<p>i think someone should notify all IB teachers of this idea... also there should be a movement to SPREAD out homework, so that you dont end up staying up till three one night and only have an hour or so the next...
i really like reading homework, it helps me learn and we dont have to waste time in class on it, but some homework is sooo pointless... for example, my spanish teacher likes to grade our COLORING homework! we're in 11th grade... give me a break!</p>
<p>All these people complaining about APUS homework is ridiculous. Our teacher gave us 3 assignments each six weeks and I only did 2 of them because one was a drop grade, and they were usually just fill in the blank or vocabulary. And I got a 5 on the AP test, so the idea of people doing outlines and essays, to me, is laughable.</p>
<p>Edit: I read the whole textbook, Divine 6th edition i think, on my own time. Usually I read 2 chapters the night before a test.</p>
<p>The issue of homework is a difficult situation, if you dont give it you have no way of assessing if your students are understanding the things being thought but keeping the balance and diversity between hws is important, to much and everyone quits to little and everyone slacks. Another issue is B.S pointless hw which just involve regurgitating a priori knowledge and not stimulating cognition.....hws should be more thought provoking instead of just b..s regurgitating....lets stop trying to teach everyone how to comprehend and teach them how to think.</p>
<p>^ lerning how to think is for college. Highschool is preparing you to learn how to think, and in order to do that they destroy our brains with mindless busywork till we can't think anymore. But my teachers are cool. Last year, AP Chem the teacher spread out hte homeowrk, we all still did it the night before the test with all the reading. from 5-11 I did chem and it made life hard if i had a bc and/or APUS test day.</p>
<p>I wouldn't learn anything if there wasn't homework and tests. :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
You know what's funny? My math teacher attached the answers to all our math homework, to "Check", your answers. What would be the point of not cheating in such a situation?
[/quote]
That is not funny. Our teacher takes out fourth or third of points for wrong answer and grade is majorly based upon work shown. In math, it is very, very reasonable.</p>
<p>There are a number of reasons why I believe it would be good to abolish homework.</p>
<p>But the best reason I can up with is this -- it ultimately is busy work. It doesn't teach a student anything, and forces them to do extra work that could be taught by reading a book.</p>
<p>In fact, homework often prevents me from doing the reading--because I have so many things going on, and so much to do, some nights I'll come home, and instead of actually reading, skim the chapters and find whatever is needed to complete the worksheets due tomorrow.</p>
<p>I think it might be most beneficial to have homework that is optional, say to be used as a study guide. Teachers NEED to make the priority doing the reading and actually learning something, not mindlessly filling out a worksheet.</p>
<p>^^mindlessly filling out worksheets actually improves my grades, and I'm eternally grateful</p>
<p>obviously homework as it is now is more beneficial to some then others. that is why we should at the minimum abolish homework for grades. it is not fair to those who see no benefit from it to be forced to do it anyways because it helps some people.</p>
<p>Well, I never have that much homework. I take 5 APs and 1 college course. </p>
<p>For AP physics, my teacher assigns us HW problems but he never checks them. He tells us that if we take more than 15 min looking at problem we should just leave it. I think its a great approach. We can apply what we learned in class but aren't forced to spend hours on it just to get it perfect.</p>
<p>I like homework but I think it should be kept to a minimum. Just a little bit so we can review what we did in class.</p>
<p>I noticed that the teachers who assign mounds of HW are generally lazy. They send the learning process to home so they can avoid teaching.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For AP physics, my teacher assigns us HW problems but he never checks them. He tells us that if we take more than 15 min looking at problem we should just leave it. I think its a great approach. We can apply what we learned in class but aren't forced to spend hours on it just to get it perfect.
[/quote]
I'd rather spent an hour on one problem than hundred of easy problems. Big problems train your brain better and ltitle problems are, in my opinion, fallacy of US educational system :</p>
<p>As far as I can remember in fifth grade, we always were assigned two-three huge (I mean, taking 1.5 meters of board to write it down) problems.</p>
<p>What I find irritating is the local middle school, where the teachers are project-crazy and, as a result, there is significant parental involvement in the homework. Why not assign simple homework problems that the students are capable of doing themselves? Why make a student's "A" for creativity dependent on a stay-at-home mom's scapbooking skills?</p>
<p>Well, I don't think anyone in highschool should be doing physics problems till 1 in the morning. Most high schoolers have other commitments. He gives us hard problems but if we can't do it he explains it to us the next day in class. Perfectionism is not possible when you have 4 other APs. </p>
<p>I agree with you that big problems train our minds better, but spending lets say 2 hours on only physics homework daily will seriously hamper with the work from other classes you have to do. That's one of the reasons why so many students who say they dont procrastinate stay up till 1 doing homework. </p>
<p>Also, I try to finish some of my homework at school during the free time rather than chatting with friends. So I see that I usually spend less than 2 hours on all my homework a night. And it may increase by an hour or so if I have a project. </p>
<p>I am not a person who likes to cram or study at home. I think we should do most of our learning at school and spend a minimal time reviewing the concepts we learned.</p>
<p>Having a sufficient and relevant amount of homework assigned is critical to the repitition and practice that is necessary for memorization and integration.</p>
<p>A concert pianist does not avoid practicing songs he doesn't like. In the same way, it is impossible to learn without doing something a couple of times.</p>
<p>1) You have a low standard of what learning is. Oh, I didn't need to do homework to get a 5 on the AP. Well there's a reason a lot of top schools ignore AP scores and require you to take classes again. The AP's are ridiculously easy.</p>
<p>2) I don't know where the assumption that people need homework to boost up their grades is found. At my old high school, much of my homework made an insignificant impact on my grade (though the work was substantial). The real value came in homework's preparation value for tests and quizzes. </p>
<p>3) Yes, a lot of homework assigned in today's mediocre (at best) public schools is inane busy work. That does not mean that ALL homework is bad. Indeed, you NEED to do homework to learn anything because the main way people internalize knowledge and concepts is by utilizing them repeatedly. Somehow who is incapable of homework can expect to fail all the technical, and problem-solving-related majors in college. </p>
<p>Indeed, almost all the complaints here are directed towards homework people feel is just "busy work." That may be the fault of the teacher, but coming to the conlusion that homework shoudl be abolished because of it is specious reasoning.</p>
<p>4) Work is boring. That doesn't mean people shouldn't do it. Ninety-nine percent of the jobs out there involve boring tasks for ninety-nine percent of the work day. Thats the nature of the economy. You specialize in a task and you do it over and over again until you become good at it.</p>
<p>Only people with talent get to work the jobs that everyone thinks is "fun" and thats only a very small slice of the population.</p>
<p>I think a lot of Americans are truly spoiled by notions of having everything be entertaining and enjoyable. There are billions of people in this world who eke by day to day working grueling, monotonous jobs. Work is boring. Either get good enough to qualify for one of the better jobs or get use to it (Both steps require doing a lot of "homework" by the way).</p>
<p>To put it briefly: Most of you are not smart, naturally talented, or well-connected enough to get away not doing a lot of studying/homework and being successful at the same time.</p>
<p>The sooner you bite the bullet and start working, the better off all of us will be.</p>
<p>Abolishing homework would have been a great thing for <em>me</em>. Others' mileage will undoubtedly vary...
Piles of stupidbusywork are one reason why I hate US public school systems (robot factories). Why do I have to turn in a set of problems if I understand the concepts and can demonstrate them at a 90%+ level on an exam? Nothing but a waste of time for a lot of kids - but job security for teachers. Garbage like that will hack me off until I die.</p>
<p>well if people are "naturally" smart then they will have to deal with the repercussions of not doing the hw --> failing/not understanding the material which is why is should be optional. but maybe only in private schools. itd never work in a public school. too many relatives/confounding variables</p>
<p>Solution to the homework problem: Teachers give frequent quizes after each section of a unit. If the studnet gets an A on the quiz, homework is excused. If a studnet gets less, s/he can retake/get a higher grade on the quiz if s/he did the assigned homework because s/he tried to understand the material, but needs more work. If you get As on the quizes, you should get As on the tests and that will equate As in the class. If you bomb quizes, but demonstrate an attempt to learn the material through homework and questions and things of that nature, the teacher should either give you annother attpemt at demonstrating your abilities or put it into consideraton when giving you the grade on the reportcard. This doesnt work for major assignemts like projects, essays, or english class, but it does allow a studnet to get out of the "busy work".</p>
<p>^ That reminds me elementary school, where there was a spelling test at the beginning of the week, and if you passed that, you wouldn't have to take it again at the end of the week.</p>
<p>.-_-.</p>
<p>venkater: that works well to eliminate some busy work for the smart people who dont need it, but it does nothing to help those still struggling to understand the concepts who also dont learn well or at all from homework.</p>
<p>i am one of those people...many homework assignments are useless to me, and the reason i hate them and dont do them is because of that. then when i do badly on tests and quizzes, i am labeled as a slacker even though this is just not the case. i am smart i just dont learn in the same ways that many of my peers do.</p>
<p>^ what classes? I guarantee you if it is math or something computational you do what i did where you THINK you get it, but you don't really understand it fully. If it is english or history, you need to read and talk to the teacher about assignments. If you still do poorly, maybe you arent cut out to be a 4.0 student in your classes. Not everyone will get straight As, or even a mix of Bs and As. Hard work will only get you so far before that natural inteligence kicks in.</p>