HOMEWORK: IS IT GOOD FOR YOU?

Pre-reading task
1. How many hours of homework do you do every day? Do you like homework?
2. Does homework help you in school? Or is homework a waste of time?
3. Is it unfair to those students who don’t have computers at home, and may not have parents
who can help with (or do) their homework?

These questions are at the heart of a debate in America that started in a town called Half Moon
Bay in California. In the middle of the 1980s, a presidential commission conducted a survey of
American education and concluded that students were ‘at risk’: they were not getting a good
education and not performing well in school. One easy way to improve was to increase the
amount of homework. But now, some educators think homework has gone too far. Even six-
year-old students get homework. In some schools in California, primary school students do an
average of two hours a week. Educators disagree on homework. There are two main issues they
disagree on. The first issue is whether or not homework actually improves your studies. The
second issue is whether or not homework is fair.

Does homework help?

For years, educators have tried to prove that homework helps. But it’s hard to prove. There are a
lot of different types of homework. Some teachers give assignments that are ‘rote’ assignments.
You repeat an idea, word or concept over and over again. This might mean writing ten sentences
using the verb ‘to be’ or doing ten math calculations using the same formula. Critics of
homework call this ‘busy work’ and say it has no real learning value. Other kinds of homework
include reading for background information, writing papers of studying for tests. Some of these
types of homework assignments may indeed help you get a better grade or get a better test score.
That would mean your academic achievement is higher. But are you really learning more? Some
educators encourage homework that is more creative and emphasizes understanding and
learning. Teachers might ask students to keep a journal to record their thoughts and reactions to
things learned in class. Or teachers may assign projects with choices. If you are studying Japan,
for example, you might be asked to create a costumed doll or do a report on Buddhism or
research food in Japan.

Is homework fair?
Etta Kralovec Mooser, the director of teacher education at a college in Maine, says there is no
proof that homework makes you do better in school. In fact, she believes that homework is
unfair. Why? Some children have well-educated parents and lots of books and resources,
including a computer, at home. They have their own room and a quiet place to study. Other
children have poorly-educated parents. They have to share a room with one or two siblings. They
have no place to study, and no resources at home. They may have to help at home with chores or
even have a job. Mooser thinks homework intrudes on family life, increases social inequality
and flies in the face of the American ideal of equal educational opportunity. Some students say
that homework is good because it means they spend time with their parents. But this can
backfire in some homes. Joyce Epstein, a researcher at a university in Maryland, found that
students who were low achievers and did very little homework had less educated parents. These
students said it was difficult and stressful to ask their parents for help. Mooser and other
educators believe that there should be time for independent work, like doing exercises,
researching and writing papers and studying for exams, during the school day. Janel Cavallero, a
student in Portland. Maine, agrees. “School-work ought to be left in school. I don’t think it
belongs at home.”

rote – напам'ять
to intrude - вторгатися
backfire – зустрічний вогонь

Discussion
1. What do educators say about homework?
2. Which of the ideas about homework would you rather support and why?
3. What ratio of homework and classwork is the best?
4. How does the role of homework change as students become older and more mature?