All of the reasons for homework’s existence are bankrupt.
The initial reason given for it’s assignment is to force studying. The logic being that one will more thoroughly learn material if they review it at home a second time. People, even children, are capable of remembering what happened 24 hours ago. They don’t need to see the same exact lesson 3-10 hours later. If they do, because it’s challenging material, or due to their speed of learning, they can take it upon themselves. The opportunity to review at home should be offered, but it doesn’t need to be forced on everyone, who doesn’t necessarily(and doesn’t usually) need it.
A secondary reason is to teach good work habits. Homework isn’t good work, it’s busywork. It’s doing the same work twice. It would be like a business owner visiting his business in the middle of the night to re-count the inventory he already counted in the day. Work for it’s own sake, with no other benefit, is a waste. A related argument is that in the “real world” of work and responsibility, work will have to be done during off-time. Even if you think it’s schools job to represent the real world, which I don’t, this is senseless. Taking care of responsibilities is something a person will do because it’s for tangible needs. No one is going to forget to buy food or change their car’s oil because they weren’t trained by doing homework.
A more subtle reason for homework is to propagate the myth of upward mobility, and a simple recipe for success.
“If you do your homework more often, you could move up to honors”
“What’s honors?”
“Well, it will say honors next to your class, and you get to be on the honor roll”
“What else do I get?”
“A false sense of self-importance, and resentment from your peers”
“...”
It would be simple if humanity could be subjugated into distinct levels of worth and ability, but it can’t. There is some magical thinking in regards to this reason. The completion of homework becomes the non-existent “extra mile” that one needs to travel to rise above the rest. All this does is put a stick up the ass of those who believe and follow through with it, and spawn disharmony between them and other students. Successful people have been all very bad, mediocre, and very bad students. The completion of homework being a step towards superiority is clearly a myth and a waste of a student’s time.
1 comment:
You know, I'm pretty sure I tried the same argument in countless English classes throughout my academic career and I'm pretty sure no one either bought the argument or just simply changed to subject to "where is your first draft."
I was thrilled when my AP Calc class in high school had "optional" homework. Didn't do a damn thing for most of the year, but still managed an A. It really does depend on what you're learning and how you're learning it.
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