# The Homework Myth
## đConnect
đźTopic:: [[Education (MOC)]]
## âď¸ Note-Making
### đĄClarify
đ *Summary of main ideas*
1. **Homework is not contributing to learning** - There just isn't any proof that homework helps learning, more likely the opposite. By turning play into work, by overwhelming them with chores, and by promoting blind obedience rather than out of the box thinking and collaboration, we get people who specialize in memorization and hate learning. It brings stress to the children and pivot's their parents against them as monitors.
2. **Learning is based on natural curiosity and agency** - When children have the ability to choose what and how to learn, they won't be lazy, just the opposite. They will be curious, explorative, and you'll be surprised how much more engaged they will be in the learning process.
### đď¸Relate
â *Life lessons, action items*
1. Limit homework - don't let our children do mindless homework, and explore other alternatives
### đCritique
â
*by following this method, what will happen?*
â *the logical jumps, holes or simply cases where it is wrong...*
𧹠*Implementations and limitations of it are...*
Not sure what there is to do about it as parents, this seems to address teachers and policy makers, while the choices we have as parents are limited.
Also the section of the alternatives is rather short and not deeply explored.
### đ¨ď¸Review
đ *my opinions on the book, the writers style...*
It is a nice book that opens our eyes to review the concept of homework and it's effects on the child but also on the parents and family as a whole.
## đ Notes
### The Truth about Homework
#### Missing out Their Childhood
**Homework has become a persistent problem in our life that no one has stopped to question it,** even worse, we treat it as an arms race where we compete to have more homework than others, as if it brings any educational benefits, which it unfortunately doesn't.
It brings harm by:
1. **Stressing the children** - facing such challenges and time consuming tasks each day brings (Aka:: [[Stress]]), anxiety into their lives. It is a threat the looms over their heads
2. **Stressing the parents** - parents who want their child to succeed, or at least not be punished are turned into homework monitors (Aka:: [[Micro-Management]])
3. **Killing creativity and enjoyment of learning** - there's nothing more harmful to learning than to turn it into "work", to make it mandatory, boring and excessive. (Aka:: [[Crowding Out]])
4. **Time consuming** - parents and kids don't have control over their free time at home due to homework, no time for play, relaxation, socializing or enjoying creative activities
5. **Family conflicts** - turning children into workers and parents into managers is harmful for their relationship. The no longer share a goal, but rather as children try to escape this chore, parents are becoming tougher in supervision and punishment, taking the side of the homework, or using harmful methods such as monetary incentives to enlist their motivation, only for it to crowd out any innate motivation left.
Homework has become the measurement for learning, especially in the eyes of the parents, while it is far from true. The treat time spent during homework as time spent learning, while the evidence isn't supportive of that, perhaps far from it. So as long as parent continue to demand it, and teachers keep treating it as the default, we have a problem. (Related:: [[Goodhartâs Law]])
> [!Quote]- âMissing Out on Their Childhoodsâ
> - The mystery deepens in light of the fact that widespread assumptions about the benefits of homeworkâhigher achievement and the promotion of such virtues as self-discipline and responsibilityâarenât substantiated by the available evidence. ([Location 58](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=58))
> - children are not required to learn useless and meaningless things, homework is entirely unnecessary for the learning of common school subjects. But when a school requires the amassing of many facts which have little or no significance to the child, learning is so slow and painful that the school is obliged to turn to the home for help out of the mess the school has created. ([Location 82](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=82))
> - Many mothers and fathers return each evening from their paid jobs only to serve as homework monitors, a position for which they never applied. ([Location 172](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=172))
> - it simultaneously âoverwhelms struggling kids and removes joy for high achievers.â ([Location 181](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=181))
> - Homework is tough on parents, then, and itâs also tough on children. Moreover, these two effects are related. If parents feel pressure from school authorities to make sure their kids are buckling down and keeping up, then that pressure is passed along to the kids. ([Location 199](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=199))
> - Ironically, the sorts of relaxed, constructive family activities that could repair this damage are among the casualties of homeworkâs voracious consumption of time. ([Location 209](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=209))
> - Family conflict is also more common when the children are struggling. In fact, every unpleasant adjective that could be attached to homeworkâtime-consuming, disruptive, stressful, demoralizingâapplies with greater force in the case of kids for whom academic learning doesnât come easily. ([Location 221](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=221))
> - As a rule, the point of homework generally isnât to learn, much less to derive real pleasure from learning. Itâs something to be finished. And until it is, it looms large in conversations, an unwelcome guest at the table every night. ([Location 253](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=253))
> - Kidsâ negative reactions may generalize to school itself and even to the very idea of learning. ([Location 284](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=284))
> - Most kids hate homework. They dread it, groan about it, put off doing it as long as possible. It may be the single most reliable extinguisher of the flame of curiosity. ([Location 292](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=292))
> - The tendency to blame parents for doing too muchâor too littleâis, above all, a way of deflecting attention from problems with the homework itself. ([Location 371](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=371))
#### Does Homework Improves Learning?
When you dive into the literature, you can see that the evidence that homework improves learning simply isn't there.
It is full of methodological errors such as:
1. **Causation and correlation** - students who succeed do homework, but there are other explaining factors (Aka:: [[Correlation is not causation]])
2. **GIGO** - research that was based on children's report on how much they do homework, which can be dishonest. Also teachers who both give the homework and grade the student could cause a false positive. (Aka:: [[Garbage in garbage out|GIGO]])
3. **Wrong target value** - we focus on tests as a proxy for academic achievement, but it is not necessarily correlated with actual learning (Similar:: [[McNamara Fallacy]])
> [!Quote]- Does Homework Improve Learning?
> - Every hour that teachers spend preparing kids to succeed on standardized tests, even if that investment pays off, is an hour not spent helping kids to become critical, curious, creative thinkers.) ([Location 577](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=577))
> - the burden of proof here doesnât rest with critics to demonstrate that homework doesnât help. It rests with supporters to show that it does, and specifically to show that its advantages are sufficiently powerful and pervasive to justify taking up childrenâs (and parentsâ and teachersâ) time, ([Location 753](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=753))
#### Does Homework provide Non Academic Benefits?
Some say that homework is a matter of character building rather than academic benefits, but to this we say:
1. **There is no proof** - most research focus on academic, not "side benefits"
2. **Why not in school** - even if there are benefits, why does it require the time spent at home when they spend so many hours at school every day?
3. **Autonomy is needed** - to grow character, one needs a sense of (Aka:: [[Agency|Autonomy]]), control over their lives, but students have no say about the volume, content or method of the homework they have to do
4. **Homework doesn't support good traits** - the "self discipline" of "grind your teeth" and do something you don't enjoy, is hardly the way we want students to view education. We want them to feel motivated about studying, but shoving it forcefully will only bring the opposite. (Related:: [[The law of reverse effect]])
5. **Outdated** - all it truly teaches is following rules blindly, instead of what we really need nowadays which is cooperation, creativity, sharing different viewpoints and discussion, all the things that can't be done through homework.
> [!Quote]- Does Homework Provide Nonacademic Benefits?
> - competition tends to hold people back from doing their best work, particularly if what theyâre doing requires creativity. ([Location 773](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=773))
> - a cooperative arrangement, in which we work with others rather than against them or apart from them, is often the most productive of all. ([Location 775](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=775))
> - if we fail to appreciate the significance of childrenâs reactions, how those reactions color the way they think about learning and about themselves, weâre not just being rude. Weâre being foolish. The evidence demonstrates that we can make students do things they donât want to, but we canât make them want to do those things. ([Location 934](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=934))
> - To help children acquire responsibility, or independence, or any other characteristic requires us to work with them, as opposed to doing things (like homework) to them. ([Location 942](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=942))
> - âSchools are much too good at teaching people to do as theyâre told. . . . We need to question the practice of assigning students homework every night primarily so that they learn to practice unquestioning obedience at the expense of their own time and interests.â ([Location 978](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=978))
> - The implication of this response seems to be that the goal of education is not to nourish childrenâs excitement about learning but to get them acclimated to doing mind-numbing, if not downright unpleasant, chores. ([Location 1019](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1019))
### Six Reasons Homework Persist
#### "studies show" Or Do They
Not only that we don't have any studies which show the positive effect of homework on either academic or non academic abilities, we also see that studies which do cite such conclusion based on other articles are simply false. The claim they make simply isn't there, distorted or exaggerated.
> [!Quote]- âStudies Show . . .ââ Or Do They?
> - Good teaching, effective teaching, is not just about using whatever science says âusuallyâ works best. It is all about finding out what works best for the individual child and the group of children in front of you.â ([Location 1130](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1130))
#### The Questions Left Unasked
We have become complicit. We don't even think about asking whether homework is needed, only the very limited scope of this or that assignment. We are so blind to other ways of thinking. We believe in it without any justification, just the power of (Aka:: [[Path Dependence]]), (Aka:: [[Social Environment|Conformism]]), and habits.
> [!Quote]- The Questions Left Unasked
> - Too many of us, including some who work in the field of education, seem to have lost our capacity to be outraged by the outrageous; when handed foolish and destructive mandates, we respond by asking for guidance on how best to carry them out. ([Location 1343](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1343))
> - How much harm are we doingâor at least allowing to be doneâwhen we fail to ask the right questions and look at the big picture? ([Location 1411](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1411))
> - The more we are invited to think in Goldilocks terms (too much, too little, or just right?), the less likely we become to step back and ask the questions that count: What reason is there to think that any quantity of the kind of homework our kids are getting is really worth doing? ([Location 1541](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1541))
#### What We Haven't Learned about Learning
We use these justification for homework:
1. **Time** - the basic assumption is that more time on a subject, the better the understanding of it. At the bare minimum, it has to be "engaged" time that brings understanding, and not just any time spent. Same as children not listening in school, it is not clear that during homework they will listen more
2. **Practice** - practice does improve understanding, but it depends what kind. Homework is usually the repetitive, memorization, robotic kind of thinking. Shallow, towards not understanding but memorization, which means no improvement in learning in the long run. We are meaning creating beings, driven by exploration, which is lacking in today's homework. What homework doesn't improve is thinking, to develop processes rather than following blindly what the teacher said. Those who master the skill are bored by the irrelevant task. Those who don't understand can't do it on their own. (Opposes:: [[Critical Thinking]])
It is actually the time at class that can best be used for understanding instead of (Aka:: [[outsourcing]]) it to homework. **By having more discussions, collaboration and guidance during class instead of a one-way lecture, we can improve understanding**.
> [!Quote]- What We Havenât Learned About Learning
> - compelling students to do more school assignments at home is not especially likely to maximize engaged time. ([Location 1577](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1577))
> - âTime is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for learning. Learning takes time, but providing time does not in itself ensure that learning will take place. ([Location 1581](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1581))
> - Perhaps it makes sense to see education as being less about how much the teacher covers and more about what the students can be helped to discover. ([Location 1608](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1608))
> - when students are simply told the most efficient way of getting the answer, they get in the habit of looking to the adult or the book instead of thinking things through. They become less autonomous, more dependent. Stuck in the middle of a problem, theyâre less likely to try to figure out what makes sense to do next and more likely to try to remember what theyâre supposed to do nextâwhat behavioral response theyâve been taught to produce. Lots of practice can help some students get better at remembering the correct response, but not to get better atâor even accustomed toâthinking. ([Location 1720](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1720))
> - if class time is limited, most of those hours may be better spent having students read and write, discuss and reflect. ([Location 1771](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=1771))
#### The Tougher Standards Fad Hits home
The thought that we need tougher standards in education in order to improve began in the political movement of George W bush. This has caused more standardization in schools, which have lead to more memorization and craming and less learning. Also, this gave rise to the flood of homework, which only increased socio-economic gaps, because it has enlisted the parents as assistant teachers, where the more educated ones could help more to their children.
This "tougher standards" rose from a perception of a (Aka:: [[Globalization|globalized]]) competitive world, where our goal is to beat other countries and have the best workers, perhaps at the expanse of their sanity and wellbeing, although ironically we saw that it hurts their learning as well.
When we will shift back to personal development rather than a testing contest, we would have true education.
> [!Quote]- The âTougher Standardsâ Fad Hits Home
> - The pathological impulse to create artificial scarcity and turn learning (along with just about everything else) into a contest is at the heart of the tougher standards movement. ([Location 2144](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=2144))
#### Better Get Used to it
The most absurd teleological argument about homework is that we need to start it as early as possible so that kids Better Get Used To It. Meaning that in order for them to be prepared for doing homework in high school, they should start doing it in elementary. This (Aka:: [[red queen syndrome|arms race]]) argument is self destructive because at best what we get is children who are forced to face challenges that are way over their capacity, and at best its preparing kids for... Homework, meaning for something that won't even help develop them academically.
#### Idle hands
Another argument is that we tend to give homework because we believe the next generation is lazy, immoral and misguided, and by filling their time with homework, we force them to develop character and learn, rather than be a zombie in front of a screen or do drugs.
Evidence shows that it couldn't be farther from the truth. As default, kids are explorers who want to know more about the world around them, they just don't do it through homework, but through exploration. Instead of letting them shine, we turn them into the zombies we expect them to be.
### Restoring Sanity
#### Rethinking Homework
No homework should be the default, and only on rare cases where it is proven to be beneficial for the students, than it can be given.
Some alternatives to homework:
1. **Experiments that can only be done at home** - like interviewing the parent, outdoor activity, etc
2. **Educational activity** - like playing board games, solving puzzles and crosswords (Aka:: [[Gamification|Play]])
3. **Reading**
**The key to all these activities is that they must be done out of interest**. Once we turn this into a chore, like "read x minutes or pages a day", it loses its value, it will crowed out the joy for the activity itself.
Another important aspect is giving children the sense of agency. Giving them an option to express their opinions about the learning process itself, for example which assignment and how much should they preform. While it is natural to think that they won't want any assignments, reality shows otherwise. When they enjoy learning, they will want to explore in personal assignments as well.
Also, having debates and disagreements in class is a good chance to develop social skills.
School should also offer free time during the day for children to do homework so that their time at home will be free.
> [!Quote]- Rethinking Homework
> - the default state should be no homework. Educators should have to opt inâthat is, make a point of deciding to assign homework in a given instanceâ rather than opt out. ([Location 2496](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=2496))
> - Teachers ought to be able to exercise their judgment in determining how they want to deal with homework, taking account of the needs and preferences of the specific children in their classrooms, rather than having to conform to a fixed policy that has been imposed on them. ([Location 2516](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=2516))
> - One way to judge the quality of a classroom is by the extent to which students can 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. ([Location 2702](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=2702))
> - When students are treated with respect, when the assignments are worth doing, most kids rise to the challenge and live up to our positive expectations. ([Location 2722](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=2722))
#### Making Change
If we still wish to give homework, these recommendations would improve the benefits from it and reduce the harm:
1. **Designed by the teacher** - instead of a premade assignments
2. **Several variations** - don't do a "one size fits all", have several variations to match different levels or types of difficulty in the class
3. **Involve the parents** - give them a say in the process
4. **Don't grade** - assignments shouldn't be graded, it takes all the motivation out of the assignment
> [!Quote]- Making Change
> - lives. If you give them more responsibility and ownership for their own education, let them have choices about how theyâre going to do it, they rise to the occasion. Jamming homework down their throats isnât part of it. ([Location 2841](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B06XCXP1WX&location=2841))