Homework: An obsolete educational practice?

At present a debate is going on in Malta about the implementation of much-needed reforms in our educational system. A topic which, in my opinion, is not receiving the attention it merits is that of the amount of homework that schoolchildren are given, which tends to prevent them from fully enjoying their childhood years and which creates great problems for many families.

Slogans such as making educational experiences "enjoyable for the students", "aiding the growth and development of the child", "a holistic education" are nothing more than so many empty words when one examines what is really happening in practice. Because the truth is that , due to the excessive amount of homework that most schoolchildren are given, we are leaving them with precious little free time during most of the week which, in turn, makes children's educational experiences unenjoyable because of the stress involved.

Many schoolchildren have to get up early in the morning to catch the school transport. They then spend the period up to the middle of the afternoon at school and, upon arriving home, hardly have time to settle down before they have to start their homework which, as most parents know, at a minimum takes up to the early hours of the evening to complete. Which leaves the children with only about one or two free hours since they have to sleep early once they have to get up early in the morning.

Why should children not have the time to practise sports in their "free" hours after school, why should they not have adequate time for hobbies and other leisure pursuits? Why is it, for instance, that many of our young promising footballers have to make incredible sacrifices to find the time to attend football nurseries because the amount of homework given at school creates a situation of homework versus sports for them? Surely, there is something quite wrong with an educational system that creates such situations which stunt the full social development of our children!

Another important point to note is that today there are many cases of both parents going out to work. This often means that parents are faced with the prospect of having to help their children with their homework at a time when they are exhausted after a hard day's work. Which is another of the reasons why I consider homework to be an obsolete educational practice since it originated at a period in time when the wife's place was considered to be always in the home with her children and which is surely not the case today.

One of the strongest arguments for the abolition of homework is that it is a form of social discrimination. We are living in enlightened times where social discrimination in education is considered unacceptable in a democracy. Have we sufficiently considered the fact, however, that children of more educated parents are at an advantage over children of less educated parents? How can a parent with less than a basic education help her/ his children with their homework especially if these are in the higher forms of a secondary school?

One also has to keep in mind that some children enjoy the luxury of finding several educational resources ready to use at home because of their parents' educational background while the opposite is the case for several other children. This issue is particularly relevant in the case of projects which schoolchildren are assigned to complete. Some might retort that children should be able to complete their homework without their parents' help. If this is the case, why are we spending so much time and resources on involving parents in all aspects of their children's education both inside and outside the school?

The truth is that homework should be abolished. It is an obsolete educational practice in a fast-moving world where there is no longer any place for it in a family environment characterised by a race against time because of the many new commitments that social change has brought with it. Let our children enjoy their childhood. Give them opportunities for leisure-time pursuits. Let us be progressive educators, not people incapable of initiating change when and where it is necessary.