Comments on: When parents do the homework

By: Jim H

Jim H — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:22:01 +0000

I am an elementary school teacher and parent and I deplore the ridiculous assignments that my three children have been given at their elementary school. I even had to take my son out of that school because he was doing so much busy work that it was destoying him. By fifth grade he was doing up to 2 1/2 hours of homework a night plus projects on the weekends and vacations. He was so afraid of the teacher that he wouldn’t allow us to modify and shorten the assignments. It started in second grade with the nightly spelling work: copying words and meanings out of a dictionary, putting all 25 words in one paragraph (how does that teach someone to be a writer?), alphabetical ordering, and writing out sentences. Then there was the extra worksheets, the math lessons the teacher didn’t get to – so do it at home, and the projects. He made monthly dioramas on books that had been read. In second grade he had the a five paragraph research report, project, and poster (all to be done at home). No skills were ever taught by the teacher. They had to be taught at home. I learned everything possible about cheetahs trying to get that one done.

It is sadly hilarious when a project is due at this school. The kids who did them on their own bring them to school on the bus (sadly these are rarely displayed), then the parents who help a lot on the project drive the project to school and the kid brings it to class. Those parents who do the whole project bring it right up to the teacher themselves. These are usually displayed at the front entrance to the school-showcasing how “well” certain teacher’s teach.

Sometimes the only homework assignment I give my class is to tell my students to do something nice for their mom or dad without being asked: like vacuum the rugs, clear the dishes, play nicely with a younger sibling, or any other secretly nice thing and then to never tell their parents why they did it. Parents deserve a break from all that homework! I think this is a better way to teach responsibility.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:45:58 +0000

I’m with Linda F. Completely.

By: markm

markm — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:51:24 +0000

That should say, “rectangles, triangles, or…”

By: markm

markm — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:45:11 +0000

Rex, any line through the center of a square cuts it into two equal parts – rectangles, squares, or an infinite number of trapezoids.

By: SuperSub

SuperSub — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:06:17 +0000

Correct on both accounts. I saw the original assignment and there was no further guidance on how the lines had to be drawn, so the correct answer is infinity.
Unfortunaly, the teacher did not have the knowledge to correctly craft the problem or to answer it correctly. Or, she relied upon materials made by another teacher or perhaps some faulty textbook. The sad thing is I discussed the problem with my niece afterwards and taught her why infinity was the correct answer as the questionw as written, meaning that my 11 year old niece understood the concepts better afterwards than the teacher.

By: Rex

Rex — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:01:21 +0000

Bisecting into two equal parts by passing through the center can be done four ways: the two diagonals and the two lines drawn through opposite midpoints of parallel sides. (I’m assuming straight lines, which wasn’t mentioned in the original problem by SuperSub.)

But as googlemaster said, if by “bisect” you mean dividing into two pieces, then infinite is the correct answer.

By: GoogleMaster

GoogleMaster — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:54:17 +0000

Um, infinity? If by “bisect the square” you mean slice into two congruent parts.

By: SuperSub

SuperSub — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:29:57 +0000

Part of the problem with elementary school teachers assigning too-difficult assignments is that they lack the expertise to recognize the inherent difficulty of the assignment – how can someone who has not had a thorough math education accurately evaluate the difficulty of a math assignment?
My niece in 6th grade had an assignment asking how many lines could be drawn through the center of a square to bisect the square. She, nor her college-educated parents, had no idea how to answer the question.
The teacher’s answer (provided the day after when my niece went in with an incomplete assignment) – 2 lines. Each line is drawn from the center of a side through the center and ending on the opposite side.

Of course, this is wrong. Anyone want to guess the answer?

By: Glen Thomas

Glen Thomas — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:55:12 +0000

The junior school that my kids attend set what they call ‘take home tasks’ that the school say is SUPPOSED to involve parents. It seems that the school has decided that too many parents are shirking child care duties at home and need encouragement to do things with their own children.

Not only is parent involvement requested, but they are invited to go into school to inspect all the projects — I try really hard not to get too involved, but the pressure to subvert the kids’ efforts is huge.

Seems to encourage the idea that if a child doesn’t do well at school they can offload the responsibility onto someone else instead of looking to their own efforts.

By: Linda F

Linda F — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:43:33 +0000

This happens, at every level. We eventually end up with high school students who respond to a low grade on a test by saying, “well, can’t I do extra credit or a project or something?” They seem incapable of understanding that their performance on the test is a real indicator that they don’t have the knowledge.

And, isn’t knowledge what we’re supposedly striving for? In my state, we have an End-of-Course test that is comprehensive. It’s the major stumbling block for these “assisted” kids – they have never put in the work to comprehend the subject (in my case, Physical Science & Chemistry).

We pass on the idea that the student “doesn’t test well”, when, in fact, they test very well – the test is an accurate reflection of their ignorance of the subject.