[.ca] The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, ... (ISBN 0807042196)

The Truth about Homework:
How refreshing to come across a book that questions the value of homework. As the parent of three children, 16, 13 and 10 I have seen the damage homework can do to children's enthusiasm for learning and to my relationship with them. Children need free time to explore their own interests and to figure out who they are. Homework will not solve the too much TV and Video Game problem, but it will quell children's innate desire to explore their world and find out who they are. "The End of Homework" takes a much needed critical look at the real effects of homework on learning and development and shows just how empty and unsubstantiated many of the claims from the "more homework" camp really are. Anyone with a stake in the current debate about how children use their time, the changes in the way they grow up, the shift in the balance of power away from families towards corporate institutions, and above all the role of homework in these trends should read this book.

homework stinks:
i've been a strong opponent of homework for many years, ever since the day i almost had a nervous breakdown in 2nd grade when i had failed to complete an "important assignment." now as a parent of a second grade student of my own, i realize more than ever that homework is clearly detrimental in numerous ways to both our youth and our families. this book lays out a solid groundwork of arguments against homework. if your new to the debate or on the pro homework side, you'll likely learn a great deal from this book.

READ THIS BOOK AND CRY FOR OUR NATION:
Read this book, and then cry for our nation... Because it is HARD to do homeowrk, because it is DIFFICULT to find the time to do homework, because some parents DON'T PROVIDE ENOUGH SUPPORT to do homework, and for a whol host of other silly reasons, we should DO AWAY WITH HOMEWORK. That's the premise of this book. Silly? You bet. You should cry because teachers are agreeing with this concept. Just another step in dumbing down our kids. For all the education theory that teaching professionals have dreamed up in the past 50 years - most of it garbage - there remains one immutable fact. Children LEARN by DRILL AND PRACTICE. DRILL AND PRACTICE - until the "a ha!" occurs. That will never change. And that is why homework is NECESSARY. To learn math, you simply MUST solve hundreds of problems. To learn science, you simply MUST read, memorize, and perform experiments. To learn the piano, you simply MUST practice. Get used to it. ...

Another way to keep the lower class down...:
As a teacher of many years, I've seen a direct correlation between students who do their homework and succeed in life. I have to wonder what racial background these authors come from--one way to keep the lower class down is to convince them they don't need what is good for them. The key to successful homework is moderation--homework itself is necessary. How else are we to prepare our students for the workloads of higher education? If we do not prepare them, then we have truly done a disservice to them, they will drop out, and remain in the lower class. Look around--people who are well-off are generally well-educated and have worked hard for some portion of their lives. Homework is a way to build the kind of work ethic that will get lower class students out of the lower class. This book maintains the same attitude of the slave owners 160 years ago--don't worry about the \ocrud\c you'll put up with in this life, and don't try to get ahead, you'll be rewarded in the after life. What a way to support the fatalism of the lower classes.

An Important Book for both Parents and Teachers:
I've been in the AmeriCorps, for two years, working with children who, in some cases, disparately, need help in literacy. I have seen first hand the problems children have in trying to do homework and not being able to read. I say this to make a point. Now this book does not necessarily look at ones reading ability. What the book does cover is how in some cases homework can be a burden, and in others counterproductive. This book does not place blame on any one person, i.e. teacher - parents and so forth. What it does do is show how the perception of if children do a lot of homework that it is good for them. This is not always the case. An example of this in the book was when Ms Kralovec did an experiment. When she went to a high school to teach a class, she is a college professor, she assigned no homework, all papers and work was to be done in class, using the school resources, library computer lab. At the end of the semester the students not only enjoyed the class but like that fact of not having the pressure to do homework every night. All of them did very well in that class. One student sighted that was because all the resources were in one place, school. Another point the authors being up are not all children learn by doing a work sheet or reading from a book. To those who do not learn well this way we are setting them up to not only fail, but also lose interest in school from an early age. Even when a teacher assigns a project it puts the children that don't learn well by doing projects at the disadvantage. The authors make the point that we, educators and parents, need to go beyond smaller classrooms, but also deal with how children learn on an individual basis. This brings me to my point, and the point of the book. Homework can be effect when used correctly, yet at the same time homework should not be the end all and be all of work. We need to always be on the look out as to whether, or not homework is working for children. This is a wonderful book and I would advise all parents, teachers and principles to read this. I will admit that there is a slant against homework, but it is fairly well balanced. If there were a flaw in the book it would be answers to if there were no homework then what? I see this book as the opening chapter in a larger issue of giving less to no homework at all.