should students be given homework tasks to complete outside school?

I think homework is kind of pointless in grade school. My sons 3rd grade teacher was awesome. She had children herself and felt that home time should be home time and not spent doing an hour of a homework a night. About the only thing he had in that grade to do at home was to study for spelling tests and possibly work on a "big" project. Otherwise he did not have homework. Even in High School I think it should just be studying for tests and working on a project or report. But daily homework assignments I think no. Allow time for them to do it in class. I feel sorry for the kids that have after school activities or jobs and then they have 3 hours of homework to get done too. It doesn't give them time to relax. My daughter is only in the band but on nights when she has to go to an away game and doesn't get home until 9:45 how is she supposed to get homework done. Stay up until midnight and then feel awful the next day and can't concentrate in class. And my daughter can usually accomplish her homework quite quickly whereas my son was a slightly slow learner so he would have had to stay up until 2:00 to get his work done. Of course I understand that there are times when work can't get finished in class or as I said a project that you do over a course of a few weeks that needs doing. But to do 100 Math questions each and every night is not right. Let the kids relax and enjoy some home life. I will get off my soapbox now :)!!!

i think the schools should give out homework to all children attending school. But htey should spread it throughout the week. My children get spellings, maths, english on a friday and it has to be in on tuesday, spellings in on monday. That is far too much and they should be given it more spread out and then i would agree.

Well, personally I tend to think in a lot of schools they are overdoing it. Why do they give so much homework especially to younger kids to where they end up having to stay up late, or not being able to enjoy life due to having homework every night to do. They should be able to enjoy life as kids some, and not be pressured so much. Personally I feel that they are making it to where most kids give up even if they could have been Honor Roll kids in another situation. What ever happened to situations that if you were BORED in your classes, they could offer extra classes, or advanced style of classes, or offer more classes set for those who might need more help as well. I know here in Washington State they have even made a Wassel test as well a requirement not caring about the children that they have left behind. Who knows what it will take for things to change, but maybe when they realize they are often just hurting the kids, they can take a step back again as well.

Hi xia, There are advantages and disadvantages for homework...Like, students work hard already in the school and giving additional work at home will make them unable to enjoy their life as a kid as well as we are pressuring them too much on the other hand, it helps them also to enhance whatever they have learned in the classroom..I remember one time, there was a school who assign teacher for a particular days, like math, english will give an assignment every monday and so on and so forth..So, ,kids will not go home working for assignment for all the subjects!

I don't have kids, but I'm kind of 2 minds about homework. I do think it is important, especially for the higher grades, it is supposed to help teach the kids in preperation for college - didn't help me any tho. I do have issues with homework and people scheduling too much for their kids to do after school. I understand that kids need to do things after school to help make them a more balanced person, but the year I had horseback riding, girl scouts AND piano lessons, I was over whelmed by too many things and something had to give - in this case it was the girl scouts. Probably not helped by the fact that I had also changed troups and this one kind of had us sitting in a room like in class while the leader lectured us on what we needed to know to earn badges. Now, my sister swam competatively, had girl scouts and also rode one day a week and she handled it fine, but the swimming was before school in the mornings. When she got overwhelmed, the horseback riding went for her, you always let go what you value the least after all. So, I do think parents should consider after school activities and what their kids can handle around the homework, because the fun stuff will always come first!

I was always given homework as a kid. A lot of times after school given homework, I had to be tutored and had other work assigned from the home tutor. I spent most of my time after school studying and we, my siblings and I, did not even have the weekend off. Friends were not allowed to visit as they were termed "distraction" I remember I had to make various excuses for not completing school set hpmework and by the time I was ten, had learned to forge my parents signatures perfectly. There is only so much a child can do in a day without using its ever resoursefull mind to try to get out of doing any more. Children should not be overloaded with school work or homework.

Studies have shown that homework before 7th grade is useless. I know my son - who is 9 - thinks homework is a joke. He sits down and does his work in less than 5 minutes. I know the homework is difficult for some kids though based on the parents complaining.

No. Students at Primary or Elementary schools should get rid of home works. There is no point in snatching their valuable times. They can get enough input from their school only. Might be during vacation period, they should be given some home work. But for High School Students - Home work gives them some extra practice.

Each year, my kids have come home with more and more homework. It's getting a bit ridiculous. I can understand sending the kids home to study, but homework every night? That's insane! In my opinion, all the work should be done in school. That's why we call home home, and school school. I say, give the kids a break, and do your darn job as teachers. The kids need to have a life outside of school as well.

I think that people forget why homework is given for kids. Homework is just a test how kids understand information given in school. I wouldn't give homework for 5 years old. Homework should be given for 7 years old and older. It should start with easy and simple homework that kids are able to do without parents help. When I was in school I didn't have any problem with my homework.

Homework is necessary because kids can't possibly learn everything in a classroom. This also teaches them discipline and prepares them for life.

I think that some homework isn't a bad thing, but when it takes children hours to do their homework then it is a bit to much. I can remember in high school just getting plummeted with homework, and one teacher would be like "I don't care how much homework you have in other classes, its about this class." I would have like 3-4 hours of just doing homework. Some teachers set standards to high, and need to realize that parents and children have other things to do besides school work.

No. I do not think any students should be expected to do homework at all. I agree that they should have a certain amount of work earmarked for each day, but as they are taught in school, they should use class time to practice the skill they are learning. IF they goof off and do not complete the assignment in class like they are supposed to, then they must take it home to finish. I'm not sure where you're getting your information about 5 year olds doing an hour a week, unless that relates to 15 minutes each day reading - which is appropriate and normal - but if it means something else, that's just plain silly. As far as 3 hours for an 11 year old, what does that break down to, almost 45 min a day? If that's 6th grade, that's still too much. As far as 10+ hours at 16, that is a complete joke. I have a son who is a junior in high school, he is 17. The teachers have all told me they do NOT assign extra homework. They expect classwork to be completed in class and if not, then the students must take it home to finish, but it should take all of 10-15 min to complete at home after. There is no way he ever has had 10 hours of homework a week, much less more than that. Back when he was in middle school and goofed off, he had work to complete but if he had stayed on task, it would have taken him about 20 minutes TOTAL to finish. Because he would sit there and not do it and whine and go hide in the bathroom and then go to the kitchen and claim he was making a snack and then be caught doing various other things other than the work, it would take him several hours, but not because there was ACTUALLy several hours worth of work. Yes I have a very passionate opinion about this but it's because kids should get to be kids. There is no sense in expecting so much of kids so early. They will never get a freaking break. EVER. After high school comes college, a job, marriage, a family. There is never a time to have a childhood, so I want my kids to have a break before they are 18. I think it is well deserved and I will do what I can to protect their rights to have that.

Is the homework you are referring too the extra hours spent at school as some sort of make-up classes? If that's it well I think that it is not good to pressure children to do such things. School should be fun and enjoyable for a children so that they will learn more. I don't think adding more school load especially to young children would make them have higher standards, because depriving a child of fun while in school makes a child only academically intelligent but not intelligent on the other parts of life. Also if this continues more children will be discouraged to go to school and maybe in the future there will be no more children wanting to go to school.

as long as an unreasonable amount isn't dumped on them i don't see why not,we had to do it.the best way for them to retain the information is to study it.

I think it depends mainly on the age of the student... those who are still in preschool should not be given a lot of homework... one should suffice... but when a student starts highschool... then homework is necessary so that they will be trained for college life... which we all know is a lot more stressful than highschool...

YEah, students should be given homework to do, but at a moderate rate and amount.. Because everybody has got different learning methods, some can only learn it school with teachers around, while some can really study on their own.. SO with the implementation of homework for students, it sort of pushes the students to study abit more, instead of playing.. IN turns, it also trains up the students to set their priorities in life.. Some may wanna play b4 doing their homework, while some may finish their homework 1st b4 playing.. BUt no matter what, as long as they finish their homework, all are fine ^_^

They are expecting to much out of these little ones. It's hard enough for a 5-year-old to learn to stay in his seat for hours at a time, waiting in line, walking in line and other social skills without loading them down with tons of homework. What might take an hour for one child, will turn into three or four hours with another child, not to mention the parent wanting to pull their own hair out...and the child's hair too. I remember when my oldest had to learn 'Sight words' words like chrysanthemum, hippopotamus, Miguel, this was over 20 years ago and he was only in the first grade. These children hadn't even learned all, if any of their vowels yet. I was so incensed I called the school and raised a big fuss, they said they couldn't do a thing about it, it was in the school curriculum and they had to teach it. They didn't agree with it either, but it came from the higher ups. I know our children, and we too, had a lot of potential back then that wasn't tapped into, but we weren't all having to be put on medication for ADHD, ADD, OCD and all the other crap that our children are being labeled with these days. Boy, this really has got my drawers in a big bunch, thanks for the opportunity to vent lol

I thik it depends on the child. If a child is advanced and can handle it I think extra homework is good to keep themactive but in my sons case, it is terrible to bog him down with homework. It only frustrates him and makes learning boring. I know not all parts of school can be fun but teachers and parents should find positive ways of inforcing learning.

I think that maybe the amount of homework given now its too much, but I must say that the homework is necesary cause you give the children a sense of responsability