Reply to Atlantic piece: "My Daughter's Homework is Killing Me"

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[quote=Anonymous]I am a teacher and I hate excessive homework as well. I am a firm believer that downtime, activities, time with friend and family and a good nights sleep are going to go much farther in supporting a teen's overall well-being and academic outcomes then reading an extra 100 pages of Angela's Ashes, doing math worksheets, and reading science textbooks.

I don't think all homework is bad and it has a place. Most project work needs extra time that we don't have in class, some kids need extra practice in certain areas, studying for tests is going to have to happen outside of class, and there are occasionally things that just need to be memorized or reinforced and that has to happen out side of class time too. Additionally as much as many of you are against extra homework there is pressure from some parents to assign more as they believe that hours of homework develops work ethic and augments learning and that those extra hours are going to be what helps their child get ahead in life. There is also pressure from within to cover excessive amounts of curriculum and that homework can be used to meet that outcome. I disagree with this as new learning or material as homework is extremely frustrating for many students.

The reality is that the kids who are going to get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford are typically very self motivated and are going to do hours a night to make sure they fully understand every concept and perfect every project even if it isn't assigned. They are pretty self-driven.

For many other kids, hours of work at night is a frustration  and isn't leading to any greater good. And for some kids it is actually very detrimental to their overall well-being and to the family as a whole.

Trying to balance all of these issues to know what to assign and how much is a daily struggle. 
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