<p>Allmusic:
I agreethat there is lots of busywork assigned. And somehow, a lot of it seems to involve math. I agree completely with the 50 math problems (especially when the teacher has not checked that the problem sheets stated the problems accurately; sometimes they don’t). Still, SOME practice is needed. When my S began studying precalc and Calc on his own using textbooks lent by the teacher, my H assigned some problems for him to work on. S only did as many as he and his dad felt were needed to nail the concepts. I calculate that he did fewer problems than the majority of students at the same level (but he had an intuitive grasp of math, so he needed less practice).</p>
<p>Marian: One hour in k-8 seems reasonable to me. Both my Ss, however, ocasionally wrote papers that involved quite a bit of research; but these were spread over a period of time.</p>
<p>The curriculum has become so large that teachers are feeling overwhelmed about completing it all in time for standardized tests. Consequently, they have begun to delegate some instruction to parents to accomplish, and to assign more classwork for children to do after school hours. In addition, there is a push to bring American students up to the level of their international counterparts, especially in math. At back to school night this year many of us heard about this initiative from our kids’ math teachers. They are somewhat at a loss about how to do this, so for now they have opted for 2 hours of math homework each night.</p>
<p>Ugh! What needs changing is the style of teaching rather than the amount of homework. I recommend to k-8 math teachers that they read Li Pingma’s Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. It’s about how American teachers, compared with Chinese teachers (who typically have a 9th grade education before entering Teachers’ colleges) don’t really understand the math they teach in early grades. If teachers don’t understand, how can they explain it to kids? Answer: more practice exercises.</p>
<p>Whats even more troubling about about the practice exercises in math is that now they allow the kids to use a calculator for most of it. </p>
<p>In the old days, at least you knew that the kids knew the mechanics of math because they had to show their work. How do you show pushing a bunch of buttons?</p>
<p>So now we’ve got kids who know how to take a written set of equations and punch a bunch of buttons and copy the results on the paper.</p>
<p>Excuse me, but what exactly is the purpose of that?</p>
<p>And of course, these kids can’t possibly do the word problems. Strangely enough, the problem here is a language deficiciency. </p>
<p>Most of math is understanding concepts which is actually an exercise in language communication of concepts of quantity, grouping, and equality. If a kid can’t explain those concepts in words, how can you expect him/her to perform analogous reasoning based upon these concepts, which is entirely what a word problem is.</p>
<p>Once you’ve got the concept understood, the mechanics come simply and 50 homework problems are overkill. But in order to understand the concept, adequate language skills must be present.</p>
<p>In my APUSH class, the majority time spent towards it was studying for tests. Other than that, we had a few presentations here and there. Not once did I think that homework was unnecessary (like…easy and pointless). I don’t generally like history courses, but that was different. I really enjoyed it. </p>
<p>BTW-The tests in the class were insane, so I did spend a ton of time outside of school doing APUSH related work. The presentations were really good too. They greatly helped my presentational skills.</p>
<p>Some homework is necessary yes, in order to reinforce concepts. It is the 50 problem overkill that annoys me. There is no need for so many problems, and such homework practices detract from time spent in other pursuits, either leisure time, avocations, etc.</p>
<p>And oh my, have I ever seen elementary teachers who are clueless about math. Try having a kid who always seemed to be able to connect mathematical concepts more easily than the teacher (and sometimes corrected teachers when they were wrong, which sure didn’t go over well)…made for some dicey elementary math years.</p>
<p>Look at where they get the majority of public school teachers these days (hint… the lower half of the graduating class of the lower half of universities). Why? Because the upper end of college graduates have far better financial options than teaching school. We are getting what we pay for. I have just felt blessed when I get one who motivates the kids well.</p>