I think the rise in homework and the attendant stress is in part profit based. Educational companies (and magazines like USNWR) getting public/private school administrators, parents, teachers, students, etc to drink the Kool Aid of rushing to buy newer and newer textbooks and their companion worksheets/supplements, buying supplemental workbooks or prep test books, enrolling in AP courses/ tests, etc, etc,etc, feeding on the fear of being left behind. (Post #5 “Competition is global,” very scary yeah?). And with the middle class disappearing, can you blame people for stressing out and succumbing to this fear? And is it a surprise there is backlash? Alternatively, if for whatever reason, schools, teachers, parents, students aren’t in rat race cycle above, students may turn to for profit colleges which can have its own set of problems. I don’t have a solution, just venting. Homework has value but not to the level of stress that I see here on CC.