What's the point of homework?

a reply to: Bluntone22

Homework is there to repeat and reinforce the learned knowledge. By doing homework, the learned topics and methods manifest.

It´s not a torture device, it´s there so you get comfortable and learn to use the tools you just reinforced, because the next lesson will build on that.

Saying homework is useless is the same bs-argument like "90% you learn in school is useless". That´s not the reality. In fact, if you´re not a drone and your work has to do with the most basic stuff, you´ll need math.

How many times did I hear that from someone during an interview when asked about their grades. "Well, I don´t need math in my future life, I can code in xyz language."

My answers went like this:
"Yeah, that´s all nice. But if you can´t solve real world problems and be able to write a tool that utilizes math, because you don´t understand it, I -as a developer- can´t even give you the easiest diagramm for what I want you to programm.

Someone having bad grades does not mean he is stupid or lazy, sometimes the problem lies somewhere else. I´ve had an apprentice that was really bad in school but excelled under my watch.

There is a difference between bad grades and bad grades. Some have them because they are dumb and unable to understand, some have bad grades because they are lazy, some can´t cope with the methods used in school.

He went on to being a valuable engineer despite the fact that he could not write but rather "paint" or "draw" letters. But he was willing to dive into the work and managed to come on top of everyone.

I´d prefer some like that 100% of the time over someone with good grades but an attitude like "I´m smart, so I don´t need homework or extra training".

And it turned out to be good.

Discipline is the word I am looking for...

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: acackohfcc
let me understand this.
You're complaining because your daughter's getting a good education?

Pissing on a house fire isn't a good fire department.
Also
Homework doesnt make a good education.

They waste the school day away and then send work home in a poor attempt to make up for their poor teaching abilities.

you're helping me make the point she's getting a good education.
With the help of teachers, or in spite of them.

a reply to: verschickter

I will agree with part of your comments.
Grades do not equal intelligence or learning ability.
I find employees for a living and I can tell you with complete confidence that good grades are no indication of actual ability.
People can retain the information in the current situation but whenl they are expected to recall it later they have no clue.
That is unfortunate because our schools are geared to teach kids this way.

originally posted by: acackohfcc

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: acackohfcc
let me understand this.
You're complaining because your daughter's getting a good education?

Pissing on a house fire isn't a good fire department.
Also
Homework doesnt make a good education.

They waste the school day away and then send work home in a poor attempt to make up for their poor teaching abilities.

you're helping me make the point she's getting a good education.
With the help of teachers, or in spite of them.

Shes getting a good education because of her parents and in spite of her school...
Yeah, I dont like that.

a reply to: Bluntone22

People can retain the information in the current situation but whenl they are expected to recall it later they have no clue.

That´s exactly why you do homework to get it stuck. The human mind can only take 7-8 chunks of information on average and then you need to process this information. Everything more than those 7-8 chunks will be pushed into the void, even faster if not repeated, for most people.

This is how our brain is wired to not get overloaded with information. Certain techniques can break this barrier but you still have to repeat.

People with very good "memory abilities" circumvent this limitation by compressing more information into a single "chunk".

My observation was, that if you think during the lessons instead of just hearing the words, you already get the concepts during school hours and then I used homework to reinforce the knowledge and often, achieve some transfer thoughts.

But everyone is a bit different.

Besides all that, If your child does homework until 10:30 p.m. there is clearly something wrong. Children also need breaks from learning, or the same happens that I described above. Chunk-overload and it all goes to dev/nul or void.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt that it´s indeed a teachers problem and not your child having a hard time.

a reply to: verschickter

When she gets homework in multiple classes on the same day is the biggest issue.
One class isn't to bad but 3 at once is bull.

The 1030 thing is probably once a week.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I remember homework everyday in the main classes like math & languages.

But we only had school until 13 o clock and two times a week until 16 o clock and I admit, maybe way less stuff to learn. On the other hand, we didn´t have calculators.

Often, I admit that, I did some homework in the breaks before the classes because I often had to help out on the fields or with the animals.

It was different times, then you were glad if you could do your homework to not stay behind in class. Different times, indeed.

a reply to: Bluntone22
I enjoyed doing my son's homework with him, right through until age 16 when he learned a trade instead.
It helped him pass his exams and gain a deeper understanding of the subject compared to the 8 hours a day in a class of 30 students.
I'm in Britain though, homework is accepted as part of school learning.
As a parent I had no problem with it and got actively involved, brushed up my knowledge of lots of subjects I'd forgotten as well.

a reply to: verschickter

Indeed different times.

In one of her fall classes they had to prep the football field for games that night....

Funny thing though, in the spring they dont prep the softball and baseball fields...

School sucks

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I said earlier that I dont mind some homework.
Things like book reports are better being done at home. That and studying for tests and science experiments.

My biggest complaint is the amount they send.

a reply to: Bluntone22
There is something else why pupils are supposed to do homework and it´s very important. Learning how to learn.

Because as soon as they want to visit a college or university they need to know how they learn best. No one will give a damn about them staying behind because they are supposed to be able to learn for themselfes.

Sort of aquiring autodidactic skills that prepares them for their later life. Just sitting and staring/listening isn´t enough after you reach post elementary level.

"Mut zur Lücke" is a German saying.
It translates "courage of leaving gaps", I don´t know if this is the correct translation.

It means, that if you don´t have enough time, you focus on the stuff you know that you don´t know. Ironically, you do it vice-versa on test and exams, where you focus on the stuff you know.

a reply to: Bluntone22
My son averaged 2+ hours per evening and that just seemed normal to us because that is how it is. He won his place in a selective high school aged 11, it is an unfair English system of selection of the 'best' achievers from that young age. The academic standards required are/were extremely high, along with behaviour, sporting prowess, and strict uniform/dress code.
His hard work has paid off, the qualifications from his particular school opens loads of doors for him now as an alumni, he was the poorest there lol, his mates dad's were airline pilots, architects, surgeons, helicopter pilots, you get the picture.

More than 3 hours a night would seem excessive to me though...but again, I'm glad he did it, and I enjoyed doing it with him.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Great point. I think sometimes folks forget teachers aren’t the only ones responsible for a child’s education. While my parents didn’t help me much, my wife and I enjoyed helping our daughters and they seemed to enjoy the interaction. Then again, none of us had our faces stuck in screens 24/7.

a reply to: verschickter

There is a heavy emphasis on sending every kid to college but that's a huge mistake in my book.

a reply to: Lab4Us
I'm the same, my parents didn't help me much so I scraped it by myself, but as a parent, both me and his mother were massively involved in his homework and education.
I didn't mind 2-3 hours after I finished work, I always considered us as parents being the main teachers of our son, the school just built the educational framework so to speak.

...staring at screens is the biggest distraction these days, I see parents pushing a pram/stroller not even interacting with their children, just texting or on facebook. I was always talking to my little one, showing him pretty flowers or nature or whatever, explaining everything and not looking at any screens.

a reply to: Lab4Us

It's funny how you say none of us had our face in screens.

My kid got a school ipad in second grade and has a school mac book now.

They force them to look at screens...lol

Times changed

a reply to: Bluntone22
My son had a free laptop from his school as well, all social media was blocked by it, it was solely for research and doing homework in the school's online portal.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

My nephew was using his school laptop to pressure teen girls to send nude pics.

Hes going to military style school in January to finish high school.

a reply to: Bluntone22
Bloody 'ell, that's not cool, sounds like military school would be good for him.
Polishing boots and ironing uniform into an A4 paper size box haha, add some drill and PT he'll have a lovely time!