No Homework!

[SagaLore]

I think homework is pure evil. Anything you have to take home from school to work on, is a complete waste of time for students, parents, and teachers.

What happens with homework?

1. The good kids do it. It is easy. Their parents care, and make sure they do it.
2. The lazy kids don't do it. It is easy, but their parents don't make sure they do it.
3. The bad kids don't do it. It is hard and their parents don't care.

So in the end, the kids that needed to do the work don't benefit, and the kids that did do the work just wasted time. Then, once these assignments are handed in, the teacher takes them home and spends hours grading them all on his/her own time (which should be family time).

It really is a lost cause. Let me explain more.

Why is homework assigned? Certainly not to make the teacher's job easier. Rather, it is supposed to be an additional learning aide. But it is not, as I cited above. It is used to add more fluff to the grade. You did the work - great, here is the A. Doesn't matter if you actually understood it, because even if you do awful on your test, your homework grades help pad that. Wait - so you're saying that by having to do the homework, it helps you on your test in the end? I don't buy that.

To get a good grade on Tests, two things have to happen. 1. The teacher needs to effectively translate the information to a student, so they understand. 2. The student needs to efficiently recall what they understood.

The problem we're facing is that students are being forced into information overload. We shifted way from understanding the material, to simply memorizing the answers. That is what homework does. And guess what? A year later, you're barely going to remember what was taught in that class.

I believe it is time to rethink how we teach our kids. Take away the homework. The only time spent on school at home should be to study - but if you have a good enough teacher, even that isn't necessary. Even studying is just about memorizing answers, not about understanding them.

 

[MrChad]

STFU and do your homework.

 

[Tylanner]

HW in college is fvcking BS.

 

[akubi]

Originally posted by: MrChad
STFU and do your homework.

QFFT!

 

[DaShen]

It is a way to weed out the people who won't try to succeed in life. I was part of the number 2 group, but I finally wised up in college.

But yeah, there is a drastic need to change the education system in America.

 

[ahurtt]

Having trouble helping your kid on the algebra homework and feeling kinda stupid? Maybe you shoulda done your homework when you were in school.

 

[ironcrotch]

Do they red pens make you sad?

 

[Legend]

HW in college is fvcking BS.

As an Engineer I disagree. I learned a lot of stuff from assignments.

You can't study programming from a book or a lecture. You have to do it.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: DaShen
It is a way to weed out the people who won't try to succeed in life. I was part of the number 2 group, but I finally wised up in college.

Yes, but what does homework have to do with succeeding in life? If it teaching any lesson, it is that you should take your Work home with you instead of spending time with your spouse and children. It is crazy.

Homework isn't challenging. It is time consuming. All we're doing is wasting time. Nothing is learned from homework (or if it is, then the teacher is a putz).

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Legend

HW in college is fvcking BS.

As an Engineer I disagree. I learned a lot of stuff from assignments.

You can't study programming from a book or a lecture. You have to do it.

Quite right. But why does that have to be on your own time? That is what Labs are for. Many of the programming classes I had were split up so one day was lecture, and the other day were in a computer lab working on the problems.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Legend

HW in college is fvcking BS.

As an Engineer I disagree. I learned a lot of stuff from assignments.

You can't study programming from a book or a lecture. You have to do it.

Winnar! That's what homework is (or should be). Students putting into practice what they have been taught.

Seeing that 20% of California high school students failed their high school exit exams, I'd say that more homework was needed.

 

[dullard]

I've seen first hand exactly what you propose. In my hometown there are 6 (if I recall correctly) public high schools. Throw out the rich school and the two poor schools and the school with all the other school's rejects. You are left with two schools of virtually identical student bodies (they are mixed from the various middle schools). One forces homework and the other doesn't. Every teacher/substitue who has worked at both says the difference is absolutely shocking.

The school without the homework is filled with lazy students who go from doing decent on standardized tests to bombing them. They struggle with their normal classload. Only about 15% make it to college and of those that I know that made it there dropped out or nearly failed out. Basically what happened is that even the good kids became lazy/bad kids.

The school with the homework is filled with the normal spectrum: good/bad/lazy. Standardized test scores stay where they were before highschool. Many get scholarships and go to college (just above the state-wide average of percent who go). Many of those who do make it to college succeed. Yes, some fail or drop out as is normal from any school; but most do well.

Conclusion: The bad kids are screwed either way. They are unaffected by required homework so it doesn't matter to them. The lazy kids are mostly unaffected too, although some do turn around and become good kids in the right environment (which must include homework for this to happen). It is the good kids that are affected most. They become the lazy/bad if they don't have the homework.

 

[jspeicher]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Legend

HW in college is fvcking BS.

As an Engineer I disagree. I learned a lot of stuff from assignments.

You can't study programming from a book or a lecture. You have to do it.

Winnar! That's what homework is (or should be). Students putting into practice what they have been taught.

Seeing that 20% of California high school students failed their high school exit exams, I'd say that more homework was needed.

20%! ? I can see how this happens, when I watch shows like Laguna Beach....they don't do anything!

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: DaShen
It is a way to weed out the people who won't try to succeed in life. I was part of the number 2 group, but I finally wised up in college.

Yes, but what does homework have to do with succeeding in life? If it teaching any lesson, it is that you should take your Work home with you instead of spending time with your spouse and children. It is crazy.

Homework isn't challenging. It is time consuming. All we're doing is wasting time. Nothing is learned from homework (or if it is, then the teacher is a putz).

You can't learn and retain knowledge without putting it to practical use. At least probably like 99% of people can't. It isn't until you start putting things to practical use that things start to click and "make sense." Hence, homework.

 

[sourceninja]

repetition helps the memory. Imagine if I gave you a book on auto repair, let you watch me rebuild a motor then said, ok class, on friday you are going to rebuild a motor. Pass or fail.

Heh, I dont think thats gonna happen.

I had a programming teacher who never showed code. He talked in theory. No homework, no tests with code. At the end of the class we had a final that was a programing project and required real code. You could tell who went home and tried the stuff he talked about, because we passed. The kids who never did anything but went to class, they failed.

I take aikido in my spare time. About 2-3 times a week. I started about the same time as 3 other people. I practice on my own a lot. Doing the exercises when I have a spare 30 minutes or i'm waiting for something to finish up like the laundry or a compile. Guess what? I have a much better skill level the other people who started with me. I asked if they practiced at home. All of them said no.

So homework does these things for you.

1) Enforces responsiblity. In the real world you have to have the drive to do things you dont want to do
2) Re-enforces the lessons taught
3) Attempts to get parents involved in education like they should
4) weeds out the loosers so we can identify who will need welfare.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: jspeicher

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Legend

HW in college is fvcking BS.

As an Engineer I disagree. I learned a lot of stuff from assignments.

You can't study programming from a book or a lecture. You have to do it.

Winnar! That's what homework is (or should be). Students putting into practice what they have been taught.

Seeing that 20% of California high school students failed their high school exit exams, I'd say that more homework was needed.

20%! ? I can see how this happens, when I watch shows like Laguna Beach....they don't do anything!

Yep 20%. And keep in mind, the exit exam only requires the students to show that they can pass 9th grade level math and 9th-10th level english.

 

[Legend]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Legend

HW in college is fvcking BS.

As an Engineer I disagree. I learned a lot of stuff from assignments.

You can't study programming from a book or a lecture. You have to do it.

Quite right. But why does that have to be on your own time? That is what Labs are for. Many of the programming classes I had were split up so one day was lecture, and the other day were in a computer lab working on the problems.

Personally, I prefer working at my dorm. I can use Windows and secure shell into Solaris Machines and compile. If I need something to eat or a bathroom break, it's right there without having to worry about someone stealing my stuff while I'm gone. I had (co-oping at the moment) other comp engineers as roomates so it was quiet and we could work together on certain problems.

We'd have lab times but I'd skip them. There wasn't enough time to figure out the programs, and I'm terribly inefficient in Solaris. The keyboard and interface are all different from what I'm used to.


But college is a bit different. On the main topic, I agree to an extent. I remember most homework before 9th grade being tedious and worthless. Like copying defitions from a dictionary. It was a race to finish, not actually learn them.

 

[KarenMarie]

the more work you do now the better you will be at... whatever... when you are done.

And the smart kids with the caring parents ... these kids get a huge advantage over those who are lazy and uncaring. when salary comes around later in life. there is a huge difference between these kids and those who did their homework... they will be laughing.

 

[AbAbber2k]

Originally posted by: akubi

Originally posted by: MrChad
STFU and do your homework.

QFFT!

 

[Sentinel]

Why is homework assigned?

So you can learn the material and aquire skills necessary.

 

[zebano]

A few have touched on it. Programming, math, writing, reading etc. all require practice to learn to properly apply your knowledge. This is the purpose of homework. If you want everything done in a lab, then you will require more time in school. This just isn't efficient and we can't pay teachers that much (yes, they are already underpaid). There are a few things you can learn from memorization, but mostly that is a a teacher failing to challenge you.

As far as encouraging us to take work home with us, in the real world that is necessary in my profession (programmer/ analyst). 1 week of training per year just doesn't keep my technical skills up to date. I take about an hour a day to keep my mind sharp and my skills/knowlege base current.