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Too Much Homework?
  Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly!September 24th, 2013 5:06:04pm 4,333 Posts |
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/my-daughters-homework-is-killing-me/309514/3/ I thought this article was really interesting. Especially the part where the daughter doesn't know what the words in spanish mean, but she can conjugate the verbs and keeps saying "memorization over rationalization". It really tells me that despite all of the efforts to improve the US education system, that it's just getting worse. I think it's INSANE for a person to go to school and do all of this work and then not ACTUALLY learn something from it (what good is it to be able to conjugate spanish verbs if you can't speak or understand the language?). I've thought for a long time that the school system was totally inefficient, but this for sure has me thinking. Seriously, shouldn't we be focusing more on what the kids understand than how many facts they can spew out come test time? I'm in college/university now, and obviously here the expectation of workload is structured differently, but when I was in high school I took a lot of advanced classes and the work load was insane. (Although, I'll admit, I didn't do most of it. I more or less slacked off and fudged my way into a B average but that's beside the point, haha). Anyway, any parents or current students care to weigh in? |
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 misa・brandenburgers September 24th, 2013 8:29:04pm 186 Posts |
(WELL the internet ate my first reply, so here we go again!!)I am neither a parent nor a current student (I graduted from college/university in 2012), BUT this is something I think/read about a lot, so! I took AP and honors classes almost exclusively in high school, but I always had a mangaeable workload, even with riding, working part time, and playing on a mock trial team. Plus my teachers all communicated with us and each other and were willing to accommodate minor schedule adjustments for us. :/ I had great teachers, but I guess that's not the norm these days..I think it's really a multifaceted problem - teachers are not paid enough (thus discouraging people with higher credentials from teaching, since they have loans and other jobs will pay better), teachers unions place more emphasis on time in the system vs. effectiveness as a teacher, parents think their children are special snowflakes and that bullying teachers into changing grades/assignments is an okay thing to do, there's a disturbing negligence of and anti-education culture in more urban areas, our academic year is based on a pre-Industrialized America (+ learning loss during the summer), obsession with college/uni as the only path to success, don't even get me started on No Child Left Behind...I think what you said about rote memorization vs. understanding is funny, since I had a professor who complained about the exact opposite (he said we were constantly being taught ~*critical thinking*~ but had nothing to think critically about).. IMO the best education would be a combination, where you learn the basic facts and then learn how/why to apply them. Because it's true, you can't think critically if you have no basis to think from, but a bunch of facts without understanding is just as worthless.I also have the experience of having gone to uni in Japan (and I know a bit about the education system there), so since it's mentioned in the article.. There are definitely pros/cons to its structure. There is a huge emphasis on memorization, especially at the elementary/middle school level, and then most of high school is focused on the university entrance exams. The exams determine your acceptance (little to no consideration is given to GPAs, extracurriculars, etc.), and since they only happen once a year.. they put a lot of pressure on students. It can be pretty bad. On the other hand, after you're accepted, uni is essentially a four year vacation until you need to start job hunting. My homework took about an hour (if that) every other day, I think?The biggest difference between the US and Japan, imo, is the government's support of higher education.. In Japan, the best universities are pubic national universities (Todai, Kyodai, etc., with the exceptions of Waseda and Keio, which are private.. I went to Keio :D). If you can get in, your tuition is negligible. As much as I hate to say it like this, higher education is a business in the US, which I think will only be detrimental as we move forward. An investment in education is an investment in the future.. in my opinion! |
 Blitz -- Stellar Gypsy Vanners September 24th, 2013 10:23:14pm 1,308 Posts |
Part of the problem is that it really varies depending on what school you're looking at. |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! September 25th, 2013 1:12:11am 4,333 Posts |
From my own personal experience, I was always in the upper level classes (AP, honors), and basically I figured out how to fake my way through them all and get A's and B's, because I would have made myself crazy had I actually done all of the work I was assigned.Like Chelle said though, it really does depend on the school. My college workload is pretty heavy too, but because of the way it's set up, I don't feel as much pressure from it. Things are due two or three days ahead, not the next night and that makes it easier to manage time. Plus, I guess in college/uni you kind of expect more work, haha. |
 Bear Creek Stables September 25th, 2013 2:14:22am 38 Posts |
I am a mom of an 8 yr old. She went to school in San Antonio TX and was always sent home with tons of homework. She had to read 2 books, do 3 pages of math, write spelling words 10 times each and in sentences, write the definition of her vocabulary words and use them in a sentence. All this everyday. I got so mad because it took her so long and she had nosebleeds and headaches from doing so much work. This is all from SECOND grade. How do you expect a child to do so much work in a little time. From the time she got home til she went to bed she did homework. Math was partial algebra and whats sad is the teacher couldn't figure it out! I wonder what the teachers were teaching the kids to send them so much crap home. |
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