The petition
Everyone who went through the state system and still managed to get a degree has done so without the experience of regular primary school homework. It is therefore unnecessary.
It is even worse than that. It is often counterproductive. It eats into the precious family time that the government is apparently so enthusiastically supporting. When are parents supposed to spend quality time with their children? Most couples work and single parents have enough strains and demands on their time.
Homework can actually cause family arguments as you spend so much time trying to force your children (against your own better judgement) to try and complete the tasks set.
Home environments are not always ideal for concentration, particularly on something children are less than naturally drawn to (like schoolwork) and not all parents are capable or willing to help their children. This may lead to reinforcement of inequality, if not in terms of actual educational outcome then in terms of how a child appears to be willing to work. This may result in unfair praise or punishment depending on what help a child gets at home rather than any real measure of their abilities or interest.
If you spend even a few minutes on the internet you can find plenty of research that suggests that homework has little, if any, positive effect and may well have negative effects.
Homework reduces the time that children have to be with their family, to be physically active, to be creative, to explore interests, to be relaxed, to be happy and to just be children.
The argument that giving homework to primary school children to reinforce what they learn at school is not a good enough excuse for taking school home. Everyone needs a break and young children need much more than school. School has never been the answer to everything and after a fulltime week of education with highly trained staff our children, particularly the young ones, have had enough.
Teachers managed to educate primary school children without invading their sparetime in the past. Are we supposed to believe they are such poor teachers now that we should do their job for them at home too?
The argument that primary school children need to do homework in preparation for the homework set by secondary schools defies logic. That's like saying they should go to work in preparation for going to work. Perhaps by the same logic we should kill ourselves in preparation for dying the very minute we leave school.
While it appears doubtful that homework for anyone has much, if any benefit, young children may find it harder than older children to find the self discipline or interest. Why force them?
Join me and sign up if you're sick of putting your children through the pointless, age innappropriate farce.
Homework reduces the time that children have to be with their family, to be physically active, to be creative, to explore interests, to be relaxed, to be happy and to just be children.
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