酷我-北美枫

[anna]

http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/503382


kids, says debunker
Longer school day has no upside, ruins child's yen for learning and stirs conflict at home, author says
September 22, 2008

Comments on this story (42)

Kris Rushowy

EDUCATION REPORTER


Alfie Kohn is a Boston-based author and speaker on educational and parenting issues who wrote The Homework Myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing.

The Star spoke with him prior to his appearance tonight at Sterling Hall School in Toronto. For information, go to cais.ca/alfie_kohn.

What's wrong with homework? Most parents already have a front-row seat to what's wrong. They watch the frustration and exhaustion on the part of their children; they are pulled into the conflict and into nagging. They watch children who lack the time to pursue interests they care about after a full day in school.

Homework may be the single greatest extinguisher of a child's curiosity. It tends to make kids less excited about learning.

Is there such a thing as "good" homework? The burden of proof rests with anyone who says six hours of academics a day is not enough for children.

Moreover, I think there's another value issue here: Who gets to decide what happens during family time, the schools or families?

I think there are, from time to time, examples where it does make sense for schools to presume to infringe on family time. An example would include free reading, where kids pick the books without having to read so many pages for so many minutes.

What about work not finished in class? Who decided on these assignments, and how valuable are they? Any decent teacher would never assign the same thing to all the kids in the class – not just because kids work at different rates, but because kids have different levels of understanding.

If it's a worksheet, it shouldn't be done anywhere because that's not, according to the best research, a useful way to help kids become proficient thinkers or lifelong learners.

So no worksheets in class? The best teachers don't have kids filling out worksheets, because that's more a focus on rote memorization than it is on learning what it means to read with understanding, to understand mathematical principles from the inside out.

The remarkable fact (about homework) is there doesn't appear to be an upside. No research has ever found benefit to assigning homework to kids before high school. In fact, in elementary school, there's not even positive correlation between doing homework and any measure of achievement.

At the high school level, there is a weak correlation, but no proof of a causal relationship. In other words, some older kids who do more homework also get higher marks and test scores, but there's no proof they get higher marks because they did homework.

What about the non-academic benefits? The claim that homework promotes self-discipline, independence, responsibility or good work habits is absolutely unconfirmed by any data whatsoever. It's folk wisdom.

The Toronto public board has a new policy limiting homework to one hour in Grades 7 and 8, and two hours in high school. And an elementary school in Barrie has banned homework.

The Toronto policy is a teeny first step.

My guess is those kids in Barrie are doing fabulous. I've heard from schools in the U.S. that have banned homework that kids are more likely to read for pleasure, to follow the news in the newspaper, to pursue a question online, to show their parents a science experiment they did at school, and so on.

Some Barrie parents said without homework, they lost their classroom connection.

We can solve that problem in five minutes. Teachers can send home annotated guides to the curriculum – here's what we are teaching and why. They can invite parents to come in and have a look around. Making sure that parents are in the loop is a desirable goal, by the way.


Toronto Star
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/503382


kids, says debunker
Longer school day has no upside, ruins child's yen for learning and stirs conflict at home, author says
September 22, 2008

Comments on this story (42)

Kris Rushowy

EDUCATION REPORTER


Alfie Kohn is a Boston-based author and speaker on educational and parenting issues who wrote The Homework Myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing.

The Star spoke with him prior to his appearance tonight at Sterling Hall School in Toronto. For information, go to cais.ca/alfie_kohn.

What's wrong with homework? Most parents already have a front-row seat to what's wrong. They watch the frustration and exhaustion on the part of their children; they are pulled into the conflict and into nagging. They watch children who lack the time to pursue interests they care about after a full day in school.

Homework may be the single greatest extinguisher of a child's curiosity. It tends to make kids less excited about learning.

Is there such a thing as "good" homework? The burden of proof rests with anyone who says six hours of academics a day is not enough for children.

Moreover, I think there's another value issue here: Who gets to decide what happens during family time, the schools or families?

I think there are, from time to time, examples where it does make sense for schools to presume to infringe on family time. An example would include free reading, where kids pick the books without having to read so many pages for so many minutes.

What about work not finished in class? Who decided on these assignments, and how valuable are they? Any decent teacher would never assign the same thing to all the kids in the class – not just because kids work at different rates, but because kids have different levels of understanding.

If it's a worksheet, it shouldn't be done anywhere because that's not, according to the best research, a useful way to help kids become proficient thinkers or lifelong learners.

So no worksheets in class? The best teachers don't have kids filling out worksheets, because that's more a focus on rote memorization than it is on learning what it means to read with understanding, to understand mathematical principles from the inside out.

The remarkable fact (about homework) is there doesn't appear to be an upside. No research has ever found benefit to assigning homework to kids before high school. In fact, in elementary school, there's not even positive correlation between doing homework and any measure of achievement.

At the high school level, there is a weak correlation, but no proof of a causal relationship. In other words, some older kids who do more homework also get higher marks and test scores, but there's no proof they get higher marks because they did homework.

What about the non-academic benefits? The claim that homework promotes self-discipline, independence, responsibility or good work habits is absolutely unconfirmed by any data whatsoever. It's folk wisdom.

The Toronto public board has a new policy limiting homework to one hour in Grades 7 and 8, and two hours in high school. And an elementary school in Barrie has banned homework.

The Toronto policy is a teeny first step.

My guess is those kids in Barrie are doing fabulous. I've heard from schools in the U.S. that have banned homework that kids are more likely to read for pleasure, to follow the news in the newspaper, to pursue a question online, to show their parents a science experiment they did at school, and so on.

Some Barrie parents said without homework, they lost their classroom connection.

We can solve that problem in five minutes. Teachers can send home annotated guides to the curriculum – here's what we are teaching and why. They can invite parents to come in and have a look around. Making sure that parents are in the loop is a desirable goal, by the way.


Toronto Star
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[anna]

Today I read an article on theStar.ca. Titled by Homework harms kids, says debunker. ---note
Alfie Kohn is a Boston-based author and speaker on educational and parenting issues who wrote The Homework Myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing.
I feel angry about the so-sure author. I want to say, Debunker, wake up and look around what are around our kids. The bad things are a long list, but not homework.
I believe why he writes the book is more for market interest not for his own belief. Though it is not fair to judge the book since I haven’t read it, but at least from the title, it is a trick of trying to attract attention.
Now back to the reality. Just ask all the kids, when they do not have homework, what they plan to do? Yes, TV, Game or other things they should avoid. They will definitely learn through them some may debate. yes, But they learn most violence or crazy people, they learn to imitate the cool stuff (which are weird and stupid) Sorry that I say this. But it is true, just look what are around us and what are attracted by kids.
Merits and mortal are not born naturally; they are build through learning, sharing and discipline. For me, I hope homework to burst kids’ interest to learn and to lessen their time to watch TV or games, to develop their habit of searching the answer by themselves, making achievement through continue learning and practice. I don’t want them taking easy way and become sofa-coach or too grown-up in the commercial and media world. I do want to give kids freedom, but not in this messed up world.
Now Debunker, I totally agree with you on the only scenario, tell us first, how to clean up the world. Clean up all the mess before admit our kids get too much of a bad thing from Homework!
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

Today I read an article on theStar.ca. Titled by Homework harms kids, says debunker. ---note
Alfie Kohn is a Boston-based author and speaker on educational and parenting issues who wrote The Homework Myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing.
I feel angry about the so-sure author. I want to say, Debunker, wake up and look around what are around our kids. The bad things are a long list, but not homework.
I believe why he writes the book is more for market interest not for his own belief. Though it is not fair to judge the book since I haven’t read it, but at least from the title, it is a trick of trying to attract attention.
Now back to the reality. Just ask all the kids, when they do not have homework, what they plan to do? Yes, TV, Game or other things they should avoid. They will definitely learn through them some may debate. yes, But they learn most violence or crazy people, they learn to imitate the cool stuff (which are weird and stupid) Sorry that I say this. But it is true, just look what are around us and what are attracted by kids.
Merits and mortal are not born naturally; they are build through learning, sharing and discipline. For me, I hope homework to burst kids’ interest to learn and to lessen their time to watch TV or games, to develop their habit of searching the answer by themselves, making achievement through continue learning and practice. I don’t want them taking easy way and become sofa-coach or too grown-up in the commercial and media world. I do want to give kids freedom, but not in this messed up world.
Now Debunker, I totally agree with you on the only scenario, tell us first, how to clean up the world. Clean up all the mess before admit our kids get too much of a bad thing from Homework!
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[anna]

My son is Grade 3 now.

It starts to get more homeworks. They are good for them to review and learn deep. And he enjoys doing it, because it is fun.

His teacher encourages them to call their classmates to discuss some math problem. They called and talked about the problem and answer and why ...

It really makes him think and also have a fun time through homework.

They study society also through projects or dramas. I do believe it is good to leave homework for them, it also help to teach parents to realize merits and basic foundations in life which many of us ignore and forget.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

My son is Grade 3 now.

It starts to get more homeworks. They are good for them to review and learn deep. And he enjoys doing it, because it is fun.

His teacher encourages them to call their classmates to discuss some math problem. They called and talked about the problem and answer and why ...

It really makes him think and also have a fun time through homework.

They study society also through projects or dramas. I do believe it is good to leave homework for them, it also help to teach parents to realize merits and basic foundations in life which many of us ignore and forget.
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com