Homework
- For the Daft Punk album of the same name, see Homework (album).
Homework is work assigned by a teacher, school or other educational institution, to be completed by the student at home or while not attending class. The term is generally used to refer to primary or secondary school assignments as opposed to college-level coursework.
Many students find homework to be an undue burden, while schools and teachers generally insist that it is necessary to practice new skills and to better learn material.
Rather than doing their own work, some students plagiarize or shirk their requirements (for example, by using Cliffs Notes instead of reading a book). If they are caught, punishments can range from a warning to expulsion from the institution, depending upon the school's policies and the severity of the infraction. See school discipline.
In recent years, there has been some backlash about the amount of homework assigned. Some statistics show that homework has nearly doubled for children since their grandparents' time. In some cases, several hours of work may be assigned every day, leading to incomplete or mediocre work and overstressed students. The worst cases may actually cause children to develop mental problems. In response to such concerns, some schools have instituted policies lessening the homework load and requiring teachers to coordinate when assigning large, long-term projects.
Like most educational-related work, homework can become a bigger burden as circumstances change. One of the worst and most dramatic increases of student workload was during the Cold War. For a period of time, the United States government was pushing large amounts of science and mathematics on children in hopes of having greater technological skills at America's command.
Students who fail to do their homework employ a various range of excuses, the most clichéd being "The dog ate it". In cartoons, main characters actually have their homework eaten on various occasion, but the teacher fails to believe them, leading on a wild goose chase to actually prove it.
Some public and private schools use a homework hotline which states the homework for the day. It can either be a telephone number that can be called up, or it may be a website that a student can go to.
Long-term assignments
Long-term assignments may be given as homework. Typical long-term assignments include book reports and science projects. Students are usually given a couple of weeks to complete the assignment. Unfortunately, a lot of students save most of the work for the last minute. Teachers encourage students to plan out their work and not do all of it the day before it must be handed in.
Too much homework?
Study of homework levels has suggested that excessive homework may actually be detrimental to overall academic performance. [1] Opposing students complain about having too much homework, while some teachers say that the homework is necessary. Less homework given by teachers would give students the opportunity to have more time to do things on their own such as visiting friends or playing sports, which are essential elements in the development of the child. Homework's defenders claim it increases students' mental capabilities and organization skills, which are necessary to the success of the person in question later in her or his life. However, this clearly does not happen if inability to cope with the homework results in the student's coping with life breaking down under the stress, in mental health episodes, or in a need to avoid education altogether after being over-pressured to develop personally inappropriate skills. In many recent studies, it has been shown that homework is at least somewhat beneficial to students' performance, such as the one here: [2]
In Australia, some teacher's groups have complained that the support for homework in the first three quarters of schooling comes mainly from parents rather than from the academic institutions.
Homework tips
According to the January 20th edition of Sunrise, an Australian morning news show presented on Channel 7, there are some ways to help children to concentrate on their homework:
- Play classical music (especially Mozart) at a not-too-loud volume while children are doing their homework. This fact was disproved recently. Mozart only promoted brain activity for a miniscule amount of time.
- Give the child a stick of chewing gum to chew on while doing their homework
See also
External links
Jiskha Homework Help, in collaboration with Wikipedia