Debates of all sorts discussion

Self explanatory, is homework harmful or helpful?

It puts pressure on students, so i'm against it.

I'm against the amount of homework they give. Example, my math teacher being the jerk he is decided it's a good idea to give homework every freaking day. I'm against that, homework you pretty much have to figure out on your own so if you didn't understand something and it's graded on correctness your screwed, especially when there is a lot. If I had one assignment per subject a week I would be happy. Homework really doesn't help much anyways.

Yeah, and my teachers aren't very helpful either, we get at least three sets of homework for different subjects, some of it due for the next day.

I really don't mind homework...it helps you figure out what you're doing wrong and if you have a problem with assignments being graded on correctness...you probably need to get a tutor :P

I don't mind some home work.... but when they give it every freaking day it irritates me.

One homework a week for each subject wouldn't bother me but sometimes i get three sets of math homework a week, due for the next day sometimes.

Last year I had math and often French homework due every day, I really didn't mind that much...in college it's only going to be worse :P

I don't mind homework. If we didn't review what we went over in class at home, how smart would be be? It helps you refresh what you're doing, and it prepares you for later grades when you have mammoth amounts of assignments. It also prepares you for any work you might have in the future. My father is an IT guy (works with computers) so he's constantly "assigned" manuals and books to read.

What I don't like about homework:
There should be a time limit. It would be cruel to assign over sixty minutes of homework to, say, a third grader (and yes, I know this actually happens to some elementary grades!). I also don't like it if teachers want to collect homework to grade. In math, I absolutely try my best, but it isn't my best subject. I'm not magical: I don't retain everything I learned in a class period along with everything else. So to be graded on everything as far as last night's homework? Seems a bit unfair to me.

But yes, I don't mind homework. Don't hate it. Don't love it. But sometimes I'll work ahead in, say, my Spanish workbook or biology packet :-P

Yep.

I know, when I first had to take finals, I was given a package (28 pages) as of a REQUIRED review. Think of it as a huge study guide. -_- But boy, did that help!

Shouldn't be getting an hour a day??? o.o We usually get like...3 hours....

It depends on your grade level. One of my teaches said it perfectly:
"If you're in first grade, you might get ten minutes or less of homework. Second grade? Twenty or so. Third grade? Thirty minutes. Fourth grade? Forty minutes. And so forth."

And you're probably thinking .. wow, I probably didn't have forty minutes of homework in the fourth grade! But you spend the rest of those minutes reading. And no homework? Than spend your x amount of minutes reading or practicing something.

Actually, I had more homework in kindargarden than any other elementary school year because of ESL >.<

I very rarely have homework because I finish it in study hall or class or homeroom lol... Or I forget about it... or don't do it... I swear if I wasn't so lazy I would have 95%'s and higher in every class (except math)

Yes I do. I'm actually really good at test taking and I almost never study, if tests were my only scores with occasional class work I would do so well.

Cody wrote: "I very rarely have homework because I finish it in study hall or class or homeroom lol... Or I forget about it... or don't do it... I swear if I wasn't so lazy I would have 95%'s and higher in ever..."

Gah lucky...I wish I was allowed to forget about it and not do it >.< On the other hand, I like my GPA so...meh.

My parents don't check my grades often... As long as I'm getting B's and higher they're happy.

In theory, homework is a useful idea. But I think the way it's used is wrong. Making kids do a hundred math problems a night isn't necessarily going to help them, especially if you're like me and you have total math anxiety. (I also think students shouldn't be forced to take subjects they're not interested in, but that's another debate I guess.) It puts pressure on students and basically tells them that if they don't understand specific concepts, they're stupid and won't get anywhere in life. I'm also against testing for the same reason. Kids always just cram for tests because they have to, and then right after the test they just forget everything they were supposed to learn. Not only that, but a lot of teachers try to trick you or trip you up, which says nothing about how smart you are. It's just being plain obnoxious.

I chose to go to a college that has no tests or grades. Instead we're required to do a lot of papers and projects, and instead of grades we get detailed evaluations from our professors. It's still a lot of work, but we get to study and write about specific things that interest us. And there's no pressure of studying things and saying to ourselves, "What am I supposed to study? What if I have to know this random little fact?" etc. And I think that's a much better system. I wish my high school had been the same way.

I also think that when a student is assigned a lot of work, it cuts up time that they need for socializing and whatnot. We all need a break, and socializing is normal and healthy. With 100 math problems a night (going along with the example) there hardly is any time to really revive. And also .. what if you practice it wrong? Not only did you just eat up time, but you embedded it in your head the wrong way ..

How did you find a college like that? It sounds like a place that I would like to go to. (And I really like your user name, too ^^)

Tenebris In Lux wrote: "I also think that when a student is assigned a lot of work, it cuts up time that they need for socializing and whatnot. We all need a break, and socializing is normal and healthy. With 100 math ..."

I agree. There are so many kids out there who think the most important thing is to study 24/7 and get perfect SAT scores, when really what colleges care about most is seeing that you're passionate about something (other than getting straight A+'s.) I went to a very academically competitive high school. I personally didn't care much about grades, because to me grades were just meaningless numbers/letters. I did try my hardest, and yes I would hope that effort would be reflected in my grades, but I wouldn't beat myself up if I got lower than an A. It saddened me to see kids who stayed up until 3 AM doing homework every night, and who freaked out if they didn't get perfect scores on everything. It's much more important to be a happy person, because in the long run, it's the happy moments you're always going to remember ... not the C you got on a math test that one time.

I go to Hampshire College. It's part of the Five College Consortium in Amherst, MA. I knew about it because it was pretty close by to where I grew up, and also because a few of my relatives went here; my uncle did, and he thought it would be a good match for me. And when I checked it out, I thought it sounded exactly like the school I wanted to attend. There's some info about it and similar colleges here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/c...

And thank you! You're a fellow Avatar fan, then? :)

To be honest, no xP The name just sounded catchy .. :-P

I'll take a look into that.

Also, I would love to go to an art college, as long as they fit in some of the general education too. I heard of an art college in South Caroline (if I'm correct) where math class is taken outside, studying sculptures and whatnot. Sounds fun.

Oh. Well, you should be. Best TV show ever.

Sounds neat! Hampshire is mostly a lot of artsy people, but they also have a really good cognitive science program. You can also take classes at any of the other four colleges in the area, which is cool.

Cody wrote: "My parents don't check my grades often... As long as I'm getting B's and higher they're happy."

T_T I'm getting yelled at for a 3.9 GPA...I guess it's kind of good though, puts more pressure on me to do well...*shrug*

Tenebris In Lux wrote: "what if you practice it wrong? Not only did you just eat up time, but you embedded it in your head the wrong way"

Well, that's sort of what the answers in the back are for :/ I can't imagine a worksheet with 100 problems....

Most textbooks I have don't have answers in the back like other traditional books, but if there are, my teacher assigns ".. 8 - 30 all even" because the odd problems are the ones with answers. But you can always do an odd problem and check it to see if you're getting it right.

♥ Rachel♥ wrote: "Cody wrote: "My parents don't check my grades often... As long as I'm getting B's and higher they're happy."

T_T I'm getting yelled at for a 3.9 GPA...I guess it's kind of good though, puts more p..."

But the max you can get is 4.0 isn't it? I mean god, that's 1/10 of a point.

Tenebris: No answers in the back??? That sucks :( And yeah, that's what I'd do if I were given evens and I did the homework.

Cody: Well, no. 4.0 is if you get all A's in normal classes, you can get higher if you take AP classes and stuff.

I don't know, some kids learn a lot from homework, but some don't learn anything from it. I guess that it depends on the child.

It also depends on the homework - it should be meaningful, not busy work, for sure.

My daughter loves her homework... but then so far it has consisted of making a picture of a gingerbread man using her craft drawers, and finding seeds and sticking them to a piece of paper... so, not helping this conversation much really... ;P

xDD Oh dear, I miss those homework levels...^-^

Ya! A lot of it depends on the homework. And a lot of kids do like homework.

As a teacher - it depends on the homework.

I pretty much never set homework that requires marking. Its a pointless excerise. The good students will study anyway, the ones that want to look good will cheat via the internet, and the ones that don't care won't do it at all. Since I already know which students are which in those categories, homework that requires me to spend time marking is a bit of a waste of time.

I do, however, regularly set homework that will give the student that completes it an advantage in the next lesson. Asking them to find and annotate an emotionally powerful image of their own before we begin writing poems, for example, instead of supplying images myself during the lesson (with a few such images on standby for those one or two that don't bother).

Or asking them to come to monday's lesson with descriptions of the way 3 animals are adapted to their environment before we talk about adaption, so that they have already begun to think about it before the lesson begins, allowing my explanations to be reinforcement and clarification rather than brand new material.

Sounds good! But I do know that some teachers will use homework as a way of playing favorites or lashing out at kids. That's just wrong.

Shaun, what grade level do you teach? Because at a certain level, stuff like that doesn't suffice. Also, I'm a pretty good student and I would never study if I wasn't assigned homework :P