HS and homework

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Name your private high school and how much homework your kids typically get. We are applying from Hardy this upcoming year and we keep hearing 3 to 4 hours a night at the big three… Which sounds absolutely ridiculous. They’re in school all day don’t these kids get a break? The studies show that all that homework doesn’t get better outcomes so why are the schools especially some that are more progressive continue with us if it is true? Curious minds want to know. ( And now I’m definitely not gonna send my kid to the new school which is why we are on this section of the website.)

Yep it is stupid. GDS will proudly tell during school visits except 3-4 hours a day outside of school. They are in a competition for who gives out the most homework. Many parents love it but who wants a kid to work 14-16 hours a day? The kid could not work a job with these hours because of child labor laws. Remember there is also homework given over the weekend and long holidays. Many require sports after school.Try adding in a travel team..lol. Lots of kids get up at 5:30 to commute and get home after 6 pm. Does not leave much time.

College has a much more reasonable work load expectation. Also colleges are dealing with young adults not kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name your private high school and how much homework your kids typically get. We are applying from Hardy this upcoming year and we keep hearing 3 to 4 hours a night at the big three… Which sounds absolutely ridiculous. They’re in school all day don’t these kids get a break? The studies show that all that homework doesn’t get better outcomes so why are the schools especially some that are more progressive continue with us if it is true? Curious minds want to know. ( And now I’m definitely not gonna send my kid to the new school which is why we are on this section of the website.)

Yep it is stupid. GDS will proudly tell during school visits except 3-4 hours a day outside of school. They are in a competition for who gives out the most homework. Many parents love it but who wants a kid to work 14-16 hours a day? The kid could not work a job with these hours because of child labor laws. Remember there is also homework given over the weekend and long holidays. Many require sports after school.Try adding in a travel team..lol. Lots of kids get up at 5:30 to commute and get home after 6 pm. Does not leave much time.

College has a much more reasonable work load expectation. Also colleges are dealing with young adults not kids.

This is another version of someone with a hammer always looking for nails to bash in. Put the parents on the hamster wheel, and their only message for their kids is to jump on and run run run run faster and faster. If it burns people out and leaves them rich but miserable, well, that's just how the world works on the wheel.

Some of them will figure out later in life that for many, it's not worth it at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown Prep: 3-4 hours of homework (reading, writing and review) a night. Sometimes more and sometimes less. Then 2-3 hours of practice for sports.

So Georgetown Prep has as much work as a big 3? Is this true of Gonzaga as well?

What makes you so surprised about this? Do you really think GDS is just miraculously more rigorous that GPrep? What makes you think that? What measurements are you using?

I have kids at a big 3 and friends with kids at GPrep who say their kids don’t have as much work, who definitely don’t have 3 hours of HW and from visiting and touring school open house a couple of years ago. curriculum is strong but it’s not STA or GDS or SFS either.

Just like you can take lighter or tougher classes at GDS, the same could be said at any private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was fortunate to grow up in a house where my dad was a partner in a big firm, made plenty of money and worked long hours. While I have nothing but respect for him and continue to be close to him, I learned an important lesson: real success was learning how to leverage other people’s time rather than my own. An hourly billing model that literally correlates income to hours worked is, in my opinion, for the average flock of achievers. Fighting to bill 2K hours and get attribution for referred work is the mass market way to wealth. I was a good but not great student, went to a good, not great, university and have been fortunate and smart enough to build a business. Today, I am hyper connected to my work but not spending 10 hours a day at a desk. My point is not how awesome I am (although I am, obviously, awesome). Rather to understand that parents that think that three or four hours of homework is the way to success for their kids are the same ones that’s think that a partner’s salary, in exchange for rarely spending time with their family, is the way to win. It’s not.

The only thing better than working hard to make money is working less hard to make more money. The same applies to high schoolers. A tiny percentage of kids will go to Ivy League schools and an even smaller percentage will actually achieve anything as a result of the Ivy education that they wouldn’t have at lower-stress school. Of course, the law partner parents get to flex their kids’ achievements, but how much does that pay?

These seem contradictory. Perhaps you meant unfortunate? I can think of few things more unfortunate than growing up with parents who are barely there due to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These kids are working harder than they ever will for the rest of their lives, unless they go to med school. Why put them through that? Do you go to work all day and then play a sport and then come home and do several more hours of work? It’s crazy.

This. And seriously- do you want to teach your kid that working 12 hours a day (in school, after school etc) is what life is? I feel sorry for you and your kid. Get outside, talk a walk with no agenda. (i know "you choose a job you LOVE) and it doesn't feel like work when it's your passion").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name your private high school and how much homework your kids typically get. We are applying from Hardy this upcoming year and we keep hearing 3 to 4 hours a night at the big three… Which sounds absolutely ridiculous. They’re in school all day don’t these kids get a break? The studies show that all that homework doesn’t get better outcomes so why are the schools especially some that are more progressive continue with us if it is true? Curious minds want to know. ( And now I’m definitely not gonna send my kid to the new school which is why we are on this section of the website.)

Yep it is stupid. GDS will proudly tell during school visits except 3-4 hours a day outside of school. They are in a competition for who gives out the most homework. Many parents love it but who wants a kid to work 14-16 hours a day? The kid could not work a job with these hours because of child labor laws. Remember there is also homework given over the weekend and long holidays. Many require sports after school.Try adding in a travel team..lol. Lots of kids get up at 5:30 to commute and get home after 6 pm. Does not leave much time.

College has a much more reasonable work load expectation. Also colleges are dealing with young adults not kids.

Agree. Lots of ways to skin a cat (ie teach a student, for a student to learn). Why have the approach be whose competitive advantage is who has the most hours of homework a night or week. That’s not “value.” Certainly not for most students and the smartest, fastest processing students might shave off 1 hour.

Reminds me of client driven jobs - where the “competitive advantage” was who could work the most, the fastest and all hours of the day/night/weekend/holiday to win over the client project or do it.
There are many smarter well-paid jobs than that game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was fortunate to grow up in a house where my dad was a partner in a big firm, made plenty of money and worked long hours. While I have nothing but respect for him and continue to be close to him, I learned an important lesson: real success was learning how to leverage other people’s time rather than my own. An hourly billing model that literally correlates income to hours worked is, in my opinion, for the average flock of achievers. Fighting to bill 2K hours and get attribution for referred work is the mass market way to wealth. I was a good but not great student, went to a good, not great, university and have been fortunate and smart enough to build a business. Today, I am hyper connected to my work but not spending 10 hours a day at a desk. My point is not how awesome I am (although I am, obviously, awesome). Rather to understand that parents that think that three or four hours of homework is the way to success for their kids are the same ones that’s think that a partner’s salary, in exchange for rarely spending time with their family, is the way to win. It’s not.

The only thing better than working hard to make money is working less hard to make more money. The same applies to high schoolers. A tiny percentage of kids will go to Ivy League schools and an even smaller percentage will actually achieve anything as a result of the Ivy education that they wouldn’t have at lower-stress school. Of course, the law partner parents get to flex their kids’ achievements, but how much does that pay?

These seem contradictory. Perhaps you meant unfortunate? I can think of few things more unfortunate than growing up with parents who are barely there due to work.

It’s a form of neglect. Teachers see it all the time in the high income or wealthy families.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools in the 1980s and I had 3-4 hours of homework per night, too, since I took a few AP and advanced math classes. This phenomenon is hardly new . . .

[Anonymous]

DD is at Holton, taking several honors classes. She does about an hour of homework at home. The rest is finished during study halls. This allows her to do about 3 hours of sports every day. Learning executive functioning skills has been one of the big things in LS/MS.

[Anonymous]

Gds parent of younger kids here. What are they doing for the 3-4 hours? Literally assignments that are due the next day or just studying concepts to stay ahead? We’ve seen nothing like this to date so wondering what’s ahead. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools in the 1980s and I had 3-4 hours of homework per night, too, since I took a few AP and advanced math classes. This phenomenon is hardly new . . .

It may be normal, but that doesn't make it a good thing or right. It's a shame HS kids don't get to be kids anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NCS is pretty much always 3 hours night for girls who do well. They don't have homework in every class, every night because classes are on a rotating basis. But the cumulative each night is about 3 hours.
STA is 2-3 hours.

A kid taking the most rigorous classes at STA who is striving to do well is 3-4 hours.

I'd say closer to 2 hours a night at each school. Requires he/him to use free periods and manage work on the weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was fortunate to grow up in a house where my dad was a partner in a big firm, made plenty of money and worked long hours. While I have nothing but respect for him and continue to be close to him, I learned an important lesson: real success was learning how to leverage other people’s time rather than my own. An hourly billing model that literally correlates income to hours worked is, in my opinion, for the average flock of achievers. Fighting to bill 2K hours and get attribution for referred work is the mass market way to wealth. I was a good but not great student, went to a good, not great, university and have been fortunate and smart enough to build a business. Today, I am hyper connected to my work but not spending 10 hours a day at a desk. My point is not how awesome I am (although I am, obviously, awesome). Rather to understand that parents that think that three or four hours of homework is the way to success for their kids are the same ones that’s think that a partner’s salary, in exchange for rarely spending time with their family, is the way to win. It’s not.

The only thing better than working hard to make money is working less hard to make more money. The same applies to high schoolers. A tiny percentage of kids will go to Ivy League schools and an even smaller percentage will actually achieve anything as a result of the Ivy education that they wouldn’t have at lower-stress school. Of course, the law partner parents get to flex their kids’ achievements, but how much does that pay?

These seem contradictory. Perhaps you meant unfortunate? I can think of few things more unfortunate than growing up with parents who are barely there due to work.

Either I phrased it poorly or you misunderstood. My point is that it’s better to figure out a way to work less hard and achieve positive results than constantly grinding. Teaching the value of “leverage” to kids will lead them to a much happier life than correlating voluminous hours of work to success - because that’s not what real success looks like. My attempted point is that a law partner may think of themselves as successful because they make a decently wage, but when your compensation is directly tied to the number of hours that you work, you’re just a salaryman (as the Japanese would say).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was fortunate to grow up in a house where my dad was a partner in a big firm, made plenty of money and worked long hours. While I have nothing but respect for him and continue to be close to him, I learned an important lesson: real success was learning how to leverage other people’s time rather than my own. An hourly billing model that literally correlates income to hours worked is, in my opinion, for the average flock of achievers. Fighting to bill 2K hours and get attribution for referred work is the mass market way to wealth. I was a good but not great student, went to a good, not great, university and have been fortunate and smart enough to build a business. Today, I am hyper connected to my work but not spending 10 hours a day at a desk. My point is not how awesome I am (although I am, obviously, awesome). Rather to understand that parents that think that three or four hours of homework is the way to success for their kids are the same ones that’s think that a partner’s salary, in exchange for rarely spending time with their family, is the way to win. It’s not.

The only thing better than working hard to make money is working less hard to make more money. The same applies to high schoolers. A tiny percentage of kids will go to Ivy League schools and an even smaller percentage will actually achieve anything as a result of the Ivy education that they wouldn’t have at lower-stress school. Of course, the law partner parents get to flex their kids’ achievements, but how much does that pay?

These seem contradictory. Perhaps you meant unfortunate? I can think of few things more unfortunate than growing up with parents who are barely there due to work.

Either I phrased it poorly or you misunderstood. My point is that it’s better to figure out a way to work less hard and achieve positive results than constantly grinding. Teaching the value of “leverage” to kids will lead them to a much happier life than correlating voluminous hours of work to success - because that’s not what real success looks like. My attempted point is that a law partner may think of themselves as successful because they make a decently wage, but when your compensation is directly tied to the number of hours that you work, you’re just a salaryman (as the Japanese would say).

I think your point was clear. You were indeed fortunate. Your father was good, although not very present. Your family wealth provided a good launching pad to start a business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools in the 1980s and I had 3-4 hours of homework per night, too, since I took a few AP and advanced math classes. This phenomenon is hardly new . . .

It may be normal, but that doesn't make it a good thing or right. It's a shame HS kids don't get to be kids anymore.

My point was that it's something I chose to do. It wasn't a decision everybody made, but I wanted that level of challenge and, at that age, I was ready for it. That's how I see schools such as Holton or NCS: offering a space for these kinds of students to excel in a way they are ready for. These schools aren't for everyone, and the sooner people accept this, the better decisions they can make about their DD's future.