th grade. They have also spent about 32,900 hours watching TV. Many other nations require their students to go to school many more hours and even sometimes an extra day as compared to students in the United States. Check comparisons of test scores sometime.
Homework also enables students to practice what was taught in the classroom. I remember trying to learn how to juggle. It took a great deal of time, effort, and good old fashioned practice. We have all heard the saying, practice, practice, practice or practice makes perfect. It simply is common sense. The more you practice, the more you master something. The more you work quadratic equations, the easier they become. The effort involved in practice will teach lessons far beyond what the particular assignment was.

Homework can also offer a way for our students to apply what they have learned in class to the real world. Let's assume a teacher instructs the class in being able to figure out if something is fact or fiction and then assigns the class to review a political candidates' speech. An application to real life has occurred. (Probably mostly fiction.) A parent and child then may have an interesting conversation that opens up even more opportunities for learning.

Homework can be a great way for students to learn on their own. It does take a great deal of thought and imagination by the teacher, but if assignments are planned out and care is taken in thinking through the desired outcome, homework can produce opportunities where students are learning things on their own and discovering new and exciting things that can bolster the passion to learn even more. Creating a passion for knowledge is one of the most important goals of education.

As parents and educators, we love throwing around words like: self-motivation, self-reliance, and self-discipline. We all desire for our kids to have these attributes as they grow older. Will TV and video games teach these traits? I think not. Can homework help us teach these attributes? Yes.

Homework also gives parents an opportunity to find out what is being taught in school and how well their child is understanding the concepts. It also gives parents an opportunity to see how their child is doing in trying to cope with deadlines, concepts, and comprehension without the aid of a teacher. It also gives the parent and child an opportunity to interact.

Like I said, these are just ramblings that have been on my mind recently.

What do you think? Write back and tell me what your thoughts are on homework.

Peace.

Jim Richards