Homework: How much is too much for grade-school children?

My husband and I had a debate over the benefit and value of homework for young students.

Jackie goldschneider
Special to The Record

 

A few weeks back, I told my husband about an article I’d just read about a Florida school district that decided to ban homework. “That’s awful,” he said. “Why would they do that?”

Jackie Goldschneider.

Excuse me? How could a rational parent ask that question, I thought. “Why wouldn’t they do that?” I retorted. “Kids are exhausted after school and they get nothing out of squeezing in extra work on top of the seven hours they just put in. They need time to unwind. Plus, there’s hardly a free minute with all their after-school activities.”

He wasn’t convinced.

“Besides,” I added, “it’s really hard for the parent that actually has to force them to do the homework that we can’t even understand half the time. But since that’s me, not you, I don’t expect you to agree.” 

Playing the victim usually locks it up, but not this time.

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“Jackie, these kids will come home and get right on their iPad or Xbox,” he said. “Kids need to learn that the fun doesn’t start the minute they leave school. They need to learn discipline by having responsibilities during their own time. They need homework.” He was adamant. “And they need to show their teachers they actually understand what they’re being taught. It’s like lifting weights and only doing one rep,” he said. “You need repetition to reinforce what you learn.”

I pulled the story up on my phone and scrolled through the reasons  the superintendent of Florida’s Marion County public school district  banished homework at the district’s elementary schools, following the lead of Kelley Elementary School in Holyoke, Massachusetts, which did the same last year. The article cited research showing that more homework doesn’t result in better performance in school, and studies touting the benefits for children of having less stress when they get home. The author discussed the strain homework puts on family time and how much more benefit kids get from playtime, sports and the 20 minutes of reading together that the school encourages each night.

I read it aloud as if it was gospel. “You see?” I asked, “They’re tired. They don’t even absorb what they’re doing. And it’s always rushed so we can get to everything else they have to do.”

He wasn’t having it.

“That’s not the way the world works,” he argued.  “They’ll get to middle school and have no study habits. It’s all part of the coddling of kids today. Poor stressed-out, overworked kids. Let’s give everyone a trophy so no one loses and not keep score so no one feels bad. Let’s not give homework so no one has to work hard.” We were at an impasse.

Turns out, education professionals are torn on the issue as well. Dr. Dan Fishbein, superintendent of the Ridgewood Public School District, Bergen County’s largest, thinks homework is necessary for grade-schoolers.

“The majority of homework at the elementary-school level has to do with practicing the skills of literacy and numeracy. Practicing reading, basic math facts and thinking through math,” he explains. “If you stopped reading for a month and went back to it, it wouldn’t flow as easily. Homework reinforces the skills children are learning in school and helps them to continue developing those skills.”

Fishbein points out the difficulty in quantifying how much homework is too much, since all children handle assignments differently, some more efficiently than others. Regardless, so long as homework is grade-level appropriate and not onerous, he believes it serves an important purpose.

“Homework isn’t meant to increase grade attainment," he said. “It’s for reinforcing and developing skills, and we tell parents at all levels that if homework is problematic, to reach out to the school so it can be discussed.”

But Dr. Emily Levy understands why some districts are banning homework for grade-schoolers. As director of EBL Coaching, a learning center she founded in 2004 that provides tutoring for students throughout Bergen County, Westchester County, N.Y, and New York City, Levy sees many parents complaining that their children are given homework just for the sake of having busy work.

“Homework is really only of value if it reinforces what kids learn in school and can be done independently, without a parent’s help,” she said, adding that this often isn’t the case. “Many kids are given homework on topics they haven’t been taught, so they have to teach themselves or a parent has to teach it, which creates stress.”

Moreover, Levy notes that for children who are slower to get homework done, the process can take the entire afternoon, eliminating time for family, extracurricular activities and unwinding. “It really can add a lot of stress to the student and the family,” she said.

While Levy feels the right kind of homework is beneficial, she believes children can still thrive without it. “More times than not, the homework we see given is not work that can be done independently, and that reinforces skills, and given that, the benefits of homework don’t outweigh the costs,” she said. “As long as kids are being given appropriate and effective instruction every day in school, I don’t see a problem with eliminating homework.”

I stopped to consider both sides again, but I know what I see when my kids do their homework after school.  They’re tired, frustrated and they rush through it.  It’s an unnecessary formality.  Besides, the schools eliminating homework still give out projects, and the kids still read at night, so there’s some work at home. Clearly, I want the best education for my kids, but I just don’t think daily homework is an essential part of that.

“Now do you understand why kids need homework?” my husband asked, believing I’d been pulled over to his side.

“You make some valid points,” I replied. “And I would agree with you,” I added, leaning back in my seat.

“But then we’d both be wrong.”

Contact Jackie Goldschneider at minivanmusings@gmail.com