The advantages and disadvantages homework for children in the school

Nowadays, many children have to spend hours every evening by doing homework.  Some people believe that it will help the children in their academic career. However, others feel that homework is mostly useless. This essay will examine the advantages and disadvantages homework for children in the school

Doing homework as an opportunity to involve students in decision-making. One way to judge the quality of a classroom is by the extent to which students participate in making choices about their learning.  The best teachers know that children learn how to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions.  Students should have something to say about what they are going to learn and the circumstances under which they will learn it. As well as how and when their learning will be evaluated, how the room will be set up, how conflicts will be resolved, and a lot more.

What is true of education in general is true of homework in particular? At least two investigators have found that the most impressive teachers (as defined by various criteria) tend to involve students in decisions about assignments rather than simply telling them what they will have to do at home.  A reasonable first question for parents to ask upon seeing a homework assignment is “How much did the kids have in determining how this had to be done, and on what schedule, and whether it really needed to be completed at home in the first place?” 

A discussion about whether homework might be useful and can be valuable in its own right.  If opinions are varied the question of what to do when everyone does not agree take a vote?  keep talking until we reach consensus?  look for a compromise? Developing social skills as well as intellectual growth. That growth occurs precisely because the teacher asked rather than told.  Teachers who consult with their students on a regular basis would shake their heads vigorously were you to suggest that kids will always say no to homework  or to anything else that requires effort.  It is not true, they will tell you.  When students are treated with respect, when the assignments are worth doing, most kids relish a challenge. Therefore, students groan about or try to avoid homework.It is generally because they get too much of it, or because it is assigned thoughtlessly and continuously, or simply because they had nothing to say about it.  The benefits of even high-quality assignments are limited if students feel “done to” instead of “worked with.”

 Reduce the amount but do not stop there.  Many parents are understandably upset with how much time their children have to spend on homework.  At least, make sure that teachers are not exceeding district guidelines and that they are not chronically underestimating how long it takes students to complete the assignments.  (As one mother told me, “It is cheating to say this is 20 minutes of homework if only your fastest kid can complete it in that time.”) Then work on reducing the amount of homework irrespective of such guidelines and expectations so that families, not schools, decide how they will spend most of their evenings. Quantity, however, is not the only issue that needs to be addressed. Some assignments, frankly, are not worth even five minutes of a student’s time. Too many first graders are forced to clip words from magazines that begin with a given letter of the alphabet. Too many fifth graders have to color in an endless list of factor pairs on graph paper. Too many eighth graders spend their evenings inching their way through dull, overstuffed, committee written textbooks, one chapter at a time. Teachers should be invited to reflect on whether any given example of homework will help students think deeply about questions that matter. 

On the other hand, homework is a bitter pill for many students. Teachers always give homework. They are given to help students to revise what has been done in the class and also the finish task set in school which the pupil could not finish on time. Education and mastery of knowledge, is a matter of skill so the more practice one has the better skill. There are skill subjects and knowledge subjects. Both these categories require drill and repetition. The teacher, to some extents, drill the student in the class but each individual student cannot be expected to do the same amount as skills of students vary from each other. Homework need not necessarily be repeating what has been done in the class, it may be more study. The student goes through references and acquires more and better knowledge. The world of knowledge is so wide that the class alone cannot bring everything into the grasp of the student. So, the student must take up some initiative of his own. This is one of the purposes of homework. The school also must see that the students are overburdened homework. The teachers must see to it that the homework is distributed evenly throughout the week. Still there are subjects like mathematics or transcription in the lower classes which require daily attention. There are other aspects of school work which can be attended to during the weekend, for example, map making and drawing diagrams. Simply because some students find homework too much to cope up with, it cannot be abolished. The school should provide some facilities, so that the boys can conveniently attend to their homework and the teachers can come willingly forward to help such students.

In conclusion, the need to give homework must be considered carefully. It can be helpful in certain circumstances. However, students and teachers must understand the value and importance of homework future. In my opinion, finding the balance between free time and homework will lead to a happy and successful school experience for our children.