A teacher at a school in Fort Worth has announced a new homework policy – and it has taken the Internet by storm. The policy first posted on Facebook and later reposted on Reddit where it sparked a debate and thousands of comments.
The new policy announced, “Homework will only consist of work that your student did not finish during the school day. There will be no formally assigned homework this year… Research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performance.” The teacher went on to advise parents to instead, “Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside, and get your child to bed early.” They stated that the suggested activities were more likely to promote success in school than assigned homework.
People have been debating about the usefulness and/or necessity of homework for decades. Harris Cooper, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Duke Universiy, wrote a book, “The Battle Over Homework,” about his research on the topic. He concluded that while homework in moderation could help a child, making a child do several hours’ worth was counterproductive. Homework can help a child develop good study habits and reinforce what they learned in class – but children typically learned the most from their homework during the first hour or two. Diminishing returns set in after that.
Cooper and other education authorities like the National PTA recommend that the child’s age and grade be considered when assigning homework. Many educators favor the “10 Minute Rule” as a guide for the appropriate amount of homework. In the “10 Minute Rule,” a teacher would multiply the child’s grade by 10 to determine the amount of homework. A sixth-grader would, for example, spend about 60 minutes on homework every night.
