Finally, ten and sixteen-year-olds alike have found a politician in whom they can firmly and fully believe, and his name isn’t Obama or Romney. His name is Hollande. Francois Hollande.
Francois Hollande’s cutting-edge answer to handling social inequalities? Banning homework. When introducing his proposals for education reform on Tuesday, October 9 at the Sorbonne, Hollande, the president of France, stated that work “must be done in the [school] facility rather than in the home if we want to support the children and re-establish equality.”
Though unquestionably innovative, these didactic reforms to ban homework assignments wouldn’t be entirely unparalleled if implemented. Individual schools in the U.S. and Europe have already begun reworking their homework systems.
For example, an elementary school in Maryland has recently implemented a homework ban, rendering mixed results thus far. The school replaced all homework with after-school reading after finding that many homework assignments were unrelated to in-class studies. Additionally, a German high school, having lengthened school days and taken away time from extra-curriculars, is currently testing out a two-year homework ban to gives students more time for these activities.
Reforms like these, Hollande hopes, will level out the playing field for all students and reduce the number of pupils forced to repeat school years.
Alfie Kohn, writer and speaker on education and parenting, would agree with these actions. On homework and its effects, Kohn states three factors which influence our standard views:
- The negative effects of homework are well known.
- Frustration and exhaustion, less time for other extra-curriculars, and possible loss of interest in learning.
- Parents resent their positions of enforcement and worry about being criticized for too little or too much help.
- The positive effects of homework are largely mythical.
- Not much evidence of academic benefit from assigning homework in elementary or middle school.
- In high school, the correlation between homework and meaningful achievement is weak and inclined to dissipate.
- More homework is being piled on children despite the absence of its value.
- Over the last 25 years, the burden of homework has increased most for younger children, on whom it has the fewest effects.
Contrarily, many studies show that homework does help students learn. Duke University’s Harris Cooper, Jorgianne Civey Robinson, and Erika Patall summarized research on homework conducted between 1987 and 2003, finding that students who were are required to do homework outperformed others by 0.6 standard deviations, with a correlation of 0.24. Though this means that homework only explains 5.8% of the difference between students’ accomplishment levels, it still has a significant effect nonetheless. Contrary to Kohn’s thinking, Carnegie Mellon’s Steven Schlossman also found that homework encourages parents to get positively involved in their children’s education.
My personal belief is that there should be a mix between these two extremes. In some classes, homework is necessary to help students get a handle on certain concepts. In math, for example, constantly practicing sine graphs or logarithmic functions shows students patterns which they should anticipate, and it helps toward their comprehension.
However, in other courses, homework assignments should be methodically assigned to look at bigger pictures. Where constant regurgitation of information is superfluous, homework should be used as an attest to a student’s critical abilities. For example, using information learned in class to analyze larger concepts perhaps not yet explicitly discussed by the teacher can demonstrate these skills. Too much homework, understandably, leads students to hurriedly finishing assignments purely for the sake of completion. Assignments which hold actual significance are then lost in the shuffle, unnoticed by the machine of a student constantly pumping out typed five-paragraph essays and poster board spreads.
Take a look at this edition of CBS’s Assignment America for another perspective:
All of these contradictory beliefs led me to go to those in our community who are affected most by this issue: Hewitt students and teachers.
When asked about the matter, Zoe Stoller ’14 stated, “The purpose of homework, reinforcing what’s learned in class, is definitely helpful. For certain topics, it’s harder to have a good grasp on the concept without the additional practice homework gives. However, I do feel that when too much homework is assigned, and it often is, the same reinforcement could have had an affect with fewer assignments. Homework shouldn’t be banned completely, but it should be rethought.”
Paloma Stafford ’16 said, “Homework is essential in order for students to understand information we have learned, and it makes us more independent with our studies. Though I do think banning homework is impractical, receiving too much can be overwhelming.”
Sr. Gray, stated (in Spanish) that he believes homework, especially with pertinence to languages, can be essential. Repetition can be a huge help when working with grammar and sentence patterns. However, he does not agree with the idea of quizzes and tests and of having a numerical grade associated with your level of intelligence.
Mrs. Gallin said, “As a history teacher, I feel that I have to assign homework in order to have students prepared for class discussions. I like to do things in class that are in the area of the topic but not confined to it, and I will never just “go over” homework. Nor do I collect any kind of homework assignment or have a homework category in my grade book, so those are some examples of how I have moved away from homework. Assigning longer-term assignments helps students learn to manage time, for they need decreasing micro-managing from teachers, not more.”
Dr. Burgess largely agrees with Alfie Kohn on the issue: “Homework should not be busywork and should feed directly into the next class meeting. Any homework that I assign becomes the foundation of our next lesson. Some homework is helpful and necessary, but I do worry that many students in schools across the country spend too many hours at night on homework that does not serve a good purpose.”
Now, it’s up to you. What do you think?
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Interesting article, Susannah; I hadn’t heard anything about this. Have you read the middle-grade book “The Kid Who Ran for President?” It’s about a child who, yes, runs for president, but this child gains most of his supporters by promising to abolish homework nationwide as suggested by his “advisor.” In the end, his “advisor” tells him that it was simply a technique to create controversy and get school-aged supporters. Do you think that his ideas about abolishing ALL homework were mainly suggested so as to differentiate himself from the other candidate?
You bring up an interesting point! But in response, no, I don’t think it was just a ploy for Hollande to differentiate himself and stand out. Someone that influential, in real life at least, wouldn’t risk that. And there does seem to be a pattern of increasingly less homework being assigned. Hollande did seem to have at least a somewhat understandable reason for getting rid of homework and says he has a plan to compensate. But we’ll see if any of this actually happens!