<p>“That “Homework is an essential part of your child’s academic success” is simply false. Many believe that homework is a practice that promotes achievement and the development of discipline and responsibility. Of the few studies that have been conducted, there is no substantiated evidence for these statements. Supporting data for this premise are weak or non-existent. Studies that have seriously looked at the homework/success relationship have, instead, exposed the meaninglessness of most take-home assignments and have been an indictment on the content of what schools approve as homework.”</p>
<p>I know as a fact that this is a very untrue statement. I am a very well preforming junior and to me homework is a way of reinforcing information in a stylistic manner that can be manipulated to conform to the needs of each individual student. Now let me state that I thoroughly dislike homework and would much rather do without it. But, as the purpose of education is to equip future generations with the tools, knowledge, and understanding needed to create progress and advancement, homework, to me at least, is one of the best ways of establishing a concrete, successful education system as well as reinforcing the lessons taught in schools.</p>
<p>@bradleyarg: That statement focuses on “meaningless” work. If the homework you’re receiving is providing educational benefit, then by all means do it. We never told our son he “couldn’t” do any homework. In fact, he chose to do many assignments (or a variation of them); it simply wasn’t required by us.</p>
<p>@beachfam: Our focus was on busy work in the elementary/middle years, the repetitive, mindless stuff. Our son well knew the difference, never copped an attitude, and occassionally suggested something more interesting (to him) that he’d rather turn in. His teachers appreciated that and never once denied him his curious or creative efforts.</p>
<p>As I mentioned before, his current school is known for the opposite of mindless work. He is fully engaged, and I don’t believe he’s ever had to question the value of what’s put before him.</p>
<p>Horrors! I never had busy work in college, and I certainly hope my son doesn’t go to a school where that’s a problem. I might have to dust off my letter… ;)</p>
<p>Cobrat, he doesn’t spoon feed them. He’s trying to show them how to take notes, how to judge what is important, etc. It’s amazing how many teachers give tests with material the students have never learned, or have barely gone over … And the stuff they have covered extensively is barely mentioned. I like this teacher because he is clear and consistent. What he emphasizes in class is what is emphasized on a test.</p>
<p>Well I will tell you I know first hand what IEP can do. My 3 girls all had an IEP. They needed one to receive speech services. I know not all kids that have them have behavior problems but you would be very surprised how many get them to proctect their child for discipline problems. My kids problems are light weight in the IEP world. The kids that were stealing both had behavioral issues and used their IEP to get away with a whole lot of things. I know both parents and they know their kids have issues but just blame the school. One even sued the school and won. I feel really bad for the kids that still have to put up with her child.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can say that a modicum of daily homework is anywhere analagous to “race to the top”. Repetition and timely reflection are necessary for most subjects. Why shouldn’t students be expected to reflect, repeat and read material at home instead of wasting class time with such procedures?</p>
<p>ON the other hand, teachers and schools have a responsibility to use their time, instead of wasting the majority of our student’s time in school.</p>
<p>Our local school made a change so that homework only counts as 15% of the quarterly grade because, as the Principal told me, many disadvantaged students don’t have support at home and/or are taking care of siblings while their parents work at night, making dinner, and have no supervision.</p>
<p>I’m firmly against this. Many kids that just want to pass now don’t care about homework because “it’s only 15%”. The homework the school assigns leads to deeper understanding and helps when tests and quizzes are taken. Those that don’t do homework don’t study for tests and exams either. They just think of it as homework which is unnecessary. If you’re in the “disadvantaged” group deemed to not have the time for homework, where does the time come for studying for tests?</p>
<p>I think “no homework” policies will only lead to bad habits that will follow one into college and later life. Some times you just have to do the work. Reading outside of class, a text book or literature also seems like necessary homework to me. There is not enough school time to just sit and read hundreds of pages and still have normal class time.</p>
<p>Also, is this because Hollande is a Socialist? Wanting to make everyone “equal”? The fact of the matter is those disadvantaged, middle class or rich that have the drive, talent and work ethic will always excel.</p>
<p>I’m not keen on being too attentive to labels, especially political labels. </p>
<p>What I see as a problem is the underlying assumption that if someone is being disadvantaged because of a parental situation, then making the playing field “equal” should be a priority at all costs, including placing extra burden on students that don’t face such problems as home.</p>
<p>I think whether “additional individual work” should be done at school or at home is open to discussion. However, in this very specific case, the rationale of keeping children 2 extra hours per day in school is presented, by the government officials in France themselves, as *“not letting kids whose parents are not supportive fall behind, while not stigmatizing them by just requiring everyone to stay in school”. *</p>
<p>That is what worries me, because of the principle it implies: to avoid stigmatizing certain disadvantaged kids (even if at no fault of their own, since kids don’t get to choose in which families they are born and raised in), a burden should be placed on all kids so that the disadvantaged ones are not singled out for “having to stay alone extra time in school” (while everyone else is going back home).</p>
<p>Let’s take this reasoning to extreme situations: some children are abused, heavily, in their homes. Physically, emotionally, sexually. Psychological research has clearly shown that early infancy abuse have life-lasting effects and affects, negatively, many of its victims (abused kids are disproportionally represented among - future - adult abusers, criminals, drug users etc). No matter how much money and resources and support society (via State, charities, churches, support groups) throw at those kids, you just can’t remove all detrimental effects on education, employment, socially accepted behavior that serious abuse have on children. Even removing a child from an abusive home and putting it in a loving, caring and supportive substitute home is on itself a traumatic event I can only imagine the extent.</p>
<p>Given that fact, what should be done about it? Non-abused kids are at obvious advantages in school (and much beyond that) for the mere fact of having, if not perfect, at least good families that love and supports them. Should laws be passed allowing abused kids to lash out/bully non-abused kids so that everyone shares the pain of parental neglect/abuse? Should kids victims of their parents’ neglect be given SAT bonus points to account for their “difficult upbringing”? Should the state take up all kids after their 5th birthday and raise them on giant “state educational facilities” without any family involvement? Should non-abusive parents be required to help the education of neglected children on their neighborhood?</p>
<p>Notice I am not claiming the French government wants to enact any of the policies I mentioned above. I’m not a fan of conspiracy theories. I’m just pointing that, on their early years, kids are extremely vulnerable (physically and emotionally) and dependable on their parents. Biologically, humans don’t reach physical and mental full maturity well into the early 20s. There is only so much society can do to compensate for disadvantaged situations at home, and “grounding” all kids extra time in school because some of them don’t have a supportive learning environment at home is something that, on my view, goes beyond the “reasonable” line.</p>
<p>Let’s assume that homework is useful (if it is not, that’s another thread). Hollande in his argument is saying the French should get rid of homework because it is effective, but that not every student can take full advantage of it. Sounds like a plan to make the French less competitive in a global economy. My reaction as parent, if I could afford it, might be to get out of the public school system.</p>
<p>Homework should be for those students who need to do additional work outside of the school day to meet their educational milestones. I do not think it should be imposed on all students across the board. Homework should also be “meaningful” and tied directly to the concepts taught in the classroom that day. Personally, I had an extreme aversion to those “busywork” projects that sent me to the craft store on a school night or week-end for feathers, styrofoam or some other inane item. My children did not enjoy those projects, not did I. They already had an art class as part of their school day!</p>
<p>Next thing you know they will outlaw exercise outside of P.E. class. No more soccer teams or swim teams or travel basketball. If nobody is allowed to do outside sports, everybody will have an equal opportunity at school team tryouts. There is a growing gap between the physically fit and the obese. We need a law. ;)</p>
<p>Redeye41, according to another report on this topic, 2/3 of the French people oppose this initiative.</p>
<p>UpperValley’s post is right on because our own country is already starting to move in this direction. For example, the rationale behind President Obama’s proposal for year-long school is that poor and disadvantaged children lose too much academic ground over the summer–much more than their more affluent peers. Keeping everyone in school all year “levels the playing field,” as he’s so fond of saying. So is the French President now going to forbid involved French parents from supplementing their children’s education in the home, ie. by giving their own version of homework to their children? </p>
<p>These social redistributive philosophies are starting to infect our local public school to an alarming degree. Certain trends, like the trophies-for-everyone/we must build self-esteem mentality is one symptom. The new one I’m seeing is akin to Obama’s “they didn’t build that” concept–that when children succeed, the credit goes mostly to some nebulous community or social web which has supported them and made it possible. When they fail, it’s also someone else’s fault.</p>
<p>My D recently accomplished something notable at her middle school. The teacher was very quick to downplay her success by suggesting to her that while she did well, it was because she’s blessed to have a ___________ (fill in the blank with the activity name, for ex. music, sports, art) family. The implication was that she benefited from an advantage in this area because of her family, or perhaps there was some genetic skill transfer. She was confused and said, “But I don’t really have a ______ family,” because neither DH nor I currently participate nor have ever done this EC, and her older siblings are 6 and 10 years older, don’t live at home, and have not assisted her in any way. In fact, D spent many lonely hours practicing all by herself. Thus, the awards given for this EC went to the children who weren’t as good, but in the minds of the teacher seemed to be trying harder. But it’s like what Nadia Comanechi commented about her Olympic performance–that she made it look easy because of all the hours of practice.</p>
<p>PS–I told this story to my older D, and she rightly pointed out 3 genetic traits her sister has that make her EC more difficult for her than for others.</p>
<p>So will the school start giving the chorus accompanist job to the student pianist who’s not quite as skilled but who’s at a disadvantage due to short, stubby fingers? Will they subtract algebra test points from the student whose father is a math professor at the local flagship and might have helped with his homework? Will they demote from the position of cheerleading captain the girl whose mother was also a cheerleader, in favor of the girl whose mother just played field hockey?</p>
<p>The school can neither control nor compensate for social inequities and will only make a huge mess trying. One reason they will make a mess is that we humans are not omniscient nor omnipresent, and are also not supremely wise. We can’t actually walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, yet without doing that we can’t make accurate assessments of advantage or disadvantage. We also can’t always distinguish what is poor performance resulting from legitimate disadvantage from the poor performance resulting from lack of effort or motivation–factors over which people do have control.</p>
<p>momof3greatgirls, again it sounds to me like lax discipline enforcement at the school, not an IEP issue. As you are well aware, an IEP does not give you “license” for anything other than academic accommodation.</p>
<p>HarvestMoom1–My D had an IEP for 10 ten years. Some children have behavior plans as part of their accommodations–BIP’s I think they’re called. These don’t give license to disruptive or violent behavior, and actually seek to reform it through positive reinforcement and a system of consequences. But surely you can understand why school staff would be more lenient if a child with autism hit another child, versus if a neurotypical child hit another child? My friend’s special education S hits staff and classmates practically every day, and has never been expelled. Rather, he gets assigned aides who have training in physical restraint.</p>
<p>^^^
Certainly would understand some leniency if a child with autism or a similar disability hit a child. But these issues must be addressed and resolved, and in the vast majority of cases they are. But the kind of sustained hitting (blood was mentioned), that a previous poster alluded to, leads me to conclude that there is a problem with the manner in which the school is addressing these issues. The problem does not lie with the IEP.</p>