Reply to Typical nightly homework load at various Upper Schools?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Typical nightly homework load at various Upper Schools?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And I think 2 -3 hours of homework after a 7 hour school day is bullshit. What the hell are they being taught in class anyway if kids can't have a life outside the classroom.  You' re not getting much value for money.  Most of the crap being taught with exception of a few doesn't fit 21st century needs anyway and can learned online. I have my own curriculum for my kids,  they go to school but I sweat the homework the way I used to.[/quote]

1.  They are not in class for seven hours.  If they are using free periods the nightly homework load diminishes.  Typical class time for Upper School would be 250 - 300 minutes of instruction a day (4 - 5 hours).  
2.  You can't have humanities classes -- papers, reading longer literary works -- without spending time at home.  Theoretically it's possible for classes depending on problem solving to do more of that in the classroom.
3.  In public schools no extra-curriculars are required; there are private schools with no sports requirement and a modest (say 2-3 hours per week) PE requirement; and even schools that require sports/PE generally have an option that is not time-intensive (for example, the PE option at Sidwell; Personal Fitness at NCS; intramurals at St. Albans).  If your child is not doing a sport (your and their choice) they will have even more time for homework.  And does your child do a club sport?  Why is 4 hours a day of soccer (school plus club practice) more important than 2 hours of homework?
4.  You can home school.

Bottom line, the American secondary school model includes homework.  It hasn't really expanded over 25 years, either -- kids are taking longer to do it, by and large, because of interruptions (texting, YouTube, etc).  There are some options if you don't like it, but you can't expect to apply to a prestigious school that has a significant amount of homework and then demand that they change their educational model.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics