http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/18/canada-homework-milley
I could have used a ruling like that 20 some years ago. :cry:
Quote
Canadian parents win legal battle against homework
Sherri and Tom Milley's children are now exempt from completing school assignments outside the classroom
Usually it is the children, not the parents, who are loath to spend their evenings practising spelling and learning times tables. But a Canadian couple have just won a legal battle to exempt their offspring from homework after successfully arguing there is no clear evidence it improves academic performance.
Sherri and Tom Milley, two lawyers from Calgary, Alberta, launched their highly unusual case after years of struggling to make their three reluctant children do school work out of the classroom.
After waging a long war with their eldest son, Jay, now 18, over his homework, they decided to do things differently with their youngest two, Spencer, 11, and Brittany, 10. And being lawyers, they decided to make it official.
It took two years to negotiate the Milleys' Differentiated Homework Plan, which ensures their youngest two children will never have to do homework again at their current school. The two-page plan, signed by the children, parents and teachers, stipulates that "homework will not be used as a form of evaluation for the children". In return, the pupils promise to get their work done in class, to come to school prepared, and to revise for tests. They must also read daily and practise their musical instruments at home.
"It was a constant homework battle every night," Sherri told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. "It's hard to get a weeping child to take in math problems. They are tired. They shouldn't be working a second shift."
"Why were we putting our family through that stress?" she wondered. "If we don't want it all, we shouldn't have to have it."
Two years ago, Sherri began collecting studies on homework, most of which suggest that, particularly for younger grades, there is no clear link between work at home and school performance. Working with the staff at St Brigid Elementary Junior High School, she formed a homework committee. When no firm changes resulted from the committee, the couple began negotiating the legal document that decided the matter.
"We think it's a parent's right to choose what's in our children's best interests," said Sherri. "But we're thankful the school did the right thing."
People like this should be hanged.
We don't we just save time, surrender, and turn our entire country over to the Chinese now.
This case should never have seen a court room.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on November 18, 2009, 05:40:19 PM
We don't we just save time, surrender, and turn our entire country over to the Chinese now.
As atonement for Canadian sins?
And Neil says Canada is great :lol:
Homework didn't do shit for me. It really was a worthless waste of time.
Some people need that stuff though, I think. If they can't learn the material the first time around.
Quote from: katmai on November 18, 2009, 05:48:37 PM
And Neil says Canada is great :lol:
its an Albertan family. they have funny ideas out there.
This is absurd. :lol:
But the prevelance of homework is also getting out of hand. My three year old gets homework from JK.
Not planning to issue an injunction any time soon, though. ;)
Canadian border officials everywhere shudder as they prepare for the impending waves of American preteen homework dodgers... :(
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 18, 2009, 06:33:31 PM
Canadian border officials everywhere shudder as they prepare for the impending waves of American preteen homework dodgers... :(
Canadian sculptors everywhere prepare their submssions for the monument dedicated to their heroism and sacrifice.
Quote from: katmai on November 18, 2009, 05:48:37 PM
And Neil says Canada is great :lol:
It's Calgary.
After spending two days in Calgary last weekend, I am resolved to give the city the treatment that it so richly deserves.
Calgary delenda est.
Quote from: Zanza on November 18, 2009, 05:47:13 PM
This case should never have seen a court room.
And it never did, at least according to the article. Not everything lawyers do happens in a courtroom.
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on November 18, 2009, 05:51:25 PM
Homework didn't do shit for me. It really was a worthless waste of time.
Some people need that stuff though, I think. If they can't learn the material the first time around.
Agreed. Personally, homework was pointless until college for me (which, ironically, is when it sometimes stops beings mandatory). I either rushed through it in the class preceding the one when it was due, or just didn't do it at all.
Homework was completely worthless for me at that age, but if it takes these kids so long to do their math homework that they start crying over it they probably need the practice.
Most homework was worthless for me in school. OTOH, if I had actually done my math homework, I probably would have done better in math class - in college I did my homework and did fairly well.
having both sons now in school it is funny to see how even teachers have changed attitude to homework.
Basically homework will only come in two forms for the first 3-5 years.
A stuff that hasn't been done in class... for a variety of reasons this only impacts some kids.
Or
B Stuff where repetition makes you better at it, so as not to waste actual teaching time on more than a few run throughs.. in this case it has been writing nicely. They do a few pages in school and finish up at home over time. Also they have been given a ten finger keyboard program. First few weeks were at school. they can brush up and refine skills at home.
V
Yay!
Homeworks have getting out of hand. It's useless except maybe in Math.
I never did my homework at home, ever. I almost always did it in homeroom, on the bus, at lunch, or during other classes when there was "downtime".
Quote from: Malthus on November 18, 2009, 06:25:24 PM
Not planning to issue an injunction any time soon, though. ;)
EPIC FAIL. :(
Quote from: Caliga on November 19, 2009, 08:14:03 AM
I never did my homework at home, ever. I almost always did it in homeroom, on the bus, at lunch, or during other classes when there was "downtime".
:) Study hall was excellent for that.
I <3 these people. :wub:
Quote from: Ed Anger on November 19, 2009, 08:20:08 AM
:) Study hall was excellent for that.
We never had study hall. :(
Anyway, my overall belief is that homework is utter nonsense and should be purged with fire.
Quote from: Caliga on November 19, 2009, 08:21:33 AM
We never had study hall. :(
Anyway, my overall belief is that homework is utter nonsense and should be purged with fire.
This. :yes:
Quote from: Caliga on November 19, 2009, 08:21:33 AM
We never had study hall. :(
:console:
Study hall was the awesome. Good times, good times.
Quote from: Grey Fox on November 19, 2009, 07:46:20 AM
Yay!
Homeworks have getting out of hand. It's useless except maybe in Math.
A little more homework might have improved your language skills...
G.
Ba-zing.
My french teachers were never big on homeworks, no idea why.
But I don't think it would have helped, I don't care enough to apply reasonable effort into that.
Quote from: Grey Fox on November 19, 2009, 10:07:50 AM
My french teachers were never big on homeworks, no idea why.
But I don't think it would have helped, I don't care enough to apply reasonable effort into that.
I think this is the issue. Kids are not known for their self-motivation when it comes to academic pursuits, which is why we send them to school instead of just letting them study on their own.
Its a little strange that the school then sends them home to study on their own.
FWIW, the schools I went to did not send homework as a matter of course. It only happened when you did not finish work in class that you were supposed to, or if you missed a day.
How exactly are kids supposed to type essays in class?
Quote from: Valmy on November 19, 2009, 12:17:14 PM
How exactly are kids supposed to type essays in class?
No biggie. Do you mean if they don't have computers?
people need to learn to learn (and think) on their own. if homework is interesting, I think fewer people would hate it.
In high school most of my math teachers just asked people to pull out the sheet of paper with their homework written on it and went around and checked off that you'd done it in their gradebook after a mere glance at it. Didn't take long to figure out all you had to do was keep about a half dozen sheets of past homework and just keep swapping them in and out to fool teach.
Anybody had a mimeograph teacher? You know, the one that taught by just giving out endless reams of homework and nothing else?
In the 8th grade, I had this bitch English teacher that gave out 4-5 sheets of homework a day. No teaching, no questions. We were told to read the textbook.
Eventually, I just read D&D and wargame rulebooks and the Stand in class.
That describes like 25% of my teachers, actually. :lol:
I had some great teachers as a kid, but probably an equal number of totally worthless ones.
Quote from: Valmy on November 19, 2009, 12:17:14 PM
How exactly are kids supposed to type essays in class?
Type? Try using a pen.
Quote from: Neil on November 19, 2009, 02:11:04 PM
Type? Try using a pen.
Because almost every college course requires typed papers?
Quote from: Neil on November 19, 2009, 02:11:04 PM
Type? Try using a pen.
I find your old fashioned attitudes amusing and quaint. :)
Quote from: Valmy on November 19, 2009, 02:21:50 PM
Quote from: Neil on November 19, 2009, 02:11:04 PM
Type? Try using a pen.
Because almost every college course requires typed papers?
There aren't college students.
Quote from: Ed Anger on November 19, 2009, 01:18:01 PM
Anybody had a mimeograph teacher? You know, the one that taught by just giving out endless reams of homework and nothing else?
In the 8th grade, I had this bitch English teacher that gave out 4-5 sheets of homework a day. No teaching, no questions. We were told to read the textbook.
Eventually, I just read D&D and wargame rulebooks and the Stand in class.
My 'World Civ' teacher freshmen year taught by giving us a selection of pages from the textbook to read everyday, and our assignment was to write a summary of every paragraph in a notebook. Sometimes he'd give us a blank map of a region the world, and we had to write in the names of every country. Occasionally he'd give us a quiz on this stuff. He basically never talked for an entire year.
Quote from: Ed Anger on November 19, 2009, 01:18:01 PM
Anybody had a mimeograph teacher? You know, the one that taught by just giving out endless reams of homework and nothing else?
In the 8th grade, I had this bitch English teacher that gave out 4-5 sheets of homework a day. No teaching, no questions. We were told to read the textbook.
In high school, my sociology teacher did that. He'd read or we'd read just from the textbook during class...although on a few occasions he would let us debate issues. And then his pop quizzes, tests, and homework were all directly from the book. The pop quizzes were the hardest part as he'd sometimes choose details that the book hadn't emphasized.
I did my homework. It only took a few minutes if you were brilliant. BFD