JR: no homework in 9th? Are you supplementing at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have twins and one went to public one to private, both at Ivies now. The one who went to private is still pissed about how many extra curriculars their sibling was able to do while they did homework. Hindsight is 20/20 of course and the schools both worked for the individual kids, but homework can be over rated.

Sure, this is great if your child is spending 3 hours a night, all school year doing high-impact extracurriculars (in addition to sports because most privates also require kids to do sports 3 seasons a year). The private school kids are still writing in the school newspaper, volunteering, completing internships, etc. I have a hard time believing that the public school kids are doing extracurriculars to such an additional degree that their value replaces reading books, learning how to write, etc.

I've had kids in both DCPS and private high schools and in our experience the education is night and day. It's not busy work--the kids are learning how to thinking deeply, write extremely well, etc. By graduation they have churned out several hundred pages of essays and at least two 20-30 page papers. Will my public school kid be a failure in life? No, but it's hard to argue that the private education is not leaps and bounds superior and this is supported in large part by homework.

Public school products would be a lot more polished when they get to college if their work were evaluated honestly. I don’t think kids are getting much good feedback along the lines of “it’s ok but it could and should be better.” Homework is usually that channel, but it doesn’t need to be.

yes, agree 100%. What you get in private school is a lot of feedback. When the kids write a 2 page essay, the teacher may only have 20 of them to grade. Then they pick them apart, line-by-line and give feedback. Granted this means although 20 kids have turned in a completely grammatically correct essay, likely only or or two kids get an A because they're then graded on the nuances of their arguments etc. So this is the downside of this type of grading. The upside is that the kids really learn.
My son turned in a 20 page research paper in history last year and received back 2 pages of single spaced typed feedback from his teacher. You could tell that the teacher spent hours mulling over what my son had written and then a good hour typing his response.

This was not my child’s private school experience, which is why we are saving $50k/year and went back to public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the time to load up on EC’s and get that experience! Having little homework and a chance to get great grades without is a godsend!

How about actually learning though? Is that the true godsend?

Homework does not equal learning.

My recent JR great had a lot of homework in 11th and 12th. My current JR junior has a lot of homework. Both took/take lots of AP classes. 9th and 10th, when they had no/fewer AP classes were pretty easy for both of them.

The amount of work in the upper grades was/is not overwhelming for either of them; I'd say that with ECs etc it's a great balance--busy but doable.

Homework is: reading books or poems or the chapters in the textbook, taking notes and preparing questions that will be discussed in class; writing essays; practicing math problems based on concepts taught in class; researching for papers. How is that not learning?

[Anonymous]

The best think your 9th grader can do with his/her time this year is explore extracurricular and find something (or something’s) that they really like. Go deep. Whether it’s robotics club or the school newspaper, or something else. The homework will ramp up in later years but there’s not much you can do about it now. This is one of the greatest academic frustrations at JR, but my kids still did great and were able to rise to the occasion in 11th grade when things got much harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the time to load up on EC’s and get that experience! Having little homework and a chance to get great grades without is a godsend!

How about actually learning though? Is that the true godsend?

If you have reached adulthood and don't know that important lessons are learned while doing extracurriculars, your kids are in a worse position than I thought.

What an odd supposition. Kids who have homework also do sports and extracurriculars. OP's topic is academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the time to load up on EC’s and get that experience! Having little homework and a chance to get great grades without is a godsend!

How about actually learning though? Is that the true godsend?

Homework does not equal learning.

My recent JR great had a lot of homework in 11th and 12th. My current JR junior has a lot of homework. Both took/take lots of AP classes. 9th and 10th, when they had no/fewer AP classes were pretty easy for both of them.

The amount of work in the upper grades was/is not overwhelming for either of them; I'd say that with ECs etc it's a great balance--busy but doable.

Homework is: reading books or poems or the chapters in the textbook, taking notes and preparing questions that will be discussed in class; writing essays; practicing math problems based on concepts taught in class; researching for papers. How is that not learning?

My point was that not having a lot homework doesn't mean kids aren't learning. Homework can be busy work. Teachers can be efficient in class and not feel like a lot of outside work is helpful.

Adjusting to high school and finding activities that interest you is learning. 9th grade is a weird time for a lot of kids. Giving them some space to mature and grow is appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Unless it’s BASIS, SWW, Banneker, or private so…yeah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the time to load up on EC’s and get that experience! Having little homework and a chance to get great grades without is a godsend!

How about actually learning though? Is that the true godsend?

Homework does not equal learning.

My recent JR great had a lot of homework in 11th and 12th. My current JR junior has a lot of homework. Both took/take lots of AP classes. 9th and 10th, when they had no/fewer AP classes were pretty easy for both of them.

The amount of work in the upper grades was/is not overwhelming for either of them; I'd say that with ECs etc it's a great balance--busy but doable.

Homework is: reading books or poems or the chapters in the textbook, taking notes and preparing questions that will be discussed in class; writing essays; practicing math problems based on concepts taught in class; researching for papers. How is that not learning?

My point was that not having a lot homework doesn't mean kids aren't learning. Homework can be busy work. Teachers can be efficient in class and not feel like a lot of outside work is helpful.

Adjusting to high school and finding activities that interest you is learning. 9th grade is a weird time for a lot of kids. Giving them some space to mature and grow is appropriate.

"Homework does not equal learning" is as pointless as "School does not equal learning." The bottom line is that this setup is alarming for 9th grade. Most kids have some homework starting in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the time to load up on EC’s and get that experience! Having little homework and a chance to get great grades without is a godsend!

How about actually learning though? Is that the true godsend?

Homework does not equal learning.

My recent JR great had a lot of homework in 11th and 12th. My current JR junior has a lot of homework. Both took/take lots of AP classes. 9th and 10th, when they had no/fewer AP classes were pretty easy for both of them.

The amount of work in the upper grades was/is not overwhelming for either of them; I'd say that with ECs etc it's a great balance--busy but doable.

Homework is: reading books or poems or the chapters in the textbook, taking notes and preparing questions that will be discussed in class; writing essays; practicing math problems based on concepts taught in class; researching for papers. How is that not learning?

My point was that not having a lot homework doesn't mean kids aren't learning. Homework can be busy work. Teachers can be efficient in class and not feel like a lot of outside work is helpful.

Adjusting to high school and finding activities that interest you is learning. 9th grade is a weird time for a lot of kids. Giving them some space to mature and grow is appropriate.

"Homework does not equal learning" is as pointless as "School does not equal learning." The bottom line is that this setup is alarming for 9th grade. Most kids have some homework starting in elementary school.

That’s a dumb analogy. School is necessary. Homework is not. Homework certainly has its purpose, especially in more intense and advanced classes. Being thoughtful and age-appropriate about when and how to assign homework is good.

9th graders at JR have homework, just not much. It’s not like there’s a no-homework rule. It’s just a light load, and many of us find that perfectly appropriate and have watched our kids adjust well to heavier homework loads in 11th and 12th grade, and then in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok. So are your kids just hanging out all through high school? How do they fill their afternoons and evenings.

My kids aren’t high school age yet but practice runs 4ish-6ish for most sports, bands, and clubs no?

Sure, and also mornings before school, evenings after 6, and weekends.

Tell me you have a swimmer without telling me you have a swimmer!

[Anonymous]

Homework is not racially equitable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Homework is not racially equitable.

THIS. This here is the answer. They don’t want to penalize the kids that don’t do it so then there is none. Another indication of the race to the bottom in the name of equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Homework is not racially equitable.

A belief that serves absolutely no one. Have had long conversations with POC friends about the "violence of low expectations"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework is not racially equitable.

THIS. This here is the answer. They don’t want to penalize the kids that don’t do it so then there is none. Another indication of the race to the bottom in the name of equity.

Wow, now that this has been written, I believe it’s true.

[Anonymous]

A lot of gunners at JR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the time to load up on EC’s and get that experience! Having little homework and a chance to get great grades without is a godsend!

How about actually learning though? Is that the true godsend?

Homework does not equal learning.

My recent JR great had a lot of homework in 11th and 12th. My current JR junior has a lot of homework. Both took/take lots of AP classes. 9th and 10th, when they had no/fewer AP classes were pretty easy for both of them.

The amount of work in the upper grades was/is not overwhelming for either of them; I'd say that with ECs etc it's a great balance--busy but doable.

Homework is: reading books or poems or the chapters in the textbook, taking notes and preparing questions that will be discussed in class; writing essays; practicing math problems based on concepts taught in class; researching for papers. How is that not learning?

My point was that not having a lot homework doesn't mean kids aren't learning. Homework can be busy work. Teachers can be efficient in class and not feel like a lot of outside work is helpful.

Adjusting to high school and finding activities that interest you is learning. 9th grade is a weird time for a lot of kids. Giving them some space to mature and grow is appropriate.

"Homework does not equal learning" is as pointless as "School does not equal learning." The bottom line is that this setup is alarming for 9th grade. Most kids have some homework starting in elementary school.

That’s a dumb analogy. School is necessary. Homework is not. Homework certainly has its purpose, especially in more intense and advanced classes. Being thoughtful and age-appropriate about when and how to assign homework is good.

9th graders at JR have homework, just not much. It’s not like there’s a no-homework rule. It’s just a light load, and many of us find that perfectly appropriate and have watched our kids adjust well to heavier homework loads in 11th and 12th grade, and then in college.

If you read the OP's post it says the student is getting NO Homework in 9th grade. The insipid "Homework does not equal learning" is paternalistic and pointless and now you are backpedaling and laying on the caveats. The lack of accountability and expectations is a vicious cycle, although JR is not alone in lowering standards. Parents are also complicit because they want the easy A's and are rationalizing the poor education their child is getting.