*Taps mic*
As a lifelong teacher, homework should be abolished.
At every grade level.
No research we have supports homework as being effective, and most of it (like teaching grammar) *ACTIVELY HARMS STUDENTS*.
(Except maybe some very mild homework in math and a couple of highly specific sciences).
So why do we have homework, let alone lots of it?
The Puritan sin of idleness.
Yep.
Homework exists to teach our kids that rest, play, self-care, and listening to our own bodies is a bad thing.
And if we wanted to improve student learning and performance on standardized tests, what does the data say we should do?
1. Universal free school meals, including breakfast.
2. Universal basic income.
3. Universal, single-payer healthcare.
4. Recess at EVERY grade level. Yes, including high school. Especially high school.
So why haven't we abolished homework yet, and made recess mandatory?
Parents complain when we try. Loudly. They run for school board and institute minimum homework requirements.
Because they want their children to be "taught the value of a hard day's work."
That idleness is bad.
Update: Muting this thread. I'm dead tired of the frequency with which older white reply guys with no background in education, much less the doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition that I have, are showing up to browbeat me about how important they think formal grammar instruction is.
You are the problem I'm describing.
I'm muting this thread.
@Impossible_PhD yup. Most adults forget how they felt at school or justify it's abuse.
@Satanic_catboy @Impossible_PhD Given that K-12 is modelled after factories, that's expected.
@hucksternoise @Satanic_catboy @Impossible_PhD I mean factories can't make me do work at home.
@Satanic_catboy @Impossible_PhD
The biggest justification of abuse I've ever seen is "I had to go through it, so it must be fine for the next generation to go through, too."
Confirmation bias, survivorship bias, and a downright shit way of looking at the world if ever there was. Aren't we supposed to make life easier for the people who come after us?
@theogrin @Satanic_catboy @Impossible_PhD A lot of them think the rapture or total nuclear war will happen 15-20 minutes after they die, so they have no plans on trying to help protect or preserve the world after them because they're so sure it won't exist.
"Why educate children that won't live to see adulthood? Might as well put them into religious indoctrination schools or the workforce instead."
"Why buy electric or hybrid, when a Suburban XL is more comfortable? I don't need to save for retirement, the world will end. Why care about the climate, when it will all be ruined with radionuclides anyway? I don't even want to acknowledge it's existence so I don't have to debate anyone."
"Why try to preserve democracy? I want a tough father figure to nuke first, so I can see those filthy worthless subhuman immigrants die first."
We're not even playing the same game they are, they don't believe in the future and want to be as cruel as possible for fun. They enjoy making people suffer, so there are no consequences.
@theogrin @Satanic_catboy @Impossible_PhD People who live "easy" lives tend to be spoiled selfish assholes. Just a thought.
@Satanic_catboy@tech.lgbt @Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io
I hated school with all my being. Worst experience in my life.
@Impossible_PhD Do you think it isn't also because it keeps the kids occupied and without it they might have to spend more time with them?
You mean, like, denying poor kids the right to free breakfast & lunch doesn't do enough to make kids suffer just to teach them "the value of a hard day's work"?
Or, allowing teachers & the principal to paddle the kids' behinds red just to prove the value of "discipline" and "obedience" doesn't work either?
I thought just slapping placards of the 10 Commandents on the walls everywhere to project THE AWESOME POWER OF JESUS CHRIST would be enough, right?
Schools? Or...prisons?
@AnthonyJK@mastodon.redgarterclub.com @Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io
I don't know if you've noticed, but school is basically just daycare these days. If you're not in an honors class you're not being taught anything you didn't already learn last year and won't learn again next year.
Well, gee, I suppose that not paying teachers what they deserve, only teaching corporate schlock and right-wing cheerleading while plopping 10 Commandments placards everywhere, and beating students into submission, while funding more cops than school infrastructure, would affect the performance of our public schools, now wouldn't it?
@AnthonyJK@mastodon.redgarterclub.com @Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io
that is not at all what is happening
not much at all is happening
that's the problem
Your point being....what now??
Force home schooling?? Close down public schools?? Privatize them even more than they already have been? Force more on the parents who actually have to work full time to afford raising kids?
Thanks, but no. Public schools are not the problem. Neglecting them and reducing them to open prisons is.
@Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io maybe this is a cultural thing? in my experience none of the adults around me ever supported homework, they staunchly refused to discipline their kids for over a decade and were constantly being pushed into giving kids homework by the school itself.
Eventually the school district had to make homework tied directly to passing the class and that was the only way it got done because NONE of the parents would enforce mandatory homework.
Also the idea that recess isn't mandatory sounds insane, you mean to tell me your country thinks kids can be deprived of their free time? what the fuck lol
@froge @Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io Here in India, it's extremely common for the math or science teachers to take over our recess and phys-ed classes.
I got in trouble for ditching class once to go swim during phys-ed lmao.
As for homework, we get way too much. Kids as young as elementary school have boatloads of homework to do and there's endless pressure to compete here.
A ton of kids end up cracking under this pressure. :(
@axel @Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io that's pretty awful damn, I think here recess (or at least some mandatory amount of outside time) is a requirement of education, it would be a crime to deprive kids of that from my understanding
@Impossible_PhD It’s also that many parents have a consumerist view of education, and homework is the most visible “deliverable”. It reassures them that the school is “doing its job”. A bit like people who feel they’ve been cheated if they leave their GP’s office without a prescription for something
@Impossible_PhD I'm not American so forgive me any misunderstanding, but is recess just breaks between classes? Surely that's already something that exists? Why does it need to be mandatory? Are there places that don't do it?
@len @davidnjoku @Impossible_PhD There used to be more/longer recesses in the US, but they've been getting squeezed out. And high schools don't have them, although you might have an empty hour in your class schedule.
Schools also start early to leave time and light for sports. And as we now know, teens do lousy early in the morning. (Okay, we always knew that, but now we have scientific proof)
@davidnjoku @Impossible_PhD We only had recess if the school day lasted more than 6 hours. 8-14:00 without break where the norm, especially in lower grades. In higher grades we had more than 30 hours of lessons. Longer school days had to have an hour long break somewhere during the day.
Also not American.
@davidnjoku It's extended, unstructured time for physical and social enjoyment lasting at least 30 minutes, with passing periods on either side.
And school in the US typically runs from 7:30-15:30 or so.
@Impossible_PhD those are really long days. It's crazy that they don't give children long breaks. Crazy, and obviously counterproductive
It becomes more ... I don't want to say 'sensible', but at least more understandable if you recognize that school is meant to be a preparation for the 8-hour work day. And from there, homework is meant to be that part of the day when you're off the clock, but still focused on what you have to do the next day, be it in a commute, or having no brain time to actually unwind and enjoy life.
Once you've spent the majority of your youth in 8-hour days with long periods of post-work fuckery, the adult life doesn't seem so strange anymore, ne?
@davidnjoku it's a chance to get outside, run around, and get your energy out. pretty universal in lower elementary school, but less so in upper years, and always under threat by the pressure to schedule more teaching hours!
@Impossible_PhD@hachyderm.io I agree with pretty much all your statements :3
didn't think I'd see a teacher who wasn't a meanie, good you.
potential solution? why not just avoid grading or correcting the homework
@sleepybisexual Because parents and admin harass us.
@Impossible_PhD The parents believe the old story that anyone can succeed and raise their station in life through sheer hard work. Put in the effort in education and you'll get e better job. Put in the effort in the workplace and you'll get a promotion.
This was never really true, and is arguably less true now than it was two generations ago.
Apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime
- Bo Burnham, Welcome to the Internet
I wish he wasn't right. Yet, here we are.
@Impossible_PhD Charles Dickens wrote quite some books to try and counter these Victorian ideals. Sadly much of his satire is still relevant today.
@Impossible_PhD the first thing that came to mind when you said it demonizes idleness was "huh, I wonder if this is normalizing working after hours." Sounds like I might not be too far off.
@Impossible_PhD We opted out and educated at home. Much more relaxing and a far wider range of life experiences to learn from. Of course, that did mean that all work done was technically homework, but without having to spend up to 8 hours a day working first. Not the solution for everyone, I know.
@Impossible_PhD There is quite a bit of research by now showing that homework doesn’t help or even harms learning and/or mental health. Schools are adjusting to earlier (elementary) or later (middle and high) start times and providing meals because of what the research shows on those matters … but not homework. It’s been moralized, as you say.
One middle school I otherwise like for our kids is emphatic about having homework. We’ll probably look elsewhere.
@Impossible_PhD Imagine if we thought of education as a national strategic priority in a highly competitive world?
@bodhipaksa Imagine if the upper class had allied themselves with Christian nationalists to dismantle our public school system because both groups want more power over the populace.
@Impossible_PhD I don't need to imagine that.
I'm puzzled, in fact, why you should take a suggestion to change the narrative in ways that could engage people to support education and turn it into an opportunity to restate what's already happening right.now.
@Impossible_PhD @bodhipaksa
This message must have bled over from the good timeline.
@jargoggles @bodhipaksa no, someone Reply Guy'd at me than realized what he was doing and deleted his comments.
@Impossible_PhD @bodhipaksa
I meant it like "if someone has to imagine what that's like, they're clearly living in a much, much better parallel universe."
@Impossible_PhD but socialism!!!!! You see, we must teach those little fucks to behave, otherwise COMMUNISM!!!1 /j
@Impossible_PhD 5. Start later in the day.
@vathpela @Impossible_PhD I would have LOVED starting later in the day, as I've always been a night owl, not a morning lark. Many parents needed to get kids to school before they went to work. School was the great babysitter. I hated homework, except for math. That made sense to me. I hated having to take a PE class, because of running and sweating (lol), although I did like badminton class. Happily K-12 is a 50 yr memory now. I graduated top of my class, but didn't really care.
@jono An unstructured free period for physical and social exertion lasting at least a half hour, but preferably an hour.