Sending your kid to school can
be frustrating as hell.
Top-down mandates and the reality that your child is just one
among a roomful can restrict your options, even when you’re lucky
enough to have options from which to pick. Despite the
variety of public, private, and charter schools near me,
all of the parents I know complain that their kids have
too much damned homework. Now, when we complain to teachers and
administrators, we’ll be armed with research suggesting that
professional educators are trying to turn our kids into socially
stunted weirdos.
Yeah. Really. A study,
published last year in the Journal of Experimental
Education, takes a dim view of the heavy workloads under
which high school kids in “10 high-performing high schools in upper
middle class communities” stagger.
Results indicated that students in these schools average more
than 3 hr of homework per night. Students who did more hours of
homework experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but
also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of
balance in their lives.
Which is to say, even if you think that homework can be a good
thing, there’s a limit. More is not better.
The communities the researchers focused on are more prosperous
than the country as a whole, with median household income over
$90,000, and 93 percent of students going on to college. They’re
also the sort of communities that would be most likely to emphasize
and support academic success. Where their schools have gone is
where many educators pushing heavier homework loads and higher
standards around the country say they want to follow.
The Stanford News
summarizes the researchers’ findings:
- Greater stress: 56 percent of the students
considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the
survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary
stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in
that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework
was not a stressor. - Reductions in health: In their open-ended
answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep
deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked
students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches,
exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach
problems. - Less time for friends, family and extracurricular
pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses
indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that
students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating
other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students
were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and
not pursue hobbies they enjoy.
Two hours of homework is at the high end of what high school
students should be doing every day, the researchers report.
My eight-year-old son is younger than the researchers’ subjects,
and he’s not yet—and never, so far as I’m concerned—carrying a
daily, three-hour homework load. But he’s already freaking out over
what strikes me as excessive take-home assignments. Talking down a
third-grader because he’s overworked is a bizarre experience, but
all too common among the families we know in a community that’s not
exactly an academic pressure cooker.
It looks like it’s time for another chat with teacher and
company. The goals, to explain once again, are healthy, educated,
well-adjusted human beings. Stressed-out basket cases? Not so
much.
You know who seems pretty happy and well-balanced? My nephew.
He’s being homeschooled.
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