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Does homework stimulate thinking? Just what are the limits?

March 7, 2016

As time goes by, students have to assimilate more and more information. History adds a few more decades, science progresses, languages transform and economics becomes even more intricate – while all these have to fit into the same amount of study time. And generate homework.

The educational methods have also evolved, but they have not suffered any significant revolution in what the curriculum or the educational practices are concerned. At least when base-lining the entire process, we can easily notice that students still go to school daily, go through their scheduled classes, take tests and answer to the teachers’ questions, then go home, do their homework… and then start all over again the next day.

There is an entire decade-long (at least) discussion on whether homework is good or bad in the entire educational paradigm. Without trying to solve this dilemma, it suffices to remark that whatever the answer might be, it is however clear that homework overwhelms today’s students of any age.

The homework report

There have been numerous online media angles on this issue. A CNN report clarifies the amount of supplementary homework and derived stress that pressures today’s students, based on an American Journal of Family Therapy study: three times more homework than the scientifically acceptable amount.

Behind the figures there is the National Education Association and the National Parent-Teacher Association’s standard of 10 minutes/grade level/night. Nevertheless, the questionnaires filled out by parents show that the standard is not respected. The teachers do not even abide by the rule of no-homework kindergarten, thus lowering the age threshold at which the race for time begins.

As a result, the children register a lack of balance in their lives, various health problems and continuous stress, getting used to a state of mind and of fact that will imprint on their adult lives.

In this race against time, families are affected along with the students. Children do their homework at home – and all other activities have to adapt to this pre-alotted homework time. Even when the activity is independent and does not solicit other family members, it is still an influential factor that determines the structure of the time spent together by parents, siblings and kids.

An older article on Parents.com breathes desperation – although it aims at approaching the issue technically and calmly. Entitled “So Much Homework, So Little Time”, the article catches the hurdle from a parent’s perspective and it manages to transmit the entire drama coming from a situation that goes on without any valid centralized remedy.

The teachers’ report

The materials that instruct teachers on how a properly structured homework presents itself take into consideration the standard mentioned above (10 minutes/grade level/night) and underline a few other essential elements. Any homework should receive feedback – although its main purpose is ensuring a regular practice of the material presented in class. The goal of assignments shouldn’t be punitive, nor should they replace what missed in class.

Taking the feedback into consideration, students’ homework becomes teachers’ homework – even if the allotted time and difficulty of the task differ. Teachers’ time is also limited, and making sure you as a teacher assign homework whose reviewing and grading fits your time is a good point to start from.

As in any work environment, times and assignments can be paired and calculated, figures justified and put down in schematics. What remains incontestable is that the homework situation is not viable and productive. While it may seem to favor some, building up their ambition and degree of knowledge, it surely throws into desperation countless students and their dear ones.

Teachers are in turn overwhelmed by the quantity of knowledge to be shared to and assimilated by students – and cling to the repetition formula. Repetition is the mother of all learning. Maybe we have all heard this in our student years. However, repetition may create indifference and rejection, leaving only a superficial layer of our mind in charge, while deeper, insightful learning lacks from the picture. In education results don’t take long to appear – and when persisting in the method although the results are negative, the system definitely displays a problem.

Giving more homework because there is no time in class to cover all the needed aspects, assigning extra homework as a punitive measure or failing to verify the results are all just problem creators for teachers and elusive and false solutions.

A possible turning point

Mathematics is admittedly a difficult subject – although having to do with precise notions, it takes a special kind of thinking to unlock its secrets. Many suffer years of hardships until they finally get its straight-lined yet intricate pathways, while others are more gifted but still have to put in extra learning time.

A cutting-edge approach in mathematics belongs to the Russian School of Mathematics, and has been noted by Peg Tyre, a well-regarded writer on educational strategies. Without going into the specific details that concern mathematics and its teaching methods, the “Forget the rules! Just think!” is actually the quote that motivated this article. The Russian School approach supports the identification of gifted children in order to form learning groups that could benefit from an advanced educational strategy and develop their innate potential.

Nevertheless, the idea of actually stimulating the power of thinking instead of stifling it through tiredness or repetitive and unfocused tasks should animate any new wave of educational policies that actually take into consideration the students and their needs. The teachers’ needs would also benefit from encouraging the process of thinking as opposed to mindless repetitiveness, and by this we mean their real educational needs, not the dry statistical necessities reflected in graphs and figures. Any teacher needs to see how he or she manages to impart knowledge to the students, how their student’s minds grow and structure into gradually being able to engage in independent thinking processes instead of just copying previously existing material.

Homework does stimulate thinking by helping secure accumulated information, but only as long as it does not take away the time necessary for unwinding (also critical for the learning process) and does not replace the time slot dedicated to learning how to think – via oriented games, discussions, sharing different points of view, contemplating solutions and learning pathways and so on.