The Homework Myth
Interestingly, American schoolchildren actually spend more time doing homework than children of other nations. When I was a child in public school, I often faced two to three hours of homework each day. It was the source of much irritation on my parent’s part. They felt that I should have been spending more time on other activities that had more importance, and that if I couldn’t get an education during school hours, something was wrong.
Alfie Kohn is also the author of Punished by Rewards and other books on parenting.
Review: It seemed like day after day my children were bringing home more and more school work. When they came home and said they were told to study for their standardized testing I began to become very concerned.
My children weren’t learning the things that I felt they needed to learn and all their free time was taken up by studying in order to pass to the next grade.
I wanted to see what other people thought and the more I researched and talked to other parents, I began to see that more people felt as I did. Someone suggested I get this book. When I did, I couldn’t put it down. Now I had an explanation to why my children were swamped with homework day after day.
The world has come to the conclusion that to learn children need to have their school work in their face constantly. After reading this book I began to see why people felt that way, but I still didn’t understand that way of thinking. To me children learn better by discussing the subject and by doing hands on activities. This gives them a chance to work out the things they don’t understand and the problems that may not be addressed with homework.
As for studying for the standardized testing what good does that do? For my child it doesn’t do much. They don’t even know how well they did nor do they get any help with their problem areas. This only helps the school and their standing in the educational world, including the money they receive in the form of grants, etc. It really has nothing to do with how a child learns best.
I believe every parent, teacher and school administrator needs to read this book, along with the political folks who don’t get education and think that some test will make my child smarter and a better human being. If you’re concerned about your child’s education, grab a copy of this book. You will get insight that will make you stop and think about education and the learning processes we have all adapted for our children. After reading this I fully understand why homeschooling is growing more and more popular each year.
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