The Glade 4.0

Well maybe she should be in special classes. Homework isn't going to help her if she already understands the material.

I don't really give homework for Social Studies. Just if they didn't finish something we were working on or talking about in class, however I don't grade their notes anyway, I just teach the material the next day. I do have them BLOG at night sometimes for certain topics. I leave all the multiple homework assignments to the LA teacher and Math Teacher. Plus, currently they have to finish a science fair project for the science teacher and I think it would just be too much to give them any more homework right now.

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"None is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people safe as they are the
ultimate guardians of their own liberty."- Thomas Jefferson

"Yeah, I'm rehearsing my poker face. I don't handle stupid well. *sigh*" - Farsky

The only social studies homework that I ever recall that wasn't a paper about a topic, or some other form of research, was to read some material that related to the lesson for the next day, usually supplemental information to assist with understanding the causes of that particular event being studied.

Homework as a vehicle for learning is different from homework as a vehicle for evaluation.

Refusing to award an A based on unsatisfactory homework is different from refusing to pass a student for unsatisfactory homework.

Homework is like the gym for an athlete. It's training for your mind. When the Bulls beat the Suns 4 games to 2 in 1993, nobody turned around and said to the Bulls that they weren't going to be given the championship title because they didn't spend enough time in practice. They beat the Suns. They got the title.

Now, Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan because of all the time he spends in the gym. That is true. Michael Jordan is also not a proficient basketball player, he is an excellent basketball player. Training does do that. We do not judge his performance based on how he got there, but on what he is able to do.

Another thing about training is that it has diminishing returns. This is why when you go to a gym, you do not just work on one machine. You do not just perform one exercise. That can and will wear out your body and do damage to you. Homework does the same thing. It becomes mind-numbing and boring.

Homework as it exists in the primary and secondary education systems is reduced to rote drudgery so that teachers can have something to grade, and therefore have work to do. It is busywork not just for the students, but also for the teachers who must grade it.

When Michael Jordan trained at a gym, he did it for himself. Nobody sat there and graded how well he did his squats or his lifts. The point of all his training was never about how well he did squats or lifts.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Most teachers I know HATE grading homework (or tests) --I don't think they chose to do it for fun.

My experience as a student, tutor and TA has been that its an easily recognizable circle... the classes with the most mind numbing homework tended to be the classes where students had filtered themselves with lack of effort and/or ability.

Teachers stuck with those students in those classes tended to resent the class for the lack of challenge and generally took the position that if they had to spend time checking the homework, they were going to make sure the students spent time doing it, so they made the homework worth a grade of suitable penalty that choosing not to do the work had real consequences.