Requiring homework on a consistent basis is not an evidence-based practice and actually introduces worse outcomes for kids whose parents/guardians are less present, which disproportionately affects poor kids and kids of color.
Why do we do it? Because there are some parents (you know the ones) who will pester the school and lobby for dropping their funding if they don’t see consistent tangible output from their students. If the kids aren’t coming home with half a dozen papers each day and a bag of books, how can we verify that the teachers aren’t just sitting around on their phones all day not doing shit and collecting a paycheck WITH OUR TAX DOLLARSSSSS?!!!?!?!
So, homework largely serves as busy work to signal to parents that teachers are doing things. And the system is designed for parents to actively encourage and participate in the development of the skills required to regularly complete homework independently by high school. Kids whose parents have less free time are inherently disadvantaged, often labeled as bad kids or lazy early on, and can have a seat on the prison train before they’ve entered middle school. It also harms kids’ self esteem and sets an unhealthy precedent for expectations around work-life balance.
There isn’t a single thing that homework accomplishes by accident which couldn’t be accomplished better on purpose via other methods. Fuck homework.
I think homework harmed me because I wouldn't do it and I didn't have parents that were very involved in my life to make me do it. I went to school during the peak of the homework madness in my area so we were expected to do hours of homework each day.
I always learned the material, always passed the tests, almost never did the homework. I had to do summer school once, was held back the next year, and then dropped out because it's embarrassing to be held back and not know any of your classmates.
I'm not sure that homework has no value at all, but I don't think it's smart to penalize kids for not doing work at home. Not everyone has a home conducive to homework and expecting "homework clubs" to work seems nieve to me. I know I wouldn't have chosen to stay at school longer to do homework, and my parents wouldn't have made me.
If kids need more time dedicated to learning, why can't the school day be made longer to accommodate it? I get that teachers already don't have enough time, but why couldn't you have a study period staffed by other people?
Fuck that, it's plenty long enough already. I never did homework either and I still couldn't deal with that amount of fucking work as a child. Let children be kids ffs
In suburbia, you'd let kids be kids better if school ended in 90 minutes of unstructured time. When I got home at 3:30, it was just MTV time by myself because I wasn't friends with any of the three kids my age in the neighborhood.