Who should I write to complain about our country's obsession with testing and homework???

[Anonymous]

OP, you need to learn who sets what policy.

Testing requirements come from federal, state, and district levels.

Couple of organizations who are working on changes to the assessment load that kids face:
http://www.forumforeducation.org/
http://www.americanprogress.org/tag/common-core/view/

Homework policies are going to be much more local. Talk to your kid's teacher or principal and find out who is setting the homework agenda in your school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Do I contact my school board member? Do I write to the department of education? Do I start a petition? I feel like parents and teachers have been banging their heads against the wall for years and it just gets worse. How do we get things to change? I don't want my children to spend their childhood this way.

How many articles do we have to read about how superior Finland's educational system is the US before we make some bold changes? In Finland they don't start formal education until 7. They rarely take tests or have homework until they are in their teens. They get an average of 75 minutes A DAY of recess in elementary school. My kids get 20. Somehow youngsters from Finland end up out performing our kids across the board academically. Maybe it's because they actually have time to enjoy the learning process and they get enough playtime that their minds are ready to focus in the classroom. Why, in the US, do we think it is essential to give young children so much homework and so many quizzes and tests and so little recess? The system is broken. Time to start over. I know most parents and teachers agree. I know there have been endless editorials and articles. What will it take? Do we need to have a march on Washington?

I'll sign your petition and I know plenty of other moms who would sign it too.

Op, what county are you in? What grade are your children in? How much homework are they getting and how much time are they spending on it?

We are in Fairfax county. I have a third grader. We are getting homework Monday through Thursday in math, reading and sometimes spelling and social studies some other subject. The reading is supposed to take at least 20 minutes, the math, no longer than 30, and the other stuff can take another 30+ minutes. So that means we spend 7 hours in school each day, come home around 4 and have another hour to an hour and a half plus of homework, and dinner and showers, extracurricular activities if your kid has them, and oh yeah, sleep. Wtf????

The lunch menu has a zip code to health: 95210. 9 hours of sleep, 5 fruits and vegetables, no more than 2 hours of "screen time", 1 hour of exercise, and 0 sugary beverages. They really want to dictate how our children spend their time I guess. With all the time they spend in school and doing homework, who has time for anything else. I'm getting fed up with it too. And it's is NOT the teachers faults!

[Anonymous]

Federal Department of Testing and Homework
888-LOTS-O-HW-4-KIDS

[Anonymous]

Thank you, OP, on behalf of all the parents in America frustrated with the schools.

I am sure a well-crafted letter to the right party will solve this once and for all.

Perhaps you can start a group on facebook and I can "like" it. That got the Nigerian girls back, right?

[Anonymous]

What homework?
My 7th grader (high-rated public school) does homework 25 minutes per day.
My 2nd grader (high-rated private school) does homework 15 minutes per day + 15 minutes of computer math.

[Anonymous]

You have three options. 1. Convince your spouse to move to Finland. 2. Try and change this system, which is generally, a lot more heterogenous than the population in Finland, so implementation of the same system would probably have very different effects. 3. Stop fantasizing and let your kid do their own homework. That's one reason they give homework, not to force parents to slog it out with their kids, but to teach them responsibility and diligence. If they mess it up , it's their own fault. If they forget to do it, they deal with the consequences. More and more, I am beginning to think the "problems" with our school system is not the system but the parents.

[Anonymous]

Why all this focus only on Finland?
They aren't even the top ranked...

To get to the top, you'll see China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan... oh, wait, they require even *more* testing and homework!

Cherry pickers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have three options. 1. Convince your spouse to move to Finland. 2. Try and change this system, which is generally, a lot more heterogenous than the population in Finland, so implementation of the same system would probably have very different effects. 3. Stop fantasizing and let your kid do their own homework. That's one reason they give homework, not to force parents to slog it out with their kids, but to teach them responsibility and diligence. If they mess it up , it's their own fault. If they forget to do it, they deal with the consequences. More and more, I am beginning to think the "problems" with our school system is not the system but the parents.

And what do you suggest when the kid truly has NO IDEA how to do the work? I'm dying to know what you think since you seem to have all the answers.

[Anonymous]

Whitehouse.gov petition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why all this focus only on Finland?
They aren't even the top ranked...

To get to the top, you'll see China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan... oh, wait, they require even *more* testing and homework!

Cherry pickers.

Not all of China. Just Shanghai.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2013/10/09-pisa-china-problem-loveless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have three options. 1. Convince your spouse to move to Finland. 2. Try and change this system, which is generally, a lot more heterogenous than the population in Finland, so implementation of the same system would probably have very different effects. 3. Stop fantasizing and let your kid do their own homework. That's one reason they give homework, not to force parents to slog it out with their kids, but to teach them responsibility and diligence. If they mess it up , it's their own fault. If they forget to do it, they deal with the consequences. More and more, I am beginning to think the "problems" with our school system is not the system but the parents.

And what do you suggest when the kid truly has NO IDEA how to do the work? I'm dying to know what you think since you seem to have all the answers.

Send it back with a note on it "My child tried to do this homework, but has NO IDEA how to do it". Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have three options. 1. Convince your spouse to move to Finland. 2. Try and change this system, which is generally, a lot more heterogenous than the population in Finland, so implementation of the same system would probably have very different effects. 3. Stop fantasizing and let your kid do their own homework. That's one reason they give homework, not to force parents to slog it out with their kids, but to teach them responsibility and diligence. If they mess it up , it's their own fault. If they forget to do it, they deal with the consequences. More and more, I am beginning to think the "problems" with our school system is not the system but the parents.

And what do you suggest when the kid truly has NO IDEA how to do the work? I'm dying to know what you think since you seem to have all the answers.

Send it back with a note on it "My child tried to do this homework, but has NO IDEA how to do it". Problem solved.

Well, then you need to figure out why the kid cannot do the work. Is the homework low quality busy work? Does son have trouble following the lessons at school? How does your son do on those darn testings?

[Anonymous]

Your homework policy is probably set by your local School Board, so write a letter to them to complain if you hunk it is too much. Explain what your kid is missing by doing the homework, or why the homework doesn't help your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have three options. 1. Convince your spouse to move to Finland. 2. Try and change this system, which is generally, a lot more heterogenous than the population in Finland, so implementation of the same system would probably have very different effects. 3. Stop fantasizing and let your kid do their own homework. That's one reason they give homework, not to force parents to slog it out with their kids, but to teach them responsibility and diligence. If they mess it up , it's their own fault. If they forget to do it, they deal with the consequences. More and more, I am beginning to think the "problems" with our school system is not the system but the parents.

And what do you suggest when the kid truly has NO IDEA how to do the work? I'm dying to know what you think since you seem to have all the answers.

Send it back with a note on it "My child tried to do this homework, but has NO IDEA how to do it". Problem solved.

Oh yeah, problem solved. Says the lazy parent. You disgust me. So many problems with this claim you make and you declare "problem solved"? You are clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have three options. 1. Convince your spouse to move to Finland. 2. Try and change this system, which is generally, a lot more heterogenous than the population in Finland, so implementation of the same system would probably have very different effects. 3. Stop fantasizing and let your kid do their own homework. That's one reason they give homework, not to force parents to slog it out with their kids, but to teach them responsibility and diligence. If they mess it up , it's their own fault. If they forget to do it, they deal with the consequences. More and more, I am beginning to think the "problems" with our school system is not the system but the parents.

And what do you suggest when the kid truly has NO IDEA how to do the work? I'm dying to know what you think since you seem to have all the answers.

Send it back with a note on it "My child tried to do this homework, but has NO IDEA how to do it". Problem solved.

Well, then you need to figure out why the kid cannot do the work. Is the homework low quality busy work? Does son have trouble following the lessons at school? How does your son do on those darn testings?

That is what I've been doing. He does have trouble at school and the testing is hit or miss. I have been communicating with his teacher, but she has 25 other students besides my ds, so it's not easy. I try to teach him methods that I am familiar with, because the instructions on the homework are something I am not familiar with. I worry that it may be even more confusing to try to show a different method than what they are "learning" in school.