Homework isn't beneficial - Almost Confirmed

cherryghost

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1008/education.html

There is little evidence to suggest that school homework in its current form has any real benefit, according to a primary school principals' group.
In a submission paper to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Curriculum Reform, The Irish Primary Principals Network says the role of homework in the education system 'requires serious research and analysis.'


IPPN says that principals and teachers have serious concerns about the impact of homework.



The Network has highlighted nine areas of concern in its submission paper to the committee.



It says 'effective teaching in the classroom, which differentiates both children's learning styles and learning abilities far outweighs any value of homework.'


'Homework can often be the sourse of a huge amount of stress between parents and children,' says IPPN Director Sean Cottrell.


Pointing to the fact that quality time can be scarce among families on weekday evenings, Mr Cottrell said it this time can often be spoiled by homework.

I hated homework. We used to have a horrible teacher who would pile a massive load (and I mean MASSIVE) of homework on a Friday for the weekend, turned me off so many subjects it wasn't right.


Personally I think homework is still needed, but jesus... I've seen the work some of my cousins have to do, it's far far too much.

bleg

Eh, I dunno about this, independent study is hugely important in secondary and tertiary education. Teachers can't learn verbs for you like.

orourkeda

Homework is a pain in the hoop. Interferes with pub time.

Smcgie

Poor dogs will starve to death.

liah

I don't think homework is necessary. The child should be encouraged to study subjects that interest them after school hours, sure, but for god's sake, the kids are already in there between 6-8 hours a day (depending on your school), they have lower attention spans than adults, and in the last decade homework tends to take up to an hour, or even more, per night. There is no reason it should be mandatory.

It's ridiculous, imo those years should be spent being a kid, not locked in the livingroom bogged down with the day's work. They do enough in school.

Too often teachers shirk actually teaching and just give the kid homework to do out of class so they don't have to deal with interaction or having to actually help the child one-on-one.

KeithM89_old

Always hated homework - id do it, not to learn, but just to get it done.

I had a teacher in secondary who would never give homework but have a 5 minutes quiz at the start of every class. It was a great way to get everyone in the class to learn.

WindSock

Up With Miniskirts!

admiralofthefleet

cherryghost wrote: »

I hated homework. We used to have a horrible teacher who would pile a massive load (and I mean MASSIVE) of homework on a Friday for the weekend, turned me off so many subjects it wasn't right.


Personally I think homework is still needed, but jesus... I've seen the work some of my cousins have to do, it's far far too much.

bleg wrote: »

Eh, I dunno about this, independent study is hugely important in secondary and tertiary education. Teachers can't learn verbs for you like.

orourkeda wrote: »

Homework is a pain in the hoop. Interferes with pub time.

Smcgie wrote: »

Poor dogs will starve to death.

liah wrote: »

I don't think homework is necessary. The child should be encouraged to study subjects that interest them after school hours, sure, but for god's sake, the kids are already in there between 6-8 hours a day (depending on your school), they have lower attention spans than adults, and in the last decade homework tends to take up to an hour, or even more, per night. There is no reason it should be mandatory.

It's ridiculous, imo those years should be spent being a kid, not locked in the livingroom bogged down with the day's work. They do enough in school.

Too often teachers shirk actually teaching and just give the kid homework to do out of class so they don't have to deal with interaction or having to actually help the child one-on-one.

KeithM89 wrote: »

Always hated homework - id do it, not to learn, but just to get it done.

I had a teacher in secondary who would never give homework but have a 5 minutes quiz at the start of every class. It was a great way to get everyone in the class to learn.

put your hand up if you want to talk

KeithM89_old

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

put your hand up if you want to talk

An bhfuil cead agam dul amach go dti an leithreas??

AnonoBoy

When I have kids I'm making them do homework even if their teacher doesn't give them any.

No child of mine is going to be a moran moreon idiot.

Smcgie

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

put your hand up if you want to talk

O/

Morlar

I think how beneficial it is depends on the homework itself, the school, also the attitude among teachers students and also parents. The idea that you can just zap homework out of exsistence and see benefits in students grasp of subjects (across the entire cultural socio economic spectrum) seems silly.

mfceiling

I nevar done my homewurk and it nevar done me any harm evar....

Black Swan

...neither are good grades

Jev/N

Smcgie wrote: »

O/

\O

Mrmoe

It depends on the type of homework and the level it is being aimed at. For some subjects practice is required and there is often no other way to get that than through homework. However, certain subjects particularly languages there can be too much focus put on simple rote learning.

A balance has to be struck but to say that homework is unnecessary is myopic.

AnonoBoy

What's the bets that this The Irish Primary Principals Network is actually an organisation set up and run by enterprising 9 year olds?

Sneaky beggars.

Yakult

My secondry Irish teacher never used to give us homework. Now I hate Irish but her ways of teaching were brilliant and everything was learned in class. She would tell us just to read over the notes and that was it.

Homework is kinda pointless, only doing it to get it done and taking in hardly any info at all imo.

johnmcdnl

I used hate homework too - who's ever gonna enjoy sitting down and learning verbs and maths tables off when your 7 years old in all fairness...

but these things have to be learned and it's as simple as that - now saying that there's no sense or reason in giving hours of work to a primary school child but a wee bit every night is needed or else their just not going to have to most basic skills and then that'll mean our education system is basically ****ed...

Have a look at the best students in the country - I'd put my house on it that 99% of them were the children who always did their homework every night from a very young age and even those that slack off coming towards the leaving cert but "wing" 450+ points - when they were younger they all did their homework...

if you want to learn and get an education you just have to do homework - simple as that - no amount of new modern teaching methods is going to teach a child there 12 times tables unless they sit down after school and practise them... simple as that

stovelid

Homework by itself wasn't too bad.

It was homework coupled with Glenroe and That's Life that was the killer.

Earthhorse

Morlar wrote: »

I think how beneficial it is depends on the homework itself, the school, also the attitude among teachers students and also parents. The idea that you can just zap homework out of exsistence and see benefits in students grasp of subjects (across the entire cultural socio economic spectrum) seems silly.

Agreed. The articles states that homework, it it's current form, is not proving very useful as a learning tool. I think it's ridiculous to suggest it isn't a necessary part of education though, you have to be able to produce answers yourself not just repeat them.

Feeona

johnmcdnl wrote: »

Have a look at the best students in the country - I'd put my house on it that 99% of them were the children who always did their homework every night from a very young age and even those that slack off coming towards the leaving cert but "wing" 450+ points - when they were younger they all did their homework...

Homework isn't just a way to give them extra work either. It revises what was done in class that day, or revises topics such as handwriting, addition, subtraction, spelling, reading (all the basics). It's also a great way for parents to find out what their children are doing in school each day so it can be talked about at home (children like to talk about their day too :eek:)

As a teacher, I can spot from a mile off the children who have parents who help them at home. They find it much easier to understand new topics in class, get their work done much quicker and have a work ethic that'll carry them for the rest of their lives.

Homework (for primary level) should only take ten mins for first class, twenty for 2nd, and so on. I've often seen my niece labouring over work that should only take 30 minutes max (usually because she starts day dreaming in the middle of it!). Do whatever necessary to get your children to have their homework finished within the timeframe-use bribes if needs be! Then they can remove the shackles of the public education system, and replace them with the shackles of societal pressure

Irish Guitarist

Whoever invented homework was a sadist.

KINGVictor

I dont see anything wrong with students getting homework, I think it is an essential component of the learning process. Homework is a way of inculcating independent learning from a young age, a skill that is very vital in education.

You want a knowledge- based smart economy, you got to work hard for it .

bonerm

I remember homework being a terrible waste of time in the evening. My ma used to have to stay up all hours doing mine for me.

Feeona

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

Whoever invented homework was a sadist.

I hear ye man. God forbid we learn anything at home

strobe

Morlar wrote: »

I think how beneficial it is depends on the homework itself, the school, also the attitude among teachers students and also parents. The idea that you can just zap homework out of exsistence and see benefits in students grasp of subjects (across the entire cultural socio economic spectrum) seems silly.

Bullsh1t, a test once a week or two weeks etc accomplishes the exact same thing. This idea that teachers need to give homework because otherwise they would have no way of knowing how students are progressing is complete nonsense, based on nothing.

Wagon

I learned the most from good teachers, regardless of how much homework they gave us. One in particular gave us only a bit (about once a week) and i ended up nearly getting an A for the leaving. She was just really sound and a bloody good teacher. It also helps liking the subject you are doing.

Homework, as it is, is cock. Maybe it shouldn't be completely removed but it needs to change some aspects.

Ruu_Old

Smcgie wrote: »

O/

No clicking your fingers! :mad:

Amazotheamazing

Homework and holidays are two parts of the education system that should be studied to see if there is any real benefits from them. The current system is highly biased against students whose parents don't have as much interest in education.

Voodu Child

Recent studies show that some of the smartest people are actually stupid.

Paddycrumlinman

I agree to a point with regards homework for kids, especially young kids. My son who is 7 and attends school here in Florida has it rough to the point he hardly has any free time in the evenings.

His school day starts at 7:20am. That's a 6:15 am he is up at in the morning. He finishes school at 2pm. Home work starts at around 4pm and does not finish until sometimes 6 - 7pm depending on what he has to do.

It's ridiculous to the point the kids get burned out and there is no family time because while doing homework, I'm trying to get my daughter to do hers also, while trying to prepare a family meal, get the kids bathed, into bed by 8:30pm since they are up at 6 in the morning. It's very tough on them.

Not sure what Its like in Ireland now, but When I was 7 years old I did not have to do nearly half as much as my son in the American system.

In my opinion, the school system in the states prepares kids for how fooking busy you are in life for an early age. It robs them of their childhood in a way because I see how many kids panicking due to the amount of work they have to do. Their fooking 7 year olds for Jesus sakes... .drives me nuts.

I'm all about kids learning but you have to allow children to be children at the same time. You have to find a balance.

Fionn MacCool

Said this for years when I was in school, but as usual you just get told to **** off because you're a child so your opinion clearly isn't worth anything. Same went for the horrendous teachers I had, I was told that I was just a pupil so my opinion meant nothing. I'm 21 now and looking back, I still think some of those teachers were terrible.

I remember in Business class (I did A-Levels) we had a teacher who spent every single lesson making us do practise exam papers in silence, and then our homework was to study the topics. I pointed out that that was pretty much the opposite way around to what it should be and was sent out of the lesson.

spiralism

its a waste of time, but we all had to do it... they'll be looking at getting rid of classes next at this rate

maybe they should look into preventing excessive amounts of it, true, but getting rid of it would be a bad idea as well.... when i was in school a few years back the workload was decent but never too heavy and it did prove beneficial for revision and all that

Rebelheart

AnonoBoy wrote: »

When I have kids I'm making them do homework even if their teacher doesn't give them any.

No child of mine is going to be a moran moreon idiot.

An idiot (indefinite article 'an' comes before a vowel sound)

Pookah

WindSock wrote: »

Up With Miniskirts!

Down with school trousers.

Dionysus

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

put your hand up if you want to talk

And that means no shouting 'Sir! Sir!' while your hand is up. That one takes some time to sink in!

The vast majority of kids are great, just as the vast majority of adults are reasonable and fair-minded about what it's like to teach a class of 30 students. But it takes one or two arseholes to ruin the ability of the other students to learn. And it takes one or two arsehole parents to make life hell for a teacher who is trying her/his best. The good parents bring issues up directly with the teacher first. The arsehole parents accept their child's account and try to blacken the teacher's name with the school management first. The average Irish teacher on 22 hours teaches hundreds of students on a regular basis each week. That's a shít load of parents and chances for the teacher to not get everything perfect. All these seemingly perfect parents in their perfect jobs who never make mistakes.

As for homework: it's very good when it reinforces classwork. As somebody said earlier, it is a superb way to encourage "autonomous learning" on the part of the student. The fact that they can work stuff out themselves at home can be a huge source of confidence and self-belief in a child. Anything which encourages that is sound in my book.

FruitLover

AnonoBoy wrote: »

actually an organisation set up and run by enterprising 9 year olds?

Sneaky beggars.

They've obviously been doing their homework!

Eh, I mean...

Hang on... ...

fonecrusher1

liah wrote: »

Too often teachers shirk actually teaching and just give the kid homework to do out of class so they don't have to deal with interaction or having to actually help the child one-on-one.

This describes a few teachers i had in school.^

Particularly my maths teacher in 5th & 6th year. She was a sh!t teacher. Simple as that & i wasn't the only person to claim this at the time. She'd march in, rant at us for 30 minutes with her piercing monotone scream, answer very few questions & always always give us lots of homework that half the class would get wrong because she didn't properly show us how to work out similar problems in class.

She gave me a report card once because i asked her several questions one after the other & she claimed i was trying to humiliate her????WTF? My parents were called in, lots of talks with the principal & it ended up the report card was revoked.;)

An appalling teacher who seemed very much unable/frightened to interact with students. Bit of a problem really isn't it given her job requirements?...

Smcgie

I wonder is it that they just couldnt be arsed with the extra work now as their wages are cut

galwayrush

Wife used to be a teacher before she fell ill, but going on her experiences in the staffroom, a lot of teachers are too bloody lazy to correct homework.

galwayrush

A dumbing down of our kids will lead to dumber adults which is one sure way of ensuring the future of FF and the Greens.:eek:

Rockshandy90

It does depend on the teacher but if they are a good teacher the homework will be beneficial. Granted maybe for primary school it mightn't have as much of a purpose since everything is done step by step in school with them but in secondary school the students are older and should be a little bit responsible for their own learning.
For my Leaving Cert I didn't do a major amount of study or anything but I always did my homework and properly and I got over 500 points so I would argue that it is very beneficial.