Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The
University of British Columbia
[permission to reproduce granted if authorship is
acknowledged]
I received an email from
someone who reads my blog questioning my statement that I am not a fan of homework. Not a fan is a bit mild. I’m fed up with homework.
Not my homework. (I was fed up with that long ago.) I am referring to my
grandchildren’s homework. Most of the homework assignments they have received
this year and in years past are tedious, reinforce bad habits, and make little
or no contribution to their education.
Most of the homework
assignments consist of “solving” repetitive homework problems, “answering”
questions, and “doing” research. There
is evidence that homework has a very small impact on achievement of students as
measured by unit exams. As Cooper and
his colleagues put it in a systematic review of the literature: “. . .the
positive causal effect of homework on achievement has been tested and found
only on measures of an immediate outcome, the unit test. Therefore, it is not
possible to make claims about homework’s causal effects on longer-term measures
of achievement, such as class grades and standardized tests, or other
achievement-related outcomes (p.53).” Nor is there enough evidence to say that
the link between homework and achievement holds across subjects.
My granddaughter came home
from school and asked, “Grampi, can you help me with my math homework?” The fact that she needed help told me that
she had not really learned what she was being asked to practice.
Homework that engages
students in practice exercises designed to reinforce prior learning can only
succeed if the students have mastered what they have been asked to practice to
the point where they are unlikely to make mistakes. If they have not, they will
make mistakes. If the homework assignment involves repetition as homework
assignments often do, students who make mistakes will practice their mistakes.
Practicing the mistakes will harden them and make it difficult for teachers to change
them.
Prior to COVID 19, my other
granddaughter was asked to produce a three to four-page persuasive essay
appraising the impact of a major historical event. The assignment was well laid
out. The guide explained what was meant by a persuasive essay. The guide provided
a recommended structure of a persuasive essay, and explained how to handle
referencing source materials. The criteria for evaluation were clearly
specified and the allocation of marks to key elements explained.
But my granddaughter was at a
loss about several things. I asked whether the current or a previous teacher
had explained and provided practice in writing a persuasive essay. “No,” she replied,
“but there is a guide sheet.”
“What preparation have you
had with the topic area?” I asked.
“We’ve worked in groups answering
questions the teacher gave us about the topic.”
“How did that go?”
“Each kid researched one of
the questions.”
“Did the group discuss the
answers with the teacher?”
“Not really. We just looked
up the answers to the questions.”
I do not blame the teachers. Teacher
education programs devote little, if any, attention to homework. Many parents mistakenly
equate homework with achievement. If their children do not have homework, these
parents think that their kids aren’t learning.
There are many things that
students can do after school that are more beneficial than homework. My hunch
is that outdoor play that requires physical exercise has a better return on the
investment of time in terms of long-term health than homework has on
achievement. Many after school jobs require discipline, mental effort, and
social skills that have both short and long term benefit. Eliminate homework,
please!