<p>My take on the four hour homework policies. Many girls work beyond their potential by putting in longer hours. Thus the busywork is to the girls’ advantage–IMO only. </p>
<p>Few boys have the willpower to work beyond the absolute minimum–on subjects that do not interest them. This turns to their advantage as they make themselves quite efficient workers but it is a killer in a school with a four hour nightly homework requirement.</p>
<p>Traditonal English (and European?) schools still work to the final exams and papers. Boys cram quite well, I’ve noticed. The pressure doesn’t worry them. They are quite happy to have 70% of the grade rest on the final paper and exam. Again, this works to an advantage as these students are not intimidated by large learning tasks that must be completed in very short time spans.</p>
<p>Also, these traditional classrooms normally allow a significant period of in class tutorial time–time for the student to complete work in the classroom while the teacher circulates answering individual questions as a tutor. Quicker boys are able to complete 95% of the work in class.</p>
<p>Progressive ‘feminist’ classrooms call for non-stop discussion–a definite bow to female style learning. My boys often found their fourteen year old peer’s opinions juvenile. They believed that most of those juvenile opnions were annoying quests for attention. They prefered to hear the lecturer.</p>
<p>Ultra-traditional classrooms were eliminated by the time I got to school.</p>