ShareThisDEAR DR. FOURNIER: I was asked why I gave homework and answered that is was to satisfy students and parents who equate the quantity of homework with the quality of the education being offered.
As a student, I could sniff out busy work in an instant, and so can most students. I despised it, and I will not subject my students to that form of "edumacation."
So, how many math problems are needed to nail down a concept? How many chapters of a textbook need to be outlined?
-- J. Eric Bishop, Ph.D., Lansdale, Pa.
DEAR DR. FOURNIER: My fifth-grader is bringing home very little homework. She is getting time at school to do most of it. She's making good grades, but I'm wondering what her teachers are not teaching if she has enough time at the end of her classes to do most all her homework. Some days she brings no homework at all home. Should I be concerned?
-- Margaret Gardner, Boston.
ASSESSMENT: There are two juxtaposing voices within the American school system. One is from the service provider's position, as with the teacher submitting the first question. The other is from the consumer's point of view, the parent, as revealed with the second question.
The amazing thing about these two letters is that their views are usually in reverse. Teachers are usually the ones who give out busy work or "one size fits all" homework and parents often think their children are inundated with too much homework.
As for the teacher, I admire his perspective. My guess is that not many of his colleagues at his school share his belief that homework is to extend learning and not for "edumacation."
If all teachers were like him, then students would be getting value from their homework. Sadly, most teachers issue large homework assignments without regard to how much they are giving and the quantity results in "edumacation."
If students are on overkill, then they must concentrate more on finishing the work than thinking and learning.
Each night, students must calculate how much time it will take to complete all homework assignments in a manner that shows their intelligence and with presentation that honors their dignity (clean, neat work to hand in as opposed to crumpled, torn paper with smudges on it).
Homework should uplift, not destroy a child's personal and home life, yet this is exactly what happens when teachers assign large quantities of "busy work."
As for the mother, she is questioning whether it should be quantity over quality, and the answer is absolutely not.
Most children go to school and simply get assignments each day that the parent must use as if he or she is home-schooling every night. The cramming and the fatigue of the day, together with the fear of a bad homework grade, can result in fighting and screaming during family time at home.
It is no wonder so many children tell their parents they don't have homework when they do or that they hide their poor grades from parents.
WHAT TO DO: We must recognize that rather than an American school system we have an American Do What You Want School System.
Schools have the right to overload a child with homework and destroy family time. The amount has become synonymous with the image of the school. It is a good, mediocre or poor school, with the school that hands out the most homework getting the "good" moniker.
The value your child places on himself or herself will be tied in great part to your perception of his or her achievement. If you think the school is mediocre, then your child will think A's are a mediocre achievement. This could unwittingly belittle children and give them the idea that they have a limited capacity for achievement.
(Write Dr. Yvonne Fournier, Fournier Learning Strategies Inc., 5900 Poplar, Memphis, Tenn. 38119. E-mail her at drfournier(at)hfhw.net)
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