Homework

**Hessah** · 09-21-2011, 03:38 AM

Just came across an article about homeworks.. on whether the nature of homeworks need to change, to include "sports, shopping, cultural activities and even – gasp! – household chores"

http://7pmproject.com.au/homework-blues.htm

I'm surprised to see that pretty much all the people that commented on it says that kids are too busy with homework, they are useless, and kids spending 2-3 hours after school to do home work is too much!

2-3 hrs is hardly a lot!

Geez no wonder our generations are getting dumber.

You kids still at school probably hates homework, but i it wasn't for homeworks, I don't think I would've learnt anything at school.

**Lirange** · 09-21-2011, 04:02 AM

uggh, I hate homework so much. That's why I rarely do them(as can be seen by my gradesxD). It's such a waste of time, and a lot of the time it's pretty useless stuff. Like: "Write down all of these definitions down!" or "Read the book and tell me what these things are" Why not just not waste my time and give me the definitions. The actual act of me looking through the book doesn't really help at all. Give me the material on the test, and let me study it.

**Hessah** · 09-21-2011, 04:22 AM

I totally expected that from someone that has to actually do the homework..

Looking back, I believe that by doing homework, it's not the actual definition of the words that I'm learning, but the concept of where to look for information that you require that's important.

If everything was hand fed to you, then all you'll learn is what's given to you.

“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day but teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for years”

**Ralath** · 09-21-2011, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by Lirange

uggh, I hate homework so much. That's why I rarely do them(as can be seen by my gradesxD). It's such a waste of time, and a lot of the time it's pretty useless stuff. Like: "Write down all of these definitions down!" or "Read the book and tell me what these things are" Why not just not waste my time and give me the definitions. The actual act of me looking through the book doesn't really help at all. Give me the material on the test, and let me study it.

For the majority of people, I actually don't believe that is true. And I can almost guarantee that you don't learn as well. I‘ve noticed this in college. Professors will often let you make a cheat sheet for exams, but most of the times, those cheat sheets aren't even that helpful. But the process that you go through in order to make those cheat sheets ends up helping you study a lot.

I do think there is a lot of busy work in high school though.

**Loveless** · 09-21-2011, 03:41 PM

Exercise being a homework might not be such a bad idea. Especially in North America.

Doing homework isn't too bad so as long as your teacher can teach you.

Though homework in high school and "homework" when you get to college is a little different. High school you don't have much of a choice in what you learn but in college you, hopefully, picked a major that you would actually enjoy studying.

**Lirange** · 09-21-2011, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by Loveless

Exercise being a homework might not be such a bad idea. Especially in North America.

LOOOOOL. Sad yet true.

**Yosei** · 09-21-2011, 09:53 PM

I don't think homework is a necessity to learn, but it is good practice for those that aren't getting it. I never really did much homework throughout high school and I did fine. I think it just varies per kids. Some subjects click with kids, some don't. And also, everyone benefits from other teaching methods, so while a teacher assigns a visual learner bookwork where they have to read and then answer questions, they may not be benefiting from it.

As for the time doing homework. I think ages 5-9 should get between an hour or two. Simply because of their attention span and watching my nephew and niece. In younger kids, it takes about a half an hour for them to get settled into their task. But if you also have them doing it for too long, their mind can start to wander. But then in middle school and high school, 3 hours is totally fine.

But even today, I can't sit for 3 hours straight and do homework. I'd have to take a break and do something else for a few minutes.

**Loveless** · 09-21-2011, 09:55 PM

Best retention method is 1 hr work, 15-20 min of break. Repeat. Then sleep right after.

**Hessah** · 09-21-2011, 10:15 PM

I think what homework did for me is the discipline I got from my mum, she sets that you can watch TV for half an hour then it's homework time. Homework time doesn't mean I worked very hard xD But It was still sitting at the desk doing what I'm suppose to do...

What are these new parents teaching their kids when the kids complain "I hate my homework" and the parents goes complaining at the school "You give my kid too much homework!" There goes the school authority.

From my experience in Hong Kong, the kids here hardly has "too much" homework. We had to write 4 pages of Chinese characters at the age of 4. Kids here gets a colouring in worksheet as homework at 6!