http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/03/math-science-homework.aspx
Interesting…Do you agree that we get too much homework?
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Far too much homework.
Somebody please inform my teachers of this new development.
In other news, water is wet.
But yeah. You can only concentrate on something for so long. And with high schoolers’ busy schedules and extracurriculars and leaderships positions and all the other stuff you’re expected to do nowadays…
Oh please. Ridiculous. My kids were expected to do at least two hours of either homework or chores, take your pick. Or once 14, a paid job could take that place. In our area, middle school students go to school 7:30-3:00 give or take and high school kids are out even earlier. With the exception of those that are heavily involved in sports/art/theatre, what are they doing for the 6-7 free hours after school? Dont’ answer that lol.
My son had about two hours of homework in his first year of high school and decided that was too much so with grades going down due to his decreasing disinterest in academics, he transferred to a selective tech school. In the end, that meant he wasn’t college material (and that’s okay, he’s doing just fine). But…he continued to play both football and baseball and work part-time. D does about 3-4 hours each night (and I think she enjoys it lol) and about 10 hours of community service each week so she isn’t expected to work.
There is no way I’d allow a child of mine to not have something “to do” for many hours every day. I’m a firm believeer in down-time and very much against the helicoptering of overscheduling so there is no down-time, but kids with too much time on their hands means trouble. My son would go fishing, boating, help his grandfather around the yard, babysit his younger sister. Idle hands…
I definitely agree with the study- there are night where I’ll do five to six hours of homework after coming home from a 7 hour day. It’s impossible, especially when you try to fit in sports or extracurriculars. @NEPatsGirl that’s awesome that your kids don’t have too much homework to be kept for doing other things such as community service, but in many cases limiting the homework as this study suggests would allow kids to do the stuff you have your kids do- but with the homework high schoolers get it is not possible for many of them. With the homework I do a night, there’s no way I could have a job on top of that and thankfully my parents get that. I think this limitation would be a great solution for a lot of kids and parents.
I’m not sure if this can be applied to students who take multiple advanced classes simultaneously. Some individual physics problems can take the average student at least 30 minutes to solve per problem; I can’t see anything beyond mindless plug and chug problems being assigned if you tried to fit AP Physics C homework (along with all the other classes) into a 70 minute time period. Similarly, I don’t see how an assigned novel to read will be finished in a reasonable amount of time.
^ Are you planning to read the whole novel in one night? lol
No, but if you’re taking 6 classes, then you only have about 12 minutes a day dedicated to your English class if the 60 minute recommendation were to be followed. The English class won’t be able to cover many books at that rate (plus it will take time away from other assignments and essays that are important for an English class).
@NEPatsGirl Here is the definition of crazy parent. It may sound insane, but you need to trust your kids. My parents let me make choices for myself, and they always have. They treated me like an adult and gave me my space to make my own decisions and I turned into a motivated, ambitious individual. Free time is fine. Not all kids use their free time to go out partying and drinking. Some, like myself, play video games or hang out with friends or learn something new. Parents like you make me sick. You act like because you gave birth to someone that you have the right to control their lives. Your children may live with you, but that doesn’t mean that you are their supreme ruler. Then again, it’s the parents like you that raise the kids who resent you and wish to leave and never return. So, take your pick I guess.
Boo hoo…
You have no idea how good you’ve got it doing 70 minutes of homework. Little kids work 10 HOURS (10 x 60 minutes = 600min) sewing soccer balls.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/poor-children-made-to-stitch-sports-balls-in-sweatshops-20120921-26c0z.html
As a student, I disagree; it’s not too much. Many teachers give students time to complete homework in class, and a lot of them just do not take the opportunity. Students go to school to get an education, and I feel like they should have it as a priority in life.
However, I do think that more than ~3 hours (while working efficiently) is ridiculous, seeing as that time is not even including study time for tests and such. It’s all about learning time management.
For one thing, the point of this post was that high schools don’t give 70 minutes of homework. I got home at 2:30 and did homework up until band at 6 and then came back and worked more after.
Second, just because somebody has it worse doesn’t invalidate what the first person feels. Stress and depression isn’t a zero-sum game.
@englishlover16 ~ if you have most nights with 5 or 6 hours of homework, I think the problem is time-management. I can’t imagine what kind of course schedule you might have where that is a regular thing. My D is an IB diploma student which is basically the equivalent of taking 6 AP classes, a collegiate level class (ToK) and community action hour requirements. She and her peers at the school often average 2-3 hours of homework each night with a full weekend day thrown in the mix. I do think though that those playing sports have a more difficult time during their seasons but that is a choice they make.
@bardinators ~ as much as I want to disregard your post because it doesn’t deserve a response I can’t contain myself. Can I safely assume you don’t have teenagers? I’m sorry my style of parenting upsets you so much that it makes you ill. Countering, young adults who act out like adolescents (through words or otherwise), compel me to wonder how they were raised. I’m sure your parent(s) would be very proud of you if they read your earlier post.
A few points to note:
- The average age in the study was just under 14 years old, far younger than the average student on this college-bound site.
- The gains measured were in math and science. Period.
- No one is suggesting that all your homework needs to be done in one sitting.
- Your choice of extra curricular activities is not part of the study. So, yeah, if you have 5 hours of extra curricular, those additional hours of homework are going to be an issue for you. But right now, your job is student. Everything else is EXTRA, as in "extra curricular." So if the demand is too great, then it needs to be those extra curricular things that go.
As a math teacher, I KNOW that my kids need practice in order to internalize the material. My class policy is that you need to spend 20 minutes of real homework time-- no phone, no food, no texting or checking Twitter or Vine anything else. Then you can stop. If you haven’t finished, then one of two things happens: either I’ve given too much, which will be apparent when I check it tomorrow. Or you don’t get the material, which means I can expect to see you at extra help tomorrow.
Those 12 years of free education are your one shot at a free education. Not taking advantage of them will cripple your chances for so many opportunities down the road. In order to learn the necessary material, it’s going to take more than the 38 minutes a day (on a good day, when there are no assemblies or snow related delays). When I check the homework, I know instantly whether I need to scrap my plan to continue with the new material (that follows from yesterday’s lesson). It lets my students know whether or not they need extra help.
I think that, instead of studying the hours of homework, the study should have concentrated on the quality of homework. All of us parents have worked with our kids on stupid assignments that had no point beyond that of racking up a homework grade. I think the study would have shown far greater results had it compared busy work with homework that had a real purpose in terms of student learning.
Well said bjkmom. “Real homework time” is key here. Distractions can easily double the time spent on homework and almost certainly devalues the time spent. Students need to understand the importance of concentration, something that is sincerely lacking in this age of technology. Parents can help by setting up homework time and space starting in the elementary years, habits that hopefully will continue throughout the years. I know D shuts down everything and goes to her quiet spot, spreads out the books, and hits them hard for those 2 or more hours each night. Some of her friends say it takes 4 or 5 but they are texting, facebooking, and watching television all while attempting to do homework lol.
@NEPatsGirl I understand that you’re daughters school is that way, but every school is different. A lot of the time it depends on the teachers, so I don’t think your assumption that I have a problem with time management is warranted when the opposite is true. As to your point about sports being a choice, I think that schools should be more understanding of the fact that students pursue interests outside of school. Especially considering the competitive nature of college admissions- students need to have an academically rigorous course load and pursue numerous sports and extracurriculars.
I disagree about the extra curriculars…IMHO academics come first and unless you are so talented (sports, theatre, etc) that you could potentially get a full scholarship or it gives you that IVY edge, those things should be what makes you well-rounded without taking away from your GPA (or more importantly, your physical and emotional health).
That being said, I get that each school is different and that every teacher assigns as they see fit but I find it hard to believe that anyone is getting 5-6 hours of homework nightly and if that is the case, someone should be stepping in to assess the reasons why.
I think my teachers believe it is 70 minutes for each class.
^I’ve actually had teachers tell me “It’s not that much homework! It’ll only take you around an hour!”