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The Truth about Homework
January 23, 2007
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
-Albert Einstein
-Albert Einstein
"There is something perversely fascinating about education policies that are clearly at odds with the available data. Huge schools are still being built even though we know that students tend to fare better in smaller places that lend themselves to the creation of democratic caring communities. Many children who are failed by the academic status quo are forced to repeat a grade even though research shows that this is just about the worst course of action for them. Homework continues to be assigned — in even greater quantities — despite the absence of evidence that it's necessary or even helpful in most cases.
"The dimensions of that last disparity weren't clear to me until I started sifting throught the research for a new book. To begin with, I found that decades of investigation have failed to turn up any evidence that homework is beneficial for students in elementary school. Even if you regard standardized test results as a useful measure, homework (some versus none, or more versus less) isn't even correlated with higher scores at these ages. The only effect that does show up is more negative attitudes on the part of students who get more assignments....
"In short, regardless of one's criteria, there is no reason to think that most students would be at any sort of disadvantage if homework were sharply reduced or even eliminated. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of American schools — elementary, secondary, public, and private — continue to require their students to work a second shift by bringing academic assignments home. Not only is this requirement accepted uncritically, but the amount of homework is growing, particularly in early grades....."
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Online degrees in early childhood education
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Comments (19)
Displaying 5 of 19 Comments [ View all ]United States
Home work is good process but dont stress the children s much more it mentally affect the students,to introduce partical learning..
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Ramya
United States
regarding the idea that homework is good at instilling good work habits... From the full article:
"Finally, there isn’t a shred of evidence to support the widely accepted assumption that homework yields nonacademic benefits for students of any age. The idea that homework teaches good work habits or develops positive character traits (such as self-discipline and independence) could be described as an urban myth except for the fact that it’s taken seriously in suburban and rural areas, too."
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/homework.htm
East Amherst, NY, United States
Given the increased incidence of overweight children in America, one can only hope that Alfie's very poignant message will help to free up children's time so they can be outside playing! Balance includes the mind, body, and spirit and homework does little to facilitate that critical balance. Adults who 'bring their work home' are often stressed. Can we expect anything less when we impose 'work days' on children that exceed seven or eight hours?!
United States
I agree with what the writer has said. However it should be noted that Alfie Kohn is not a "she" but a "he". Also the word"disparity" was mispelled. I think we damage ourselves in Early Childhood by not paying attention to details.
United States
I don't advocate a lot of homework for early grades, but, as a parent, I see homework as a good habit to help develop the time management skills that will be necessary when students go to college. This of, course, is more critical when students are in high school. I am frankly appalled at the lack of homework given in most high schools. This is a huge disservice to our college-bound students. I advocate a small amount of homework in the elementary/middle school years to build the idea of time management, with an increase in high school so our students aren't stunned when they're asked to read, research and study on their own time in college.
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