Homework - enough is enough
Some good news from the front line in the battle against academic overload. The Toronto School Board has voted to roll back the homework juggernaut. In Canada’s largest city, children will no longer be assigned work over Christmas, Spring Break and other important holidays. Kindergarten pupils will not face any more take-home assignments apart from reading or chatting to parents. Up to Grade 2, homework will largely consist of playing games and family activities such as baking. There are also strict limits in the later years. Kids in Grade 7 and 8 will get no more than one hour a day across all subjects, high-schoolers a maximum of two. The Toronto School Board’s aim is to shift the emphasis from quantity to quality. As well as cutting the hours, that means making sure homework assignments are clear, purposeful and engaging rather than just box-ticking busy-work.
There is much to applaud here. In schools around the world, homework has become a millstone slung around the neck of teachers, pupils and parents. Yet research shows that it is of limited value up to the age of 11. Even for older children homework is subject to the law of diminishing returns. Some experts think is should be abolished altogether. If it is to have any hope of being useful, homework must be assigned in reasonable amounts to avoid crowding out time for rest, play, and socializing. It also needs a clear purpose beyond keeping kids busy. More and more books are making this point. One of the most compelling isThe Case Against Homework, by Sara Bennett, who writes a splendid blog that has become a lightning rod in this debate. I also devote a chapter to homework in Under Pressure.
Much of that chapter explores how schools across the world are taking steps to free children from the tyranny of too much of the wrong kind of homework and finding that they learn better as a result. The bold change of heart in Toronto is just part of a larger trend that includes a recent decision by the Education Board of Shanghai, China to abolish homework for all first and second graders.
Of course, beyond the academic reasons for keeping homework on a tight rein lies the deeper question of what childhood is for. If we want it to be a time of play, freedom, and wonder, then piling on the homework is not the way to go about it. What are your happiest memories of childhood? I’ll bet they don’t involve slogging through pages of fractions and spelling lists. Mine are of long afternoons playing road hockey with friends in our driveway, and leaving the garage doors covered in a permanent Jackson Pollock of tennis-ball marks. Or war games in the backyard with elastic-band guns made from scraps of wood and bent coat hangers. Or playing Maze Craze, a battle game that we invented using Lego and marbles. Many of the boys with whom I shared those afternoons are still friends today. None of us can remember a single homework assignment.
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I just finished your latest book, Under Pressure. Here is my blog post about it. Loved it!
Carl Honor
Comment by Cindy Cardinal
— July 12, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
Thanks for your very generous words, Cindy. It’s interesting that you mention the title. To be honest, I’ve never liked it - it was the publishers who made me do it! I feel the title is too negative, when the book is actually meant to be upbeat and hopeful, to make everyone feel less anxious and clenched about children. I especially dislike the sub-title because it uses the phrase “hyper-parenting.” To me, it sounds like the book is demonizing parents when the opposite is true. Childhood is the way it is today because our whole culture has shifted, and often parents just get swept along in the flow. Schools, advertisers, politicians, bureaucrats, doctors, sports coaches - so many other people beyond parents have a hand in shaping our children’s lives. Anyway, that’s my little rant for the day…Maybe the sub-title will get changed in the paperback edition…
Comment by admin
— July 13, 2008 @ 1:22 am
I just finished reading In Praise of Slow and LOVED IT! As a teacher, I am looking forward to reading Under Pressure. I am a true believer of slow, particularly in education. As a program leader of special education, I can tell you that patience and kindness work and will bring results. We must empower students to appreciate the importance of balance.
I am running a Wellness challenge with adults through the YMCA. This 12 week program gives participants weekly body, spirit and mind challenges. I have incorporated SLOW into this week’s challenge by giving points to those participants who drive the speed limit all week! I will incorporate other slow challenges throughout the next 8 weeks.
Thank you for your excellent book - altho it seems so simple, we must “hurry up” and slow down!!
Comment by schmitty59
— July 19, 2008 @ 4:17 pm
Hi Carl
I was listening to CBC radio while driving to Montreal a few months ago when I heard your interview about
Comment by jisele
— August 7, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
Hi Carl,
I’m a Paeds Physiotherapist, a mother of 4, and grandmother of 6. Having spent the past few years doing development work abroad, your work gives me much food for thought. My ponderings right now include a book club/study group for Mums using this book as our appertivo! Fabulous contribution to current parenting challenges! I intend to gift your book to my current work team (consultants to school districts in BC) and see what conversations evolve. Keep up the great work….looking forward to more of your hefty thoughts, Lovem, keepem comin! Thx again,
Diane Williams in Vancouver BC
Comment by diwill
— September 8, 2008 @ 11:11 am
Last night I finished reading your book and I am still doing my first steps in the slow way. Because of this, today I am watching your web site, and I feel happy reading this kind of news.
Changes in education are fundamental. The children educated in the slow way, will be slow doctors, slow engineers and slow lawyers in the future. But the first step is the hardest.
I have this experience. I am a graduate in Business and Administration by the University of Granada (my hometown), Spain. Obtain a bachelor’s degree normally requires four years in the university but I did it in six years. Why? Because I spent some time traveling… London, Rome, Nice, Frankfurt am main, Luxembourg, Madrid, etc. In these travels, I obtainned a lot of enriching experiencies and I think this has made me a more mature person.
Now, when I am looking for a job, companys ask me: “Why you took two more years?” My marks in the university are good, what’s the problem? Perhaps they prefer an “graduated Express”. Just left the factory!… oh, I am sorry… I wanted to say, the university.
Congratulations for your book, Mr Honor
Comment by Alberto
— October 22, 2008 @ 11:26 am
Yesterday my son Jos
Comment by Rebeca Fiallo
— November 6, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
You know that when 10-year-old children are asking about their “quality of life” then something has gone wrong in our culture. Ditto when a six-year-old is getting three hours of homework every day. Insanity. But things are starting to change. I wrote about Toronto cutting back on homework in this blog post. Not long ago, Tiffin, one of the top public secondary schools in Britain, made headlines by announcing a sharp cutback in the homework load. The headmaster, Sean Heslop, said: “Sitting by yourself and doing work is obviously a good thing, but we didn’t need to do four hours of it a day.
“The more we looked at what was being set, it came over as quite mechanistic and repetitive. We thought, if there’s one way to put students off learning, that’s the way to do it.” So when it comes to controlling the homework epidemic, change is not only possible; change is actually happening.
Comment by admin
— November 14, 2008 @ 8:16 am
Dear Mr Honore
I’m an Australian and I have been teaching for ten years. I have mainly taught Grade 2, 3 and 4. I have felt increasingly anxious about the pressure placed on our children, teachers and parents. I really worry when a parent of a Grade 3 child tells me that her child is having night terrors about an upcoming national test or when a parent publishes their 8 year old son’s test results on Facebook. Your book, Under Pressure has really highlighted the current problems that we place upon our children to reach high standards so we look good compared to other countries. I am also sick and tired of being at the mercy of the whim of politicians and the media.
The statistics, summation of research and anecdotes made your book very interesting to read and I could feel myself nodding in agreement on almost every page. I think giving homework to Grade 2’s is a total waste of time- I would rather they read for 15 minutes instead. I feel like every second of my teaching day is micromanaged with no real time for children to learn through play. I could go on about it forever.
Your book helped me to reflect upon my own teaching style and has given me new ideas and techniques to try. It has also made me feel better about the way I teach and how I think children learn best.
Thankyou for your hard work, this book needed to be published!
Well Done
L. Butler, Melbourne, Australia
Comment by L Butler
— January 14, 2010 @ 3:03 pm
Thank you so much for your email, L. Butler. I’m delighted that Under Pressure struck such a chord with you.
It is extraordinary how much we have lost our bearings in education. The evidence is staring us in the face and still we persevere with the cult of testing, benchmarking and measuring.
That said, there are many teachers like you in Australia and elsewhere who not only see the folly of the current regime but also strive to deliver true learning within the stultifying confines of the status quo. You are the heroes and heroine of the story. And I feel sure that together we can turn this around.
Comment by Carl Honoré
— January 14, 2010 @ 3:39 pm