Homework

I have written many times about the problem of teachers who pile loads of homework onto their students and make their life as well as that of their parents a misery. The very concept of homework is no longer relevant today but it seems that nothing is being done about this thorn in the side of parents and children sorely pressed for time.

Homework today is an obsolete concept. Everybody knows that to make ends meet, it is no longer possible for several married couples to have one of the spouses at home while the other goes out to work, as in the past. This means that the parents are exhausted when they return home from work and they also have to deal with household chores.

Having to spend hours supervising the kids as they go about working their homework is a pure purgatory for such parents. Yet it seems that some educators have still not woken up to the fact that the world has changed and that homework should be abolished.

If only such educators stop to reflect on the stress and tension they are causing children and their parents through assigning homework, especially in large quantities on a daily basis, they would surely realize that the solution is to abolish homework once and for all. A really condemnable practice is that of assigning a great amount of homework when holidays are approaching. How many times have I heard children complaining that they had to spend most of their Christmas or Easter holidays working because such and such a teacher gave them many tasks to carry out during the holidays. One would be excused thinking that such teachers almost set out to ruin their students’ holidays!

If we are to move ahead with the times, it is imperative that we realize that homework no longer has any place in today’s world. Why should a boy have to miss out on attending a Football Nursery because he has no free time due to the amount of homework allocated by some teachers? Why should a girl have to discard the idea of attending Ballet lessons for the same reason? Why can’t parents who both work get some hours of well-earned rest after work?

Furthermore, homework is socially discriminating. Some students live in a tranquil home atmosphere with supporting parents and with educational resources such as books and educational software readily available. Other students live in much less stable family environments where marriage problems make it impossible for the parents to support their children’s educational work.

There are also cases where children have absolutely no access to educational resources at home because the level of income of both parents is very low and they are unable to purchase any additional educational resources to support their children. Not to mention, of course, the problems faced by children in single-parent families where simply eking out a living is already problematic in itself.

Even the level of education of students’ parents is a very important factor in the case of homework because some parents can help their children when the latter encounter problems in working through their homework while other parents are not qualified enough to do so. This is another aspect of the social discrimination created by homework.

All this leads one to conclude that educational practices which are obsolete such as homework should be abolished once and for all!