Woman Is Heartbroken After Her 1st Grader Son Spends Hours On Homework On His 2nd Day Of School
Interview With ExpertNo kid really likes doing homework. It’s the most tiring thing to do at the end of a long day at school, especially when you just want to relax or play with your friends. Unfortunately, educational institutions nowadays seem to be piling on schoolwork.
This concerned mom noticed that her first-grade son was at his breaking point because of the amount of classwork he received on his second day of school. Her heartfelt post resonated with many, and people began questioning why we need such a system at all.
More info: Facebook
Cassi Nelson posted a picture of her son in tears while he was completing all the homework he got
Image credits: Cassi Nelson
She said that even after the first-grader returned from school after 4 p.m. he had to sit and complete another hour of classwork
Image credits: Jena Backus / Pexels (not the actual photo)
She noticed how her son was bursting with so much energy and just wanted to go out and play, but instead, he was in tears because he kept getting distracted and couldn’t finish his work
Image credits: Cassi Nelson
The mom ranted about how research shows that homework is unnecessary, she also said she couldn’t understand how little kids are expected to do more work after all their school hours
Schoolwork is important because it helps kids practice the concepts they learned during the day. However, the National Education Association has specified that first-grade students should do 10 minutes of homework daily. Those 10 minutes should be then multiplied by the student’s grade level. Which means that a 6th grader should have an hour of schoolwork to do.
Based on Cassi’s post, schools are clearly not following this time limit. The National Center for Education Statistics observed that high school students spend nearly 6.8 hours doing homework every week. This is a shocking amount of time that children could instead use for relaxation, play, or spending time with their family and friends.
Understandably, teachers and educational institutions might believe that more assignments can lead to better learning. However, a study found that after four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested has almost no impact on a student’s performance. That goes to show that giving kids more schoolwork is not actually helping them beyond a certain point.
To get an educator’s perspective on this situation, Bored Panda contacted Trevor Muir, a teacher, speaker, and author who has gained international recognition for his innovative teaching methods and informative content. He uses his podcast, The Epic Classroom, to help educators create a more memorable and transformational classroom.
Trevor told us that: “Homework is a relic of the past, something that has been done simply because it was part of teachers’ upbringing. I believe that students should be given little, if any, homework. Like adults, kids need free time away from school and academic work. Research shows that homework has minimal impact on student learning, so it should not be taking up kids’ time outside of school.”
“This is especially true for elementary students. While I’m fine with teachers suggesting practice or reading at home, I don’t think it should be required or expected. Similarly, I don’t think teachers should be expected to take work home with them, and the same should apply to their students,” he added.
As Cassi also mentioned in her post, her son could have been playing or spending time with his family, but instead, he was struggling through four pages of schoolwork. Research finds that many children find homework too stressful and time-consuming, which is probably why the first-grader was in tears.
Image credits: Drazen Zigic / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Cassi ended her heartfelt post by asking if institutions could “cancel so much unnecessary homework. Especially for the younger kids.” Even though it’s easy to understand why she brought up that point, changing an entire system requires a lot of effort and time.
Trevor shared that “Teachers should provide enough time in class for students to complete all their work. If a reasonable amount of time is given, and students use that time wisely, then nothing should need to be brought home. If students do not use that time wisely, then the work can become homework. However, I believe that 7.5 to 8 hours of school per day is enough.”
In case it’s becoming troublesome, experts state that concerned parents can make a small difference by first determining how much time their kids are actually spending on homework. Parents need to observe whether the child is getting distracted while working or using a device during their study time. Once they’ve figured out the actual time spent on classwork, they can then approach the school teacher.
Parents should share their concerns about the school’s homework policies without being overly confrontational toward the class teacher. Teachers can help create individualized plans or collaborate with the parents to help take pressure off their students.
The first step is for parents to realize the impact that too much schoolwork can have on their young children. Cassi shared this experience to draw folks’ attention toward practices that need to change. Her observation resonated with many people, and the viral post got 20k reactions, 91k shares, and many comments calling for less or no homework.
Many teachers responded to the post and shared how they promote learning without saddling children with too many assignments
Poll Question
Thanks! Check out the results:
I did a lot of research on this for a blog post a few years ago. What I found was that some homework is good for kids, particularly in math and language, but that hours of homework have little benefit to learning. I personally believe students should have time to study and write at school, particularly in the earliest grades, and they should not be expected to do any of that at home.
It's longer ago, but I remember when I was in school and had different teachers for various different subjects. Each of these acted as if they were the only teacher we had and would give homework and assign exams as they pleased. So more often than not, all exams would end up in the same two weeks before the holidays and homework would be piling up. One of the main reasons why my math abilities are extremely bad, as I'd just drop it completely as I already struggled with it anyway and therefore always left it for last (or never at all), and didn't prioritize it for exams either.
Yes, this is what school was like for me. We had a different teacher for each subject and each one of them would send homework home for the day to the point that if I didn't try to get it done at lunch and in other classes during the day I would be up until 8 at night doing homework. I did it before school, during lunch and any opportunity I got in class so that I wouldn't have to spend all afternoon and evening with it.
Load More Replies...Did anyone else catch the question about being distracted??? As someone with ADHD, this post describes me precisely - bouncing up & down, distracted, lots of homework that I didn't complete in class...
Yup. Read that, recognized myself, and was like 'this child should probably get evaluated'
Load More Replies...I did a lot of research on this for a blog post a few years ago. What I found was that some homework is good for kids, particularly in math and language, but that hours of homework have little benefit to learning. I personally believe students should have time to study and write at school, particularly in the earliest grades, and they should not be expected to do any of that at home.
It's longer ago, but I remember when I was in school and had different teachers for various different subjects. Each of these acted as if they were the only teacher we had and would give homework and assign exams as they pleased. So more often than not, all exams would end up in the same two weeks before the holidays and homework would be piling up. One of the main reasons why my math abilities are extremely bad, as I'd just drop it completely as I already struggled with it anyway and therefore always left it for last (or never at all), and didn't prioritize it for exams either.
Yes, this is what school was like for me. We had a different teacher for each subject and each one of them would send homework home for the day to the point that if I didn't try to get it done at lunch and in other classes during the day I would be up until 8 at night doing homework. I did it before school, during lunch and any opportunity I got in class so that I wouldn't have to spend all afternoon and evening with it.
Load More Replies...Did anyone else catch the question about being distracted??? As someone with ADHD, this post describes me precisely - bouncing up & down, distracted, lots of homework that I didn't complete in class...
Yup. Read that, recognized myself, and was like 'this child should probably get evaluated'
Load More Replies...
51
60