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.
People who get anywhere in those fields don't do so by doing the bare minimum assigned by the school. Conversely, people who've hated math for the last 10 years are not going to fall in love with a sheet of derivatives and unify gravity and QM.
I did pretty well in maths and there was no way I would have gone home and done work just for fun. I came to like it but I had to be made to
kids if left to their own devices won't educate themselves they will play video games and watch tv
What happened when nobody made you educate yourself anymore via homework?
Well by then I was older and more able to understand that I needed to do work on my own if I want to learn things. But that came with maturity if you gave my 14 year old self that option I would have just stayed home all day watching tv
When did you have this epiphany?