From DSC:
I recently happened to revisit a posting by Josh Bersin entitled, “The Disruption of Digital Learning: Ten Things We Have Learned.” That posting contained the following graphic:
That graphic got me to reflecting upon the situation for many parents and families out there today. In many households today, it often takes 2 incomes just to keep your heads above the water. That said, neither of the parents have much energy by the time they:
- Make their way through traffic to finally arrive home from a very long day of work
- Prepare dinner
- Clean up after the dinner
- Attend to pressing items for the household (i.e., going through the mail, paying bills, shopping for groceries, doing the laundry, mowing the lawn, etc.)
- …and more
Having little energy left is especially true with single parents, who often have to go straight from work to pick their kids up from the daycare center or from a relative’s place. My hat’s off — big time — to single parents, as I have a great deal of respect for the enormity of their task.
So all of this leads me to reflect upon the questions:
- If a child brings home homework to do each night, who’s going to be able to assist them with it if help is needed?
- Who’s got the energy to deal with that?!
Thus, I’m not big on homework unless it is well within the child’s Zone of Proximal Development. It should rarely — if ever — involve the parents. I realize that’s not a very ideal statement or assertion. But, it’s now our current reality — as captured by the above graphic. This is true even when the parent, parents, or guardians highly value education.
It’s time to stop the homework. Or at least be sure that the children can do the homework themselves.
If anyone has some research on the efficacy of homework — or the lack thereof — please post it in the comments. I’d appreciate seeing those resources, and likely, others would too.