Abolish homework

The assignments my 7 year old daughter got this week was pitiful.

For tuesday she was to “find a writing exercise she hadn’t done before, but no further than page 41, or if all are done write something else” then she had to “read any book for 20 minutes”.

And for wednesday: same assignment all over.

I wonder if her teachers really care about what she does, as long as she has assignments to do.

On tuesday night we went to visit my sister and we didn’t get home until 2100. She spent 30 minutes writing in her book, then I said I had to put her to bed (way past her usual timing).
She insisted she had to read for 20 minutes. I tried to explain that she didn’t have to, because I said she didn’t. I wanted her to understand that my word supercedes the word of her teacher. Then she started to cry. She was both tired and frustrated.

So utterly pointless.

I have one daughter in school. Why does she need to do homework? I think she puts in enought time in school to learn what she has to learn. In the afternoons I want her to be able to spend time with me, without there being any pressure on her to finish any assignments from school.

Also, she’s a kid! She needs plenty of time for play and fun!

If she needs to learn more in her away-from-school time, I should be the judge of that. I like to teach her things, but I want to decide what and how.

Homework made sense in the old days, when kids would be at school 2-3 days a week. They could study at home between the school days. Nowadays, it doesn’t make sense, they go to school every day.

Do we want to prepare our kids for doing extra, unpaid work at home? A lot of people do, and they shouldn’t. Employers should pay for every minute of work, and everybody should strive to get more spare time.

Let’s save the next generation, abolish all homework now!