Homework sucks (on the whole!) and yes in my humble opinion it should be removed as a blanket approach to, well what? A ridiculous perception that it might make our children 'do better'- at worksheets maybe and that doing more younger will help them become more - well what?
I am not against a rigorous curriculum or against our children being challenged and extended but could we please ask that qualified educators who are trained to do such things do it in the confines of the school day and if the school day simply doesn't fit in what we require our emerging brains to know then maybe like the French we need to consider modifying that! Parents and siblings are not and should not be expected to be educators, they have a very important job in being parents and siblings to attend to!
Homework (on the whole) is mind numbingly tedious, promotes inequality and cannot and should not be used to measure a child's ability or to grade them because it is frequently done by parents or older siblings. And what's more it has short and long term impact on individuals and families.
Unless approached in a targeted and thoughtful manner in the short term, homework becomes a source of frustration and even distress for both parents and children- in the long term the impact can be far more severe- it can put us off learning and the younger we do it the more chance we have of being turned off. We should nurture a love of learning not turn it into a torture.
It disempowers children because it tells them what they 'have' to learn about rather than what they want to know. Children have a natural curiosity and will 'investigate' the world around them without the need of a project. Imagine forcing Chopin or Motzart to do a worksheet on the life cycle of a butterfly at the expense of their music. Children should be encouraged to learn about whatever they choose fit in their time outside of school, who knows what the next big thing is? A child might be working on it right now in a pile of dirt in the backyard.
Homework also interrupts valuable family time, doing chores, children's social interaction, playing outside and well simply being a child. It frequently results in children going to bed far later than they should in order to prepare them to start the next day tired and learn less at school.
But for me the biggest impact I see in my coachees as adults is an inability to draw the line between work and home. We are programmed from a very early age to take work home, and we continue to do that into adulthood. This learned behaviour is damaging to work- life balance, relationships and at it's most extreme our own health. Doing your day job at home is not 'normal' and should not be seen as such for either children or adults. As a nation we are amongst the most guilty of long working hours and it starts when we are young.
Ask yourselves how often you bring work home? How do you feel about the work, is it something you 'just do' because you 'have to'? Do you resent the time it takes up? Are you patterned to think that it is the norm?
Wouldn't you rather be spending time on something you enjoyed or with people you enjoy spending time with, relaxing, playing a sport, getting some exercise, using one of those million cookbooks you never have time to look at?
And then ask yourself if this is something you can afford to continue? If the answer is no and you are unsure where to start drop me a line.
And for those of you who are parents ask yourself if you want this for your children- I certainly don't and the good news is you don't have to allow it. Again if you are not sure where to start or lack the confidence to make the changes, drop me a line.
For me I am pleased the debate is finally here, it is time to challenge what we have accepted for so long and to get back our life balance for both our children and ourselves.
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