Homework for school kids - who's for it, who's against it, and why?

Please caste your votes first up in your post (yea or nay), then please give explanation for why you believe in your vote.

For the record I'm posting the first NEY vote, because I believe that there should ALWAYS be a separation between home and work. I believe that a child's mind should be free to indulge in play and fantasy at their leisure in their own off hours. I have seen homework become a thorn in the side of my own kid's lives and anyway, I ended up doing all of it for them. Teachers never knew and the kids always got good marks.

Please do express your opinions.

Nae. Especially for primary age children.

I can see some value in kids getting used to out of hours school work in senior if they are likely to go onto Tafe or Uni if it's set up to teach them the skills they will need do do assignments and exam prep.

For kids doing a fair bit of after school care unless the after school care staff are able to supervise and check the it homework can have a significant impact on time with the child in the evening.

The only advantage I've seen to homework when my son has had it is that it keeps me a bit in touch with some of what he is doing at school.

R0bert

I'm in favour of homework, but of the research kind. When I was in primary school I remember being detained for about 10 minutes every afternoon when I came home from school doing the homework I had been given. I've never been sure what the point of that was.

Secondary school was a different matter. However, I don't think in the case of secondary school that homework was optional - it was a necessity to get through the amount of work required. How could you do English without reading the materials, and who was going to give you time in class to read the book?

When it came to Maths, Physics and Chemistry, there were a lot of facts, and more importantly theories, that needed to be imprinted on the mind after you'd encountered them in class.

And then there were assignments. Again, they had to be an out-of-class-time occupation.

Nay! I have kids ranging from 3 - 20 and especially not for primary school kids. One of my kids was in year 4 and he was getting about 2 hours of homework a night. I went to the school and told them that he was not going to do it and that I thought it was way too much. The teacher told me that if he didnt do it he would be marked down in his yearly final assesment. We got marked down but I stood my ground (after all he was only in year 4). I stayed on about it and now the school has a homework policy of no more that 30minutes per night or 1 hour every 2nd night. Unbelievable.

Yea - amount depending on the age etc.

Things like reading through a picture book or doing spelling cards for twenty minutes with little kids seems quite acceptable.

Perhaps once a term a big 'project' for kids in upper primary.

In early high school, finishing unfinished class work plus perhaps one big assignment per subject each term.

Upper high school (yrs 10-12) more is okay.

It really depends on the kid - I was 'academic' and while occasionally annoyed by homework, it wasn't a major issue. My brother, however, hated writing, and it was always a battle to get him to do anything apart from his woodwork homework

Nae. I am in the negative. Hate homework especially the type often provided. I would NEVER do the homework for my children. They are living their own life.

"Write your 20 spelling words out every night the teacher says". But I got the words all right in the pre-test my child cries. Why do I have to write them out so much and everyday it hurts my hand and it is a waste of my time? To bad they say you have to learn routine.

Too much busy homework with no real value and only really capable of causing frustration and despair.

I think that kids should be encouraged to read books at home and to do revision of the work that they didnt' understand or catch up if they are behind. Other than that, kids should be left to spend their time at home being at home, playing with their siblings, relaxing or even, when they get older - working gaining experience and making money.