Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher. Homework is educationally useless. Reading, studying and working on essays and projects is plenty.

Busywork is not education.

Math and foreign language homework are not useless at all. Neither are science labs / lab reports as homework. Good luck getting a kid into a STEM field without doing homework.

I have a PhD in STEM and very rarely had homework in high school. I also never took AP classes.
I did have a lot of work outside of class time at university but I also was only in class for 4-6 hours a day. My kid is at high school from 8:30-4:45.
I have 30 peer reviewed publications so excessive homework in high school is not required for a STEM career. My co-workers probably have very similar stories.

For most STEM careers, where you go to high school and undergrad doesn't really matter. Where you go to grad school and the skills that you focus on there are FAR more important. One of my most successful employees went to community college before heading to a state school to finish off her BS and MS.

I'm also a PhD in STEM and recognize that education has changed since we were there. The cohort had gotten more competitive in areas that don't actually help a STEM career - like really did I need the AP Psyc or History class? No, I didn't for my career but now they are necessary for competitive colleges. My kids don't actually do much homework because I send them to selective private school that recognizes extra is not always better. The elementary kid has 10 min a day and the MS kid has about 4 hrs a week total, including projects on weekends. Because publics are catering to a larger band of abilities a lot of work gets sent home to learn. I've seen many kids come to private from public for this reason. Work is taught at school and a few things are sent home to practice or study. The kids at the school achieve top marks in standardized tests (ACT/SAT/AP) and still have time for extracurriculars. Too much homework comes at the expense of other things need need to learn, like being a productive member of their community and family, sports, art, music, etc.

Your kid either is at school with a study hall in their schedule or not ata selective school. I know no top private in the area or other areas where kids have only a little HW at the high school level.

Most kids in the DMV are in public school. We aren't all millionaires and if you think that STEM professionals can afford top privates you need a big reality check.

My kid is at a high school that most of you wouldn't even consider.
They are thriving and going to succeed even though they don't get much homework because they are motivated and know what they want to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a middle school teacher. The only homework I assign is to finish work that wasn't completed in class (often due to phone usage or goofing off with friends).

I had a parent last year tell me that their child would not do any work at home. Well, that child also did no work in class. Parent got mad that the kid had a 0% due to doing no work in class or at home.

My kid doesn’t get a lot of “homework” but he does have to spend a good amount of time studying. The school basically has a “no homework” policy, but if the kids aren’t studying and doing the extra practice work sent home that’s “not homework” then they will crash and burn. My middle schooler has to study his Spanish vocab at least 30min a night, do 20min of math studying/practice/ review of notes and then probably another 20 min of review of the other classes, unless he has a paper he needs to work on for English. It’s just over an hour a night.

I also have a senior in high school and his homework/studying load has been tremendous since last year, but that’s because he’s taking a very rigorous load. He’s spent many a Sundays studying all day and I’d absolutely say it’s a true college load.

Though there is “no homework “ actually doing no homework at my sons middle school results in poor test results. They way the frame the “no homework “ it’s baptism by fire in learning independent self directed study habits.

Parent of mcps middle schooler here. My kid gets daily hw in foreign language, math, and Humanities (social studies). It takes about an hour if focused. In all cases, they get started in class (last 10 mins) so if your kid doesn't goof off in class, it's pretty efficient.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher. Homework is educationally useless. Reading, studying and working on essays and projects is plenty.

Busywork is not education.

Math and foreign language homework are not useless at all. Neither are science labs / lab reports as homework. Good luck getting a kid into a STEM field without doing homework.

I have a PhD in STEM and very rarely had homework in high school. I also never took AP classes.
I did have a lot of work outside of class time at university but I also was only in class for 4-6 hours a day. My kid is at high school from 8:30-4:45.
I have 30 peer reviewed publications so excessive homework in high school is not required for a STEM career. My co-workers probably have very similar stories.

For most STEM careers, where you go to high school and undergrad doesn't really matter. Where you go to grad school and the skills that you focus on there are FAR more important. One of my most successful employees went to community college before heading to a state school to finish off her BS and MS.

You do recognize the world is more competitive now than back in the Regan years? My child just started at CMU for engineering. You absolutely will not be getting in CMU or any competitive engineering school these days without taking APs and DEs or an IB. Of course my kid didn’t find value in his AP stats class but he also knew he needed to at least be top 5% of his class to get into the schools he was targeting. Being top of your class means a high GPA which means A in all classes and as many weighted classes as can be handled.

Kids are much much smarter and way more advanced than we were it’s just a fact. They have so much access to information at an early age when their brains are still developing. There a big difference between a 50yr old and an 18yr old and what they are expected to know and the drive they are supposed to have what was expected of you.

And no my son didn’t have busy work homework. You actually have to study to get an A in multivariable Calc at age 16. Probably a disciple you didn’t even touch until your junior year in college.

Np. I went to Blair and did in fact take Multivariate in 11th grade. I went onto a good college and a career in stem. We did not get a ton of 'hw' in the late 90s - maybe 2 hrs. I specifically remember my calc teacher rarely assigning more than 4 problems a night (but she did assign it 5 days a week, and it was graded for correctness). But I had to spend time really understanding the concepts and that takes effort. Our teachers were available everyday at lunch and after school for help which was very important. This is generally not happening with my own kids now who are in middle school - the teachers are usually teaching another class during my kids' lunch (they have to teach 5 at their school) and often don't stay after school. And my kids are also in several after school activities/sports so they aren't free much either.

So anyway I am not sure the issue is hw or not hw - it's that the classes that take real effort don't get the time they need. We had double period science at Blair and even some math classes. Yes, that means you can't take both AP Euro and AP Psych but is that really necessary as a STEM bound kid? Some of these expectations are meaningless.

Also - PP if your kid didn't find value in his Stats class that shows a lack of comprehension. It's the most accessible and useful applied math field. Tons of jobs in stats/data science.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher. Homework is educationally useless. Reading, studying and working on essays and projects is plenty.

Busywork is not education.

Math and foreign language homework are not useless at all. Neither are science labs / lab reports as homework. Good luck getting a kid into a STEM field without doing homework.

I have a PhD in STEM and very rarely had homework in high school. I also never took AP classes.
I did have a lot of work outside of class time at university but I also was only in class for 4-6 hours a day. My kid is at high school from 8:30-4:45.
I have 30 peer reviewed publications so excessive homework in high school is not required for a STEM career. My co-workers probably have very similar stories.

For most STEM careers, where you go to high school and undergrad doesn't really matter. Where you go to grad school and the skills that you focus on there are FAR more important. One of my most successful employees went to community college before heading to a state school to finish off her BS and MS.

I'm also a PhD in STEM and recognize that education has changed since we were there. The cohort had gotten more competitive in areas that don't actually help a STEM career - like really did I need the AP Psyc or History class? No, I didn't for my career but now they are necessary for competitive colleges. My kids don't actually do much homework because I send them to selective private school that recognizes extra is not always better. The elementary kid has 10 min a day and the MS kid has about 4 hrs a week total, including projects on weekends. Because publics are catering to a larger band of abilities a lot of work gets sent home to learn. I've seen many kids come to private from public for this reason. Work is taught at school and a few things are sent home to practice or study. The kids at the school achieve top marks in standardized tests (ACT/SAT/AP) and still have time for extracurriculars. Too much homework comes at the expense of other things need need to learn, like being a productive member of their community and family, sports, art, music, etc.

Usually private schools give more homework than public FYI

This was one of the questions we asked when the students gave us the tour. It was one of our selection criteria and we wanted to hear from the students what they thought, not what the administration thought.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher. Homework is educationally useless. Reading, studying and working on essays and projects is plenty.

Busywork is not education.

Math and foreign language homework are not useless at all. Neither are science labs / lab reports as homework. Good luck getting a kid into a STEM field without doing homework.

I have a PhD in STEM and very rarely had homework in high school. I also never took AP classes.
I did have a lot of work outside of class time at university but I also was only in class for 4-6 hours a day. My kid is at high school from 8:30-4:45.
I have 30 peer reviewed publications so excessive homework in high school is not required for a STEM career. My co-workers probably have very similar stories.

For most STEM careers, where you go to high school and undergrad doesn't really matter. Where you go to grad school and the skills that you focus on there are FAR more important. One of my most successful employees went to community college before heading to a state school to finish off her BS and MS.

I'm also a PhD in STEM and recognize that education has changed since we were there. The cohort had gotten more competitive in areas that don't actually help a STEM career - like really did I need the AP Psyc or History class? No, I didn't for my career but now they are necessary for competitive colleges. My kids don't actually do much homework because I send them to selective private school that recognizes extra is not always better. The elementary kid has 10 min a day and the MS kid has about 4 hrs a week total, including projects on weekends. Because publics are catering to a larger band of abilities a lot of work gets sent home to learn. I've seen many kids come to private from public for this reason. Work is taught at school and a few things are sent home to practice or study. The kids at the school achieve top marks in standardized tests (ACT/SAT/AP) and still have time for extracurriculars. Too much homework comes at the expense of other things need need to learn, like being a productive member of their community and family, sports, art, music, etc.

Your kid either is at school with a study hall in their schedule or not ata selective school. I know no top private in the area or other areas where kids have only a little HW at the high school level.

Anonymous wrote:When I was in high school, there were study halls. You could even have more than one! My kids in MCPS don’t have any study halls. At DD’s high school, they only have “advisory” one day every other week this year. In the second week of school, dd had a day where she had tests in pre-calc and chemistry, had to give a presentation in English, and had to participate in a debate in history. I don’t have an issue with homework, but there are days with really heavy workloads and a study hall would make a big difference.

Have your kids add a study hall to their schedule then. Problem solved.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a middle school teacher. The only homework I assign is to finish work that wasn't completed in class (often due to phone usage or goofing off with friends).

I had a parent last year tell me that their child would not do any work at home. Well, that child also did no work in class. Parent got mad that the kid had a 0% due to doing no work in class or at home.

My kid doesn’t get a lot of “homework” but he does have to spend a good amount of time studying. The school basically has a “no homework” policy, but if the kids aren’t studying and doing the extra practice work sent home that’s “not homework” then they will crash and burn. My middle schooler has to study his Spanish vocab at least 30min a night, do 20min of math studying/practice/ review of notes and then probably another 20 min of review of the other classes, unless he has a paper he needs to work on for English. It’s just over an hour a night.

I also have a senior in high school and his homework/studying load has been tremendous since last year, but that’s because he’s taking a very rigorous load. He’s spent many a Sundays studying all day and I’d absolutely say it’s a true college load.

Though there is “no homework “ actually doing no homework at my sons middle school results in poor test results. They way the frame the “no homework “ it’s baptism by fire in learning independent self directed study habits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher. Homework is educationally useless. Reading, studying and working on essays and projects is plenty.

Busywork is not education.

Math and foreign language homework are not useless at all. Neither are science labs / lab reports as homework. Good luck getting a kid into a STEM field without doing homework.

I have a PhD in STEM and very rarely had homework in high school. I also never took AP classes.
I did have a lot of work outside of class time at university but I also was only in class for 4-6 hours a day. My kid is at high school from 8:30-4:45.
I have 30 peer reviewed publications so excessive homework in high school is not required for a STEM career. My co-workers probably have very similar stories.

For most STEM careers, where you go to high school and undergrad doesn't really matter. Where you go to grad school and the skills that you focus on there are FAR more important. One of my most successful employees went to community college before heading to a state school to finish off her BS and MS.

You do recognize the world is more competitive now than back in the Regan years? My child just started at CMU for engineering. You absolutely will not be getting in CMU or any competitive engineering school these days without taking APs and DEs or an IB. Of course my kid didn’t find value in his AP stats class but he also knew he needed to at least be top 5% of his class to get into the schools he was targeting. Being top of your class means a high GPA which means A in all classes and as many weighted classes as can be handled.

Kids are much much smarter and way more advanced than we were it’s just a fact. They have so much access to information at an early age when their brains are still developing. There a big difference between a 50yr old and an 18yr old and what they are expected to know and the drive they are supposed to have what was expected of you.

And no my son didn’t have busy work homework. You actually have to study to get an A in multivariable Calc at age 16. Probably a disciple you didn’t even touch until your junior year in college.

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the kid.
My daughter finishes very quickly.
My son with special needs takes hours to do the smallest bit of anything.

+1

Schools is not a one size fits all. I feel for you, OP, because I am you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher. Homework is educationally useless. Reading, studying and working on essays and projects is plenty.

Busywork is not education.

Math and foreign language homework are not useless at all. Neither are science labs / lab reports as homework. Good luck getting a kid into a STEM field without doing homework.

I have a PhD in STEM and very rarely had homework in high school. I also never took AP classes.
I did have a lot of work outside of class time at university but I also was only in class for 4-6 hours a day. My kid is at high school from 8:30-4:45.
I have 30 peer reviewed publications so excessive homework in high school is not required for a STEM career. My co-workers probably have very similar stories.

For most STEM careers, where you go to high school and undergrad doesn't really matter. Where you go to grad school and the skills that you focus on there are FAR more important. One of my most successful employees went to community college before heading to a state school to finish off her BS and MS.

You are old.

Times have changed.

The world is much more competitive now.

Anonymous wrote:It depends entirely on how much they want to achieve (AP classes vs non, is instrumental music part of their load, variety athlete or not, etc)

I think OP is just raising an underachiever. My kid is a senior right now taking 5 AP classes. Last year was two DEs and 2APS. He’s also a starting varsity athlete, tutors German and a math (both through the honor society) and participates in math and science competitions. Yes he also does a ton of homework to maintain his 4.6.

Having a kid tracking toward engineering which is full of smart and competitive kids I can tell you for a fact the high achieving kids in China and India don’t have parents whining that their kids have too much work. Some of the low intellect America we have in this country are an embarrassment.

The teachers aren’t assigning too much homework. It’s leftover classwork that your kids are goofing off and not doing at school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework isn't going to influence your life long term. I work with the most amazing artists, designers, creatives, thinkers, and they didn't waste their precious time slaving over worksheets and writing pointless essays. A few didn't even go to college (GASP) and rake it in now. Yes if you want all APs and to go to a top school sure, slave away. But life experience, co-ops, internships, networking, street smarts go a long way IMHO.

Honestly it depends. I know many creative people who are under employed and struggling financially. I think people romanticize the creative life. That said, I don’t like to kill anyone’s dreams or natural talents so go for it, just keep financial expectations in check.

Agree. DD gets her music lessons from a virtuosic player who is also a top teacher for the instrument in the area, and their life is one long hustle. The last two aspiring dancers I know, one injured herself and thank goodness her dad insisted on a practical degree, because she had a backup plan, and the other is working ticket sales. It is exceedingly difficult to make a decent living as a creative, doing creative things.

Anonymous wrote:Homework isn't going to influence your life long term. I work with the most amazing artists, designers, creatives, thinkers, and they didn't waste their precious time slaving over worksheets and writing pointless essays. A few didn't even go to college (GASP) and rake it in now. Yes if you want all APs and to go to a top school sure, slave away. But life experience, co-ops, internships, networking, street smarts go a long way IMHO.

Honestly it depends. I know many creative people who are under employed and struggling financially. I think people romanticize the creative life. That said, I don’t like to kill anyone’s dreams or natural talents so go for it, just keep financial expectations in check.

This is highly dependent upon your child's age and grade, but in general I don't think it ends well for your DC not to do the assignments if they take more than 30 mins especially due to "sports and extras." I hear you and even agree, I just don't think this is going to work out well.