Homework

I thought this article was pretty crazy!! I have never read anything about homwork being bad. It was a very interesting viewpoint.
From my own personal experience homwork has been a great aid to me. Though I can't believe I'm saying that now because there were hundreds of times that I absolutly hated doing homework:) Doing homwork gives me a chance to go at my own pace and study using my own methods. When we are learning in a classroom we are taught however the teacher wishes to teach the information. But having homwork assignments gives us a chance to practice good study skills and independence with our learning. Doing homework makes me feel accomplished. It is usually a good review of what the teacher went over in class and makes what I have learned more concrete. Without homework or any projects after school I suppose I would have used my time playing around, watching television, uh hanging out....who knows what habits I would have had! I think I learned good study habits starting with my parents helping me with homework in elementary. I later learned how to motivate myself to do my homework. I believe this motivation to learn has carried through to college and will stay with me my entire life! My desire to learn and believe in my own ability to learn can from practicing how to learn through homework.
Everyone has different opinions though and apparently this man had a negative experience with homework. Teachers do need to be careful to make it meaningful and useful. Not just busy work. I did receive homework that was only busy work and I believe there were much better things I could have done with my time. I also liked his comments about homework coming inbetween the relationship of the child and parent. I think this is very true. Parents need to be careful to be interested in what their child is actually learning not how much or how quickly they finish assignments. As teachers and parents we do need to be careful in making sure children still have time to be children and play. Education definitly is important but I agree that it won't be important if a child can't develop healthy relationships with family and friends and find other skills and talents that they can also do. Teachers need to be careful about still making school a fun and positive experience and memory for their students. This was a very interesting article and I am glad I took the time to read it. It gave me a different viewpoint of the impact of homework and how it should be used and treated by both teacher and parent.