<p>The schools my Ds attended did not assign any summer work, not even summer reading. I was, and am, in full agreement with this decision. I have yet to talk to anyone who was totally convinced that summer work was absolutely necessary, or beneficial. There is enough time during the regular school year, if adequately used, to cover the curriculum. Most teachers, if they're honest, will tell you that. Summers are meant for personal pursuits, for students as well as families. I would bet that the majority of kids who actually complete summer work and/or readings would have spent an equal amount of time reading for pleasure anyway. If kids want to pursue summer courses, that's fine but I don't think that summer work should be assigned to everyone.</p>
<p>the us is one of the few industrialized nations that has only 180 day school years and we rank at the lowest of industrialized nations in terms of education scores. kids need to be challenged during the summer and not totally flake out</p>
<p>Our AP courses have summer work, but I think this is fair as it is the student's choice to take these and the teachers are trying to provide the equivalent of a real college course.</p>
<p>What disturbs me is not the issue of homework over the summer (clearly debatable) but that the kid is resorting to suing the school district to resolve the problem. What ever happened to the concept of trying to work things out with the teacher?</p>
<p>This happens to be a topic that interests me and we have some experience with it. I do think this kid and his family went OVERBOARD in bringing a lawsuit over this issue as that is not the way to go about effecting change of this sort in schools. However, I agree with their objective of not requiring summer (written) homework (other than reading). I think the summers are meant to be a break from the school and to be spent pursuing options. I don't agree with the poster who said if you don't do academic programs, then you are wiling away your summer watching TV. I think there are numerous worthwhile summer endeavors that are not necessarily academic in nature. My own kids did not do academic summer programs though have done summer programs in extracurricular areas of interest but jobs and travel and many other things are worthy. But that is diverting a bit but someone mentioned that. </p>
<p>Anyway, I am against summer homework and vacation homework that is required (unless it is reading without written assignments). I think it needs to be optional to do the work over vacation periods....work should not be assigned the day before a vacation begins or be due the day the students return. This makes it very difficult for kids who are not home during those vacation times (and isn't that what vacation is about....a break, a time to see relatives, do other things, be with your immediate family, etc.?). I know my own kids go away in summer and leave as soon as school gets out and their summer programs are intensive 24/7 and there is no time to bring schoolwork to these programs. Summer homework presents a problem. Same with homework given right before vacations and due the first day back. My kids do get summer homework, that includes way more than reading, but also papers and they are due the first day of school and they have even had an exam on the first day of school. I don't mind if they assign it but don't make it due the first day of school. That allows those who want to do it over summer to get a head start and others to do it within the first week of school or whatever is an appropriate length of time for an assignment. The more schoolwork that is assigned in summer, the more that encroaches on being able to do other things. I mean when else can kids do these other things? And when they assign work the day before a weeklong vacation and make it due the first day back, it makes it hard to go away or visit relatives or stuff like that and isn't that why there are vacation times built in so we can do other things? And I agree with Xiggi even with the sports teams having to return from summer two weeks before school starts. Prior to freshman year, we had no idea about that rule and our daughter was enrolled and prepaid to return to her six week summer program that ended the day before school began (we begin school in late August here and get out fairly late in June, btw), and this was a huge problem, requiring a lot of intervention not just by our family but other freshmen who had summer family plans and programs. We have known in subsequent years but that also cuts into summer though now they have shortened that in our state by a rule that they can only start something like a week or ten days before the season starts. </p>
<p>Back to the homework.....my now 18 year old college freshman had some significant thoughts about not only the summer and vacation homework but some other aspects of homework in our school including quantity and other things. Our school has no homework policy. So, as a student senator, she founded a committee (her and another girl) to develop a homework policy for the school. I will back track and say that for two full years, she had worked to develop a weighted grade policy for our school and it was a very involved process that eventually led to her presenting to the faculty, then the school board and the policy being adopted for future classes after her. She went through the same process in developing the homework policy. She did a great deal of research of various schools across the country that had a homework policy and she wrote many drafts of one for our school and then presented it to faculty, with the principal's permission. The principal (at the time, is not there this year though) seemed to support my D seeing this policy through to adoption by the school board like her previous policy on weighted grades. These things move very slowly but she put so much work into this. It then went to the school board but they did not "hear" this policy before she graduated as so much was going down at our HS last year resulting in the prinicpal resigning. My D and the other senator (both were leader types) did not want to see their efforts wasted even though they are now each at college. My D corresponded with the school board asking about where they were at with hearing her policy now that it went through faculty review and all that jazz prior to giving it to them. Unfortunately, she got a letter back, a couple months after writing them, and they are dismissing her policy and she has to let this one go because she has had to move on as she is in college and had tried to keep up but should feel a degree of satisfaction that she made a difference for others at our school with the first policy she had developed and gotten passed. The wording of this letter annoys me but we just chalked it up to being glad she is out now. </p>
<p>But her policy dealt with summer and vacation homework and other aspects that other schools' homework policies indeed address. The summer homework point (I am forgetting details so much after she wrote it now) had something like it was ok to give it if not due the first day back or not assigned the last day before a vacation. This actually IS addressed in other schools' homework policies but we have NO policy regarding homework issues. </p>
<p>To me, this is how to go about affecting change. Get up, put in the research and work to create policies, advocate, present to interested parties, etc. The first policy that went through and this second one that went as far as it could have before she graduated, were initiatives that were praised by every rec writer (they had never seen a kid accomplish this kind of thing in a school before) and even the school board wrote applauding her tenacity to see the policy through. This recent school board letter on the second policy takes a different stance, almost putting down students having a say about policies...which is funny cause the first policy she wrote, they praised her for what she put into it and not giving up and so forth. </p>
<p>Anyway, we agree with our D about summer and vacation homework and support students speaking up and affecting change by researching, developing, meeting with faculty, polling students and teachers, and writing policy and working the process to get that heard, reviewed by the public and board, and hopefully passed. Suing is not the way to go with this kind of issue, though.</p>
<p>My impression from the article is that they tried to work it out internally to no success. I also am not in favor of summer/vacation homework. I think it gets in the way of more useful things, like reading, hanging out with friends, and doiing absolutely nothing, all of which i think are necessary for significant blocks of time for real mind development--in fact, we'd all be better, smarter people if we had summer off!</p>
<p>I'm a little surprised at how worked up some of you are over this issue. It gives me insight into why someone would sue. Around here, all the high schools have summer reading requirements and I honestly never gave it a second thought. My kids have had busy, full summers, including travel abroad, and have also managed to complete the summer work with little fanfare. </p>
<p>It's not that I am taking a position one way or another... its just that in the greater scheme of thing, I don't see it as that big of a deal.</p>
<p>I hope that kid doesn't get into college. Seriously.</p>
<p>I can agree with Calmom's point - my kids have been busy away from home or at home during their summers, but their schedules were never so packed that they completing the summer assignments (mostly reading but some written ones, too) was a hardship. And they never resented having to do it, as they saw it as part of the requirements for the AP courses they chose to take.</p>
<p>The thing that disturbs me is it was HONORS work. I mean if the kid didn't want to do homework over the summer he shouldn't have signed up for the class. I would think that the guidance counselor would tell them about the course before they signed up for it.</p>
<p>To Prettyfish:</p>
<p>A history of suing teachers over homework assignments is probably NOT the best thing you can put on a college app. ;) (Lawsuits are public records, too.. so its not something all that easy to hide)</p>
<p>Personally I really wish schools wouldn't assign a summer reading list. Or better yet, let the kids choose the books. Both my kids love to read, but they feel like they NEVER have a chance to read a book just for pleasure, that they've selected. I understand that. I love reading pointless books in the summer. Kids should be able to do that too!</p>
<p>I am not against summer reading. I don't think papers and tests should be due the first day of class or the first day following a week long vacation. Also not to be assigned the day before the vacation commences, thus requiring it to be done over the vacation. Doing work over vacation should be an option but not a requirement and thus the idea of assigning it ahead of time and making it due after a few days upon return makes more sense to me. I don't have the homework policy my daughter developed in front of me but the wording of each piece of it was well articulated and was rational. </p>
<p>The concept of a summer/vacation homework clause in a homework policy is NOT unique. When my daughter researched homework policies she found many and there were variations but several addressed this issue including an elite prep school my other D's best friend goes to in another state. She wrote a policy that dealt with several homework issues, not just this one, and wrote a rationale as well. The faculty reviewed every aspect of my D's homework policy and gave input and discussed these exact issues. It seemed like it was going to be under review at the school board level and the principal felt it would pass. Then it did not get reviewed by the SB until after my D graduated and they dismissed the entire policy out of hand, not just the vacation aspect. Unlike the faculty review, the School Board never got into reviewing elements of the actual policy. Their letter, written a few months later in response to my D's inquiry as to the status of the policy "review" (she was already in college at this point but was following up and seeing her initiative through after more than a year's work on this), gave reasons that said: " we are not professionals who have degrees or certification in education." The letter said that each teacher has their own "style in the need for and amount of homework." The line that seemed a bit much was: "I (the School Board Curriculum Chair) am not explaining our decision in order to get a response, it is just the fact that we, not being educators do not feel qualified to make this policy, and you, the students, are also not in the position to tell teachers how to teach." They did acknowledge the positive impact her initiative had in raising awareness with the faculty about certain homework issues. </p>
<p>It did not matter so much that they did not pass this policy but more that there was not a real policy hearing or discussion on the aspects, which WAS done at the faculty level of the policy review. She had been through this process for two years on the weighted GPA policy she developed and with that, not only did it go through a lot of faculty review but the school board reviewed it and then had public policy hearings and eventually passed it. She was hoping the same process would happen with this policy that was well researched and developed and it was similar til it got to the school board who dismissed it overall, not just certain aspects of it. Other schools indeed have a homework policy that outlines various aspects and so this is NOT a far fetched notion. Our school does not. </p>
<p>I don't mind reading assignments in summer. I don't think even assigning some papers or projects would be so bad as long as they are not due the first day back or have exams on the first day, same with school breaks because I think the idea of vacation is to have a break and do other things you cannot do during the time school is in session and it can be difficult to fit in schoolwork when attending other programs, travel, or even have time to visit relatives out of state if you are bogged down with work. That is what we expect while IN school but not when OUT of school. Just my opinion. I don't think we are "bent out of shape" over this but we do get excessive homework in some courses here and that too was an issue. I have interviewed many kids for college admissions who take the most rigorous courses where they live and I ask the avg. amount of homework they have and few have ever responded with the amount that my child was given here. That was a big issue at school and one that was addressed in the homework policy. My child has been in a freshman class that required a three page paper nightly. That course alone had 500 pages of writing by the end of the year. Just one example. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>My D had a summer book and project due the first week back to school. It was so the freshman English teacher could get the accustomed to what she expected for class work. They had a meeting in the spring beforehand, and you signed a paper saying that you were willing to do the assignment. You could also opt out of her class for another English class if you so desired. She spent the first week or so working off that summer assignment...which was a composition book, visual piece, and I forget what the third component was. The book was "Cry My Beloved Country" and D was glad to have the summer to get through it twice.</p>
<p>My S on the other hand sees very little point in reading the assigned summer reading book at his high school. First, you aren't guaranteed English first semester, second you are lucky if two others read the book because nobody is held to that assingment, and third, several times the book has been crossed off the list for that year. Very disorganized. They should just call is "suggested summer reading."</p>
<p>That's ridiculous. If a student decides to take on the workload of an advanced course, he must be prepared to accept whatever terms come with it, whether they be working during the summer (who's complaining? there's a lot of time to work!) or working on the weekends.</p>
<p>What's he going to do when he gets to college and there is a book assigned for summer reading for the freshmen?</p>
<p>My D has had summer reading for a few different courses. For AP US History she needed to read 2 very long books and make notes in the margins. This needed to be done and the books turned in by mid-summer. She read the books and was frustrated that when she had the class in the spring due to block scheduling they never even discussed the books. She was also frustrated as to how many kids didn't read the books but copied from a friend.
For AP Eng senior year there was quite a bit of reading but at least they discussed and were tested on the reading at the beginning of the semester.
For both those courses you knew going into them that summer reading was required and you signed an agreement as a prereq. to get in the class.
I think the point is showing some commitment that you are willing to do the extra that an AP class demands.</p>
<p>sybbie--Maybe we should start a list of schools for him and send it too the school.</p>
<ol>
<li>UNC-Chapel-Hill</li>
</ol>
<p>Now some of you will understand why good teachers are so hard to find. This parent taught their child a valuable lesson...bully people you disagree with.</p>
<p>A teacher is given a curricullum, decides what kind of preparation a student needs to start the class and assigns something so the entire class can hit the ground running. With an AP class you have to finish the curricullum at least a month ahead of schedule so the students have what they need for the test. Math in particular will build up to some climaxing skill level (ex. quadratic formulas and equations in Algebra)that the text book company thought you would have nine months for and because of the school year you only have 7 1/2 before the test. Asking for a little more preparation over the summer might be the best way to keep the students fresh in their understanding and ready to skip the first week/month of review.</p>
<p>This parent may think he is some kind of hero, but I give him an F for this effort.</p>
<p>I commend the teacher for caring enough to provide the extra work and the school district for having the schedules done ahead of time. Wouldn't we all like to write this student's letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>My kids are good students, and they have always worked hard, and I have pushed them on occasion. And I hate lawsuitsin general, but.... I think these people are 100% right</p>
<p>Any summer work should be optional</p>