Homework

OK, I think I have some experience here. I went through school, I went through about 7 years of college (I graduated in 4 before you start laughing), and I've got three kids. One is in high school, one fifth grader, and one second grader. All together my kids have been in 10 schools, three school districts, and a variety of teachers.

Tia has a big presentation, so I'm working in the bedroom, watching the Today show. I know, it's silly, but they were looking at new cars when I turned it on, so I haven't changed it.

There's a group talking about too much homework for kids. There's a writer from Parents magazine complaining about hours of homework for kids. I agree with that, but I do think that of all the grades my kids have been through (18 total so far), only one time did we have too much homework. Kyle's third grade teacher was a little over the top and eventually we and other parents had a meeting and complained to the principal. That got stopped and I agree that he had over an hour a night, which is a lot.

However most of the time my kids have 5-10 minutes of homework, which I think is light. I think 10 minutes per grade level isn't a bad idea, with perhaps slightly more for advanced kids, a bit less for struggling ones. Reinforcement is a good idea, as is the need to struggle a bit.

On a side note I got my weekly mailing from the Libertarian party yesterday evaluating the Bush Presidency. Or rather evaluating his teams' evaluation. One thing there was that the "No Child Left Behind" program is a failure. I tend to agree. I think some kids should be left behind, or rather held back.

We want standards, we want people to meet levels of achievement and performance, but that means that some people won't make it. That's reality. Not everyone can work for NASA as a rocket scientist. And we shouldn't slow things down for those who can.

But I don't think we abandon kids. We do need to help them along, find them things they do well at and help them succeed in other areas. And remove the stigma that working at a job, and doing a good job, is a bad thing if it's not a cool job.

I don't know how to do that, but we need to find a way.