Homework: Questions about its Value
The many families who struggle with the nightly homework ritual might will be interested in a new Canadian study involving almost 1000 families. It reports that, at least at the elementary school level, homework offers a double whammy. It's of little value to the children while leading to burn out in the children and their parents. At the older grades, things were different with benefits shown for students in grades 7 and 8 and high school.
Significantly, the findings do not include reading. Indeed, reading with, or to, children every day has been shown to be a key factor in boosting academic success.
The findings which fit with a growing body of research in the U.S. came via a study conducted by Professors Linda Cameron and Lee Bartel of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Cameron, a former kindergarten teacher, was quoted as saying, "For elementary school, especially for the primary grades, I am down on homework entirely."
Homework, in Canada and the United States, has been a hot topic since the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan began raising the idea of back-to-basics and more rigorous schooling as the way to economic prosperity. But the rhetoric doesn't fit the facts. Further, given the busy life styles of today's families, a growing number of parents are complaining that children have no downtime. One writer has even gone so far as to say today's children have a "nature deficit disorder."
The study also found:
• Not only does homework cut into family time, it becomes a primary source of arguments, power struggles and is disruptive to building a strong family, including putting strain on marriages.
• A large number of children in kindergarten are assigned homework, most of it "drill and practice."
• 28 per cent of Grade 1 students and more than 50 per cent of Grade 2 students spend more than 20 minutes on homework daily.
• More than three-quarters of parents with children in Grade 4 and under help their children with homework. But, by Grade 4, only half of parents feel they are competent enough to do so.
• Parents are unsure about the benefits of homework; by Grade 5, just 20 per cent of parents feel it has a "positive effect on achievement."
• Half of children in junior kindergarten are enthusiastic about homework; by Grade 6, it drops to just 6 per cent and by Grade 12, just 4 per cent.
Those interested in learning more about this issue can turn to http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/oise/Research_Expertise/Issues_that_Matter.html
