why is homework no longer a punishment

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Nobody knows what the point of homework is

The homework wars are back.

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As the Covid-19 pandemic began and students logged into their remote classrooms, all work, in effect, became homework. But whether or not students could complete it at home varied. For some, schoolwork became public-library work or McDonald’s-parking-lot work.

Luis Torres, the principal of PS 55, a predominantly low-income community elementary school in the south Bronx, told me that his school secured Chromebooks for students early in the pandemic only to learn that some lived in shelters that blocked wifi for security reasons. Others, who lived in housing projects with poor internet reception, did their schoolwork in laundromats.

According to a 2021 Pew survey , 25 percent of lower-income parents said their children, at some point, were unable to complete their schoolwork because they couldn’t access a computer at home; that number for upper-income parents was 2 percent.

The issues with remote learning in March 2020 were new. But they highlighted a divide that had been there all along in another form: homework. And even long after schools have resumed in-person classes, the pandemic’s effects on homework have lingered.

Over the past three years, in response to concerns about equity, schools across the country, including in Sacramento, Los Angeles , San Diego , and Clark County, Nevada , made permanent changes to their homework policies that restricted how much homework could be given and how it could be graded after in-person learning resumed.

Three years into the pandemic, as districts and teachers reckon with Covid-era overhauls of teaching and learning, schools are still reconsidering the purpose and place of homework. Whether relaxing homework expectations helps level the playing field between students or harms them by decreasing rigor is a divisive issue without conclusive evidence on either side, echoing other debates in education like the elimination of standardized test scores from some colleges’ admissions processes.

I first began to wonder if the homework abolition movement made sense after speaking with teachers in some Massachusetts public schools, who argued that rather than help disadvantaged kids, stringent homework restrictions communicated an attitude of low expectations. One, an English teacher, said she felt the school had “just given up” on trying to get the students to do work; another argued that restrictions that prohibit teachers from assigning take-home work that doesn’t begin in class made it difficult to get through the foreign-language curriculum. Teachers in other districts have raised formal concerns about homework abolition’s ability to close gaps among students rather than widening them.

Many education experts share this view. Harris Cooper, a professor emeritus of psychology at Duke who has studied homework efficacy, likened homework abolition to “playing to the lowest common denominator.”

But as I learned after talking to a variety of stakeholders — from homework researchers to policymakers to parents of schoolchildren — whether to abolish homework probably isn’t the right question. More important is what kind of work students are sent home with and where they can complete it. Chances are, if schools think more deeply about giving constructive work, time spent on homework will come down regardless.

There’s no consensus on whether homework works

The rise of the no-homework movement during the Covid-19 pandemic tapped into long-running disagreements over homework’s impact on students. The purpose and effectiveness of homework have been disputed for well over a century. In 1901, for instance, California banned homework for students up to age 15, and limited it for older students, over concerns that it endangered children’s mental and physical health. The newest iteration of the anti-homework argument contends that the current practice punishes students who lack support and rewards those with more resources, reinforcing the “myth of meritocracy.”

But there is still no research consensus on homework’s effectiveness; no one can seem to agree on what the right metrics are. Much of the debate relies on anecdotes, intuition, or speculation.

Researchers disagree even on how much research exists on the value of homework. Kathleen Budge, the co-author of Turning High-Poverty Schools Into High-Performing Schools and a professor at Boise State, told me that homework “has been greatly researched.” Denise Pope, a Stanford lecturer and leader of the education nonprofit Challenge Success, said, “It’s not a highly researched area because of some of the methodological problems.”

Experts who are more sympathetic to take-home assignments generally support the “10-minute rule,” a framework that estimates the ideal amount of homework on any given night by multiplying the student’s grade by 10 minutes. (A ninth grader, for example, would have about 90 minutes of work a night.) Homework proponents argue that while it is difficult to design randomized control studies to test homework’s effectiveness, the vast majority of existing studies show a strong positive correlation between homework and high academic achievement for middle and high school students. Prominent critics of homework argue that these correlational studies are unreliable and point to studies that suggest a neutral or negative effect on student performance. Both agree there is little to no evidence for homework’s effectiveness at an elementary school level, though proponents often argue that it builds constructive habits for the future.

For anyone who remembers homework assignments from both good and bad teachers, this fundamental disagreement might not be surprising. Some homework is pointless and frustrating to complete. Every week during my senior year of high school, I had to analyze a poem for English and decorate it with images found on Google; my most distinct memory from that class is receiving a demoralizing 25-point deduction because I failed to present my analysis on a poster board. Other assignments really do help students learn: After making an adapted version of Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book for a ninth grade history project, I was inspired to check out from the library and read a biography of the Chinese ruler.

For homework opponents, the first example is more likely to resonate. “We’re all familiar with the negative effects of homework: stress, exhaustion, family conflict, less time for other activities, diminished interest in learning,” Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, which challenges common justifications for homework, told me in an email. “And these effects may be most pronounced among low-income students.” Kohn believes that schools should make permanent any moratoria implemented during the pandemic, arguing that there are no positives at all to outweigh homework’s downsides. Recent studies , he argues , show the benefits may not even materialize during high school.

In the Marlborough Public Schools, a suburban district 45 minutes west of Boston, school policy committee chair Katherine Hennessy described getting kids to complete their homework during remote education as “a challenge, to say the least.” Teachers found that students who spent all day on their computers didn’t want to spend more time online when the day was over. So, for a few months, the school relaxed the usual practice and teachers slashed the quantity of nightly homework.

Online learning made the preexisting divides between students more apparent, she said. Many students, even during normal circumstances, lacked resources to keep them on track and focused on completing take-home assignments. Though Marlborough Schools is more affluent than PS 55, Hennessy said many students had parents whose work schedules left them unable to provide homework help in the evenings. The experience tracked with a common divide in the country between children of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

So in October 2021, months after the homework reduction began, the Marlborough committee made a change to the district’s policy. While teachers could still give homework, the assignments had to begin as classwork. And though teachers could acknowledge homework completion in a student’s participation grade, they couldn’t count homework as its own grading category. “Rigorous learning in the classroom does not mean that that classwork must be assigned every night,” the policy stated . “Extensions of class work is not to be used to teach new content or as a form of punishment.”

Canceling homework might not do anything for the achievement gap

The critiques of homework are valid as far as they go, but at a certain point, arguments against homework can defy the commonsense idea that to retain what they’re learning, students need to practice it.

“Doesn’t a kid become a better reader if he reads more? Doesn’t a kid learn his math facts better if he practices them?” said Cathy Vatterott, an education researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. After decades of research, she said it’s still hard to isolate the value of homework, but that doesn’t mean it should be abandoned.

Blanket vilification of homework can also conflate the unique challenges facing disadvantaged students as compared to affluent ones, which could have different solutions. “The kids in the low-income schools are being hurt because they’re being graded, unfairly, on time they just don’t have to do this stuff,” Pope told me. “And they’re still being held accountable for turning in assignments, whether they’re meaningful or not.” On the other side, “Palo Alto kids” — students in Silicon Valley’s stereotypically pressure-cooker public schools — “are just bombarded and overloaded and trying to stay above water.”

Merely getting rid of homework doesn’t solve either problem. The United States already has the second-highest disparity among OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations between time spent on homework by students of high and low socioeconomic status — a difference of more than three hours, said Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University and author of No More Mindless Homework .

When she interviewed teachers in Boston-area schools that had cut homework before the pandemic, Bempechat told me, “What they saw immediately was parents who could afford it immediately enrolled their children in the Russian School of Mathematics,” a math-enrichment program whose tuition ranges from $140 to about $400 a month. Getting rid of homework “does nothing for equity; it increases the opportunity gap between wealthier and less wealthy families,” she said. “That solution troubles me because it’s no solution at all.”

A group of teachers at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, made the same point after the school district proposed an overhaul of its homework policies, including removing penalties for missing homework deadlines, allowing unlimited retakes, and prohibiting grading of homework.

“Given the emphasis on equity in today’s education systems,” they wrote in a letter to the school board, “we believe that some of the proposed changes will actually have a detrimental impact towards achieving this goal. Families that have means could still provide challenging and engaging academic experiences for their children and will continue to do so, especially if their children are not experiencing expected rigor in the classroom.” At a school where more than a third of students are low-income, the teachers argued, the policies would prompt students “to expect the least of themselves in terms of effort, results, and responsibility.”

Not all homework is created equal

Despite their opposing sides in the homework wars, most of the researchers I spoke to made a lot of the same points. Both Bempechat and Pope were quick to bring up how parents and schools confuse rigor with workload, treating the volume of assignments as a proxy for quality of learning. Bempechat, who is known for defending homework, has written extensively about how plenty of it lacks clear purpose, requires the purchasing of unnecessary supplies, and takes longer than it needs to. Likewise, when Pope instructs graduate-level classes on curriculum, she asks her students to think about the larger purpose they’re trying to achieve with homework: If they can get the job done in the classroom, there’s no point in sending home more work.

At its best, pandemic-era teaching facilitated that last approach. Honolulu-based teacher Christina Torres Cawdery told me that, early in the pandemic, she often had a cohort of kids in her classroom for four hours straight, as her school tried to avoid too much commingling. She couldn’t lecture for four hours, so she gave the students plenty of time to complete independent and project-based work. At the end of most school days, she didn’t feel the need to send them home with more to do.

A similar limited-homework philosophy worked at a public middle school in Chelsea, Massachusetts. A couple of teachers there turned as much class as possible into an opportunity for small-group practice, allowing kids to work on problems that traditionally would be assigned for homework, Jessica Flick, a math coach who leads department meetings at the school, told me. It was inspired by a philosophy pioneered by Simon Fraser University professor Peter Liljedahl, whose influential book Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics reframes homework as “check-your-understanding questions” rather than as compulsory work. Last year, Flick found that the two eighth grade classes whose teachers adopted this strategy performed the best on state tests, and this year, she has encouraged other teachers to implement it.

Teachers know that plenty of homework is tedious and unproductive. Jeannemarie Dawson De Quiroz, who has taught for more than 20 years in low-income Boston and Los Angeles pilot and charter schools, says that in her first years on the job she frequently assigned “drill and kill” tasks and questions that she now feels unfairly stumped students. She said designing good homework wasn’t part of her teaching programs, nor was it meaningfully discussed in professional development. With more experience, she turned as much class time as she could into practice time and limited what she sent home.

“The thing about homework that’s sticky is that not all homework is created equal,” says Jill Harrison Berg, a former teacher and the author of Uprooting Instructional Inequity . “Some homework is a genuine waste of time and requires lots of resources for no good reason. And other homework is really useful.”

Cutting homework has to be part of a larger strategy

The takeaways are clear: Schools can make cuts to homework, but those cuts should be part of a strategy to improve the quality of education for all students. If the point of homework was to provide more practice, districts should think about how students can make it up during class — or offer time during or after school for students to seek help from teachers. If it was to move the curriculum along, it’s worth considering whether strategies like Liljedahl’s can get more done in less time.

Some of the best thinking around effective assignments comes from those most critical of the current practice. Denise Pope proposes that, before assigning homework, teachers should consider whether students understand the purpose of the work and whether they can do it without help. If teachers think it’s something that can’t be done in class, they should be mindful of how much time it should take and the feedback they should provide. It’s questions like these that De Quiroz considered before reducing the volume of work she sent home.

More than a year after the new homework policy began in Marlborough, Hennessy still hears from parents who incorrectly “think homework isn’t happening” despite repeated assurances that kids still can receive work. She thinks part of the reason is that education has changed over the years. “I think what we’re trying to do is establish that homework may be an element of educating students,” she told me. “But it may not be what parents think of as what they grew up with. ... It’s going to need to adapt, per the teaching and the curriculum, and how it’s being delivered in each classroom.”

For the policy to work, faculty, parents, and students will all have to buy into a shared vision of what school ought to look like. The district is working on it — in November, it hosted and uploaded to YouTube a round-table discussion on homework between district administrators — but considering the sustained confusion, the path ahead seems difficult.

When I asked Luis Torres about whether he thought homework serves a useful part in PS 55’s curriculum, he said yes, of course it was — despite the effort and money it takes to keep the school open after hours to help them do it. “The children need the opportunity to practice,” he said. “If you don’t give them opportunities to practice what they learn, they’re going to forget.” But Torres doesn’t care if the work is done at home. The school stays open until around 6 pm on weekdays, even during breaks. Tutors through New York City’s Department of Youth and Community Development programs help kids with work after school so they don’t need to take it with them.

As schools weigh the purpose of homework in an unequal world, it’s tempting to dispose of a practice that presents real, practical problems to students across the country. But getting rid of homework is unlikely to do much good on its own. Before cutting it, it’s worth thinking about what good assignments are meant to do in the first place. It’s crucial that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds tackle complex quantitative problems and hone their reading and writing skills. It’s less important that the work comes home with them.

Jacob Sweet is a freelance writer in Somerville, Massachusetts. He is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, among other publications.

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Credit: August de Richelieu

Does homework still have value? A Johns Hopkins education expert weighs in

Joyce epstein, co-director of the center on school, family, and community partnerships, discusses why homework is essential, how to maximize its benefit to learners, and what the 'no-homework' approach gets wrong.

By Vicky Hallett

The necessity of homework has been a subject of debate since at least as far back as the 1890s, according to Joyce L. Epstein , co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University. "It's always been the case that parents, kids—and sometimes teachers, too—wonder if this is just busy work," Epstein says.

But after decades of researching how to improve schools, the professor in the Johns Hopkins School of Education remains certain that homework is essential—as long as the teachers have done their homework, too. The National Network of Partnership Schools , which she founded in 1995 to advise schools and districts on ways to improve comprehensive programs of family engagement, has developed hundreds of improved homework ideas through its Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program. For an English class, a student might interview a parent on popular hairstyles from their youth and write about the differences between then and now. Or for science class, a family could identify forms of matter over the dinner table, labeling foods as liquids or solids. These innovative and interactive assignments not only reinforce concepts from the classroom but also foster creativity, spark discussions, and boost student motivation.

"We're not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them," says Epstein, who is packing this research into a forthcoming book on the purposes and designs of homework. In the meantime, the Hub couldn't wait to ask her some questions:

What kind of homework training do teachers typically get?

Future teachers and administrators really have little formal training on how to design homework before they assign it. This means that most just repeat what their teachers did, or they follow textbook suggestions at the end of units. For example, future teachers are well prepared to teach reading and literacy skills at each grade level, and they continue to learn to improve their teaching of reading in ongoing in-service education. By contrast, most receive little or no training on the purposes and designs of homework in reading or other subjects. It is really important for future teachers to receive systematic training to understand that they have the power, opportunity, and obligation to design homework with a purpose.

Why do students need more interactive homework?

If homework assignments are always the same—10 math problems, six sentences with spelling words—homework can get boring and some kids just stop doing their assignments, especially in the middle and high school years. When we've asked teachers what's the best homework you've ever had or designed, invariably we hear examples of talking with a parent or grandparent or peer to share ideas. To be clear, parents should never be asked to "teach" seventh grade science or any other subject. Rather, teachers set up the homework assignments so that the student is in charge. It's always the student's homework. But a good activity can engage parents in a fun, collaborative way. Our data show that with "good" assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, "I learned what's happening in the curriculum." It all works around what the youngsters are learning.

Is family engagement really that important?

At Hopkins, I am part of the Center for Social Organization of Schools , a research center that studies how to improve many aspects of education to help all students do their best in school. One thing my colleagues and I realized was that we needed to look deeply into family and community engagement. There were so few references to this topic when we started that we had to build the field of study. When children go to school, their families "attend" with them whether a teacher can "see" the parents or not. So, family engagement is ever-present in the life of a school.

My daughter's elementary school doesn't assign homework until third grade. What's your take on "no homework" policies?

There are some parents, writers, and commentators who have argued against homework, especially for very young children. They suggest that children should have time to play after school. This, of course is true, but many kindergarten kids are excited to have homework like their older siblings. If they give homework, most teachers of young children make assignments very short—often following an informal rule of 10 minutes per grade level. "No homework" does not guarantee that all students will spend their free time in productive and imaginative play.

Some researchers and critics have consistently misinterpreted research findings. They have argued that homework should be assigned only at the high school level where data point to a strong connection of doing assignments with higher student achievement . However, as we discussed, some students stop doing homework. This leads, statistically, to results showing that doing homework or spending more minutes on homework is linked to higher student achievement. If slow or struggling students are not doing their assignments, they contribute to—or cause—this "result."

Teachers need to design homework that even struggling students want to do because it is interesting. Just about all students at any age level react positively to good assignments and will tell you so.

Did COVID change how schools and parents view homework?

Within 24 hours of the day school doors closed in March 2020, just about every school and district in the country figured out that teachers had to talk to and work with students' parents. This was not the same as homeschooling—teachers were still working hard to provide daily lessons. But if a child was learning at home in the living room, parents were more aware of what they were doing in school. One of the silver linings of COVID was that teachers reported that they gained a better understanding of their students' families. We collected wonderfully creative examples of activities from members of the National Network of Partnership Schools. I'm thinking of one art activity where every child talked with a parent about something that made their family unique. Then they drew their finding on a snowflake and returned it to share in class. In math, students talked with a parent about something the family liked so much that they could represent it 100 times. Conversations about schoolwork at home was the point.

How did you create so many homework activities via the Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork program?

We had several projects with educators to help them design interactive assignments, not just "do the next three examples on page 38." Teachers worked in teams to create TIPS activities, and then we turned their work into a standard TIPS format in math, reading/language arts, and science for grades K-8. Any teacher can use or adapt our prototypes to match their curricula.

Overall, we know that if future teachers and practicing educators were prepared to design homework assignments to meet specific purposes—including but not limited to interactive activities—more students would benefit from the important experience of doing their homework. And more parents would, indeed, be partners in education.

Posted in Voices+Opinion

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August 16, 2021

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in

by Sara M Moniuszko

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide-range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas over workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework .

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy work loads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace, says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework causes, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high-achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school ," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely, but to be more mindful of the type of work students go home with, suggests Kang, who was a high-school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework, I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the last two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic, making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized... sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking assignments up can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

©2021 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Debunking the Myth of Roberto Nevilis: Who Really Invented Homework?

• By Emily Summers
• February 18, 2019

For those of us who have attended a formal education setting, you might remember the frustration of getting homework from most of your teachers. Before class ends, your teacher instructs your class to answer a certain page of your book or to write an essay about the topic you had just discussed.

Some of us really didn’t like doing homework. It was very time-consuming and, on top of extra-curricular activities, house chores, and other tasks you needed to do, you had very little time to yourself and your hobbies before having to go to sleep.

If you’ve ever been curious enough to find out who to thank for inventing homework, Google and several websites will tell you that it’s a man named Roberto Nevilis. That he invented homework as a form of punishment for underperforming students and, almost a thousand years later, billions of students are frustrated both at school and at home because of him.

But that, like a lot of things on the internet, simply isn’t true. In fact, Roberto Nevilis doesn’t even exist.

Who Invented Homework? Not Roberto Nevilis.

The nail in the coffin, a brief history on the education system, the father of modern homework, is homework still effective.

Online, there are many articles claiming that Roberto Nevilis was the first educator who came up with giving students homework. But if you look at the websites that claim this, you’ll find that it’s mostly forum websites or obscure educational blogs. No credible website or news source even mentions the name Roberto Nevilis. And for a guy who has affected the educational career of anyone who has had a formal education, you’d think a credible website would mention him at least once. Or some of the less-credible websites would confirm his contribution without saying the word “allegedly” or a vague “scientists believe” or the like.

Nevilis was supposedly a teacher based in Venice, Italy when he invented homework. Some claim that he invented it in 1095, while others claim he invented it in 1905 before it spread to Europe and to the rest of the world. It was said to be a form of punishment for students who underperformed in class. Students who performed well in class were spared from homework.

Either way, this claim is dubious. In 1095, education was still very informal around Europe and an organized education system in the continent didn’t start until 800 years later. In the 1500’s, English nobility were still being taught by private tutors.

Around 1095, the Roman Empire had long fallen and the Pope was still organizing the very first crusade and education was still informal, so it would be impossible for Nevilis to not only hold a class and give out homework, but to also spread out his idea to the rest of Europe when there was still no organized educational system.

And it couldn’t have been 1905, either. In 1901, California passed an act that banned homework for students younger than 15 years old before the law was revoked in 1917. That means Nevilis – assuming he does exists and isn’t the work of some internet trolls – couldn’t have invented it in 1905 in Europe if it already made its way to California and probably the rest of the world four years earlier.

And if that’s not enough evidence, just take a look at all the information you can get on him online. The only websites that mention his name: Quora, WikiAnswers, clickbait articles, and blogs for websites that help you write your homework (though if they can’t do their research properly, you might want to stay away from their services).

There’s no credible website mentioning him anywhere. And the websites that do mention him are very vague in describing his contribution. “Scientists believe” becomes a very sketchy claim when a website doesn’t cite a credible source. And if you try to search “Roberto Nevilis,” only the same handful of websites show up.

The truth is, homework existed dating back to the earliest civilizations and the first forms of education. In feudal times, education was reserved for the wealthy men. Those who weren’t rich had no time to study reading or philosophy and were busy making a living. Wealthy young women were trained in the more womanly arts, though princesses and nobles were expected to know a few things and were tutored as well. While they weren’t given workbooks and links to online quizzes, their tutors had expected them to read literary pieces during their free time.

The earliest evidence of a formal school comes from the Sumerian civilization. They had Edubas, which were houses of clay tablets were scribes practiced how to read and write. Archaeologists found student exercises etched into the tablets. Not much is known if they followed a schedule or were all taught by one teacher like the education system today.

During these times, however, homework did not involve answering questions or writing down essays as we’ve come to know it today. If we look back at history, there were other forms of educational methods that students and teachers at the time would have considered the homework of their time.

While we can’t pin the invention of homework to a certain teacher, we can trace back who was responsible for making homework that way it is to this day: Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a German philosopher known as the founding father of German nationalism.

In 1814, Prussia had a problem stirring nationalism among its citizens. Instead of serving the country after the war, citizens could choose to go back to whatever they were doing without thinking of dedicating their time and sacrifice to the country. There was no sense of pride or nationalism.

And so, Fichte conceived the Volkschule – a mandatory nine-year education similar to primary and lower secondary education provided by the state – and a Realschule – a secondary school available to aristocrats. Those attending the Volkschule were given the homework we know today as a way to demonstrate the state’s power even during personal time.

The system spread across Europe, but not in a totally dominating way. Some countries continued with their own system, which is why countries such as Finland don’t impose homework on their students. However, in 1843, back when the United States still practiced private tutors or informal lessons, Horace Mann reformed public education after travelling to Prussia and saw their education system and adapted it into the American education system. Thus, homework eventually evolved into a global practice.

Homework, therefore, is the result of nationalism and getting students to understand that “me time” actually falls on government time if they want to get their education. Contrary to what many websites would say, it wasn’t invented as a punishment for academically failing students.

However, over 200 years had passed since homework’s evolution into what we know it is today. So, is it still necessary to keep our students burdened with extra assignments? On one hand, it can be a good way to teach students time management skills. We like to think that work stays at work and personal life stays out of work, but as working adults, we know this is not the case. Homework at an early age teaches students to use their time wisely.

And while homework can still be helpful in students’ education, it’s only helpful to a certain extent. When plenty of teachers pile on homework, they’re depriving students of time to focus on their extra-curricular activities and personal life.

For those of us who have graduated with high grades, we’ve learned the hard way that a spotless report card can get our foot on the door, but if we have poor interpersonal skills and lack the skills you can only get outside of academics, you can’t achieve total success. Homework is good, but only to an extent. Then, it just becomes an unnecessary burden on students.

In fact, if you look at Finland and Japan – countries that don’t practice giving out homework – you can see that homework is unnecessary if the educational system favors it. Finland has shorter school days, longer summer breaks, and have an educational system where students aren’t required to start school until the age of seven. However, their students have always ranked high in terms of exams.

It’s because in Finland, a teaching career is at the same league as doctors and lawyers. Compare that to our current education system, where teachers are underappreciated and harried in public schools. Finland’s education system allows students more leeway, showing how it is possible to produce bright students without putting too much pressure on them.

We’ve all been frustrated with homework back when we were studying, but homework is actually more than just a nuisance we all have to face in our educational career. It’s actually an important factor which can shape productivity and the time students have for other factors of their education.

About the Author

Emily summers.

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The Surprising History of Homework Reform

Really, kids, there was a time when lots of grownups thought homework was bad for you.

Homework causes a lot of fights. Between parents and kids, sure. But also, as education scholar Brian Gill and historian Steven Schlossman write, among U.S. educators. For more than a century, they’ve been debating how, and whether, kids should do schoolwork at home .

At the dawn of the twentieth century, homework meant memorizing lists of facts which could then be recited to the teacher the next day. The rising progressive education movement despised that approach. These educators advocated classrooms free from recitation. Instead, they wanted students to learn by doing. To most, homework had no place in this sort of system.

Through the middle of the century, Gill and Schlossman write, this seemed like common sense to most progressives. And they got their way in many schools—at least at the elementary level. Many districts abolished homework for K–6 classes, and almost all of them eliminated it for students below fourth grade.

By the 1950s, many educators roundly condemned drills, like practicing spelling words and arithmetic problems. In 1963, Helen Heffernan, chief of California’s Bureau of Elementary Education, definitively stated that “No teacher aware of recent theories could advocate such meaningless homework assignments as pages of repetitive computation in arithmetic. Such an assignment not only kills time but kills the child’s creative urge to intellectual activity.”

But, the authors note, not all reformers wanted to eliminate homework entirely. Some educators reconfigured the concept, suggesting supplemental reading or having students do projects based in their own interests. One teacher proposed “homework” consisting of after-school “field trips to the woods, factories, museums, libraries, art galleries.” In 1937, Carleton Washburne, an influential educator who was the superintendent of the Winnetka, Illinois, schools, proposed a homework regimen of “cooking and sewing…meal planning…budgeting, home repairs, interior decorating, and family relationships.”

Another reformer explained that “at first homework had as its purpose one thing—to prepare the next day’s lessons. Its purpose now is to prepare the children for fuller living through a new type of creative and recreational homework.”

That idea didn’t necessarily appeal to all educators. But moderation in the use of traditional homework became the norm.

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“Virtually all commentators on homework in the postwar years would have agreed with the sentiment expressed in the NEA Journal in 1952 that ‘it would be absurd to demand homework in the first grade or to denounce it as useless in the eighth grade and in high school,’” Gill and Schlossman write.

That remained more or less true until 1983, when publication of the landmark government report A Nation at Risk helped jump-start a conservative “back to basics” agenda, including an emphasis on drill-style homework. In the decades since, continuing “reforms” like high-stakes testing, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the Common Core standards have kept pressure on schools. Which is why twenty-first-century first graders get spelling words and pages of arithmetic.

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The Cult of Homework

America’s devotion to the practice stems in part from the fact that it’s what today’s parents and teachers grew up with themselves.

America has long had a fickle relationship with homework. A century or so ago, progressive reformers argued that it made kids unduly stressed , which later led in some cases to district-level bans on it for all grades under seventh. This anti-homework sentiment faded, though, amid mid-century fears that the U.S. was falling behind the Soviet Union (which led to more homework), only to resurface in the 1960s and ’70s, when a more open culture came to see homework as stifling play and creativity (which led to less). But this didn’t last either: In the ’80s, government researchers blamed America’s schools for its economic troubles and recommended ramping homework up once more.

The 21st century has so far been a homework-heavy era, with American teenagers now averaging about twice as much time spent on homework each day as their predecessors did in the 1990s . Even little kids are asked to bring school home with them. A 2015 study , for instance, found that kindergarteners, who researchers tend to agree shouldn’t have any take-home work, were spending about 25 minutes a night on it.

But not without pushback. As many children, not to mention their parents and teachers, are drained by their daily workload, some schools and districts are rethinking how homework should work—and some teachers are doing away with it entirely. They’re reviewing the research on homework (which, it should be noted, is contested) and concluding that it’s time to revisit the subject.

Read: My daughter’s homework is killing me

Hillsborough, California, an affluent suburb of San Francisco, is one district that has changed its ways. The district, which includes three elementary schools and a middle school, worked with teachers and convened panels of parents in order to come up with a homework policy that would allow students more unscheduled time to spend with their families or to play. In August 2017, it rolled out an updated policy, which emphasized that homework should be “meaningful” and banned due dates that fell on the day after a weekend or a break.

“The first year was a bit bumpy,” says Louann Carlomagno, the district’s superintendent. She says the adjustment was at times hard for the teachers, some of whom had been doing their job in a similar fashion for a quarter of a century. Parents’ expectations were also an issue. Carlomagno says they took some time to “realize that it was okay not to have an hour of homework for a second grader—that was new.”

Most of the way through year two, though, the policy appears to be working more smoothly. “The students do seem to be less stressed based on conversations I’ve had with parents,” Carlomagno says. It also helps that the students performed just as well on the state standardized test last year as they have in the past.

Earlier this year, the district of Somerville, Massachusetts, also rewrote its homework policy, reducing the amount of homework its elementary and middle schoolers may receive. In grades six through eight, for example, homework is capped at an hour a night and can only be assigned two to three nights a week.

Jack Schneider, an education professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell whose daughter attends school in Somerville, is generally pleased with the new policy. But, he says, it’s part of a bigger, worrisome pattern. “The origin for this was general parental dissatisfaction, which not surprisingly was coming from a particular demographic,” Schneider says. “Middle-class white parents tend to be more vocal about concerns about homework … They feel entitled enough to voice their opinions.”

Schneider is all for revisiting taken-for-granted practices like homework, but thinks districts need to take care to be inclusive in that process. “I hear approximately zero middle-class white parents talking about how homework done best in grades K through two actually strengthens the connection between home and school for young people and their families,” he says. Because many of these parents already feel connected to their school community, this benefit of homework can seem redundant. “They don’t need it,” Schneider says, “so they’re not advocating for it.”

That doesn’t mean, necessarily, that homework is more vital in low-income districts. In fact, there are different, but just as compelling, reasons it can be burdensome in these communities as well. Allison Wienhold, who teaches high-school Spanish in the small town of Dunkerton, Iowa, has phased out homework assignments over the past three years. Her thinking: Some of her students, she says, have little time for homework because they’re working 30 hours a week or responsible for looking after younger siblings.

As educators reduce or eliminate the homework they assign, it’s worth asking what amount and what kind of homework is best for students. It turns out that there’s some disagreement about this among researchers, who tend to fall in one of two camps.

In the first camp is Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Cooper conducted a review of the existing research on homework in the mid-2000s , and found that, up to a point, the amount of homework students reported doing correlates with their performance on in-class tests. This correlation, the review found, was stronger for older students than for younger ones.

This conclusion is generally accepted among educators, in part because it’s compatible with “the 10-minute rule,” a rule of thumb popular among teachers suggesting that the proper amount of homework is approximately 10 minutes per night, per grade level—that is, 10 minutes a night for first graders, 20 minutes a night for second graders, and so on, up to two hours a night for high schoolers.

In Cooper’s eyes, homework isn’t overly burdensome for the typical American kid. He points to a 2014 Brookings Institution report that found “little evidence that the homework load has increased for the average student”; onerous amounts of homework, it determined, are indeed out there, but relatively rare. Moreover, the report noted that most parents think their children get the right amount of homework, and that parents who are worried about under-assigning outnumber those who are worried about over-assigning. Cooper says that those latter worries tend to come from a small number of communities with “concerns about being competitive for the most selective colleges and universities.”

According to Alfie Kohn, squarely in camp two, most of the conclusions listed in the previous three paragraphs are questionable. Kohn, the author of The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing , considers homework to be a “reliable extinguisher of curiosity,” and has several complaints with the evidence that Cooper and others cite in favor of it. Kohn notes, among other things, that Cooper’s 2006 meta-analysis doesn’t establish causation, and that its central correlation is based on children’s (potentially unreliable) self-reporting of how much time they spend doing homework. (Kohn’s prolific writing on the subject alleges numerous other methodological faults.)

In fact, other correlations make a compelling case that homework doesn’t help. Some countries whose students regularly outperform American kids on standardized tests, such as Japan and Denmark, send their kids home with less schoolwork , while students from some countries with higher homework loads than the U.S., such as Thailand and Greece, fare worse on tests. (Of course, international comparisons can be fraught because so many factors, in education systems and in societies at large, might shape students’ success.)

Kohn also takes issue with the way achievement is commonly assessed. “If all you want is to cram kids’ heads with facts for tomorrow’s tests that they’re going to forget by next week, yeah, if you give them more time and make them do the cramming at night, that could raise the scores,” he says. “But if you’re interested in kids who know how to think or enjoy learning, then homework isn’t merely ineffective, but counterproductive.”

His concern is, in a way, a philosophical one. “The practice of homework assumes that only academic growth matters, to the point that having kids work on that most of the school day isn’t enough,” Kohn says. What about homework’s effect on quality time spent with family? On long-term information retention? On critical-thinking skills? On social development? On success later in life? On happiness? The research is quiet on these questions.

Another problem is that research tends to focus on homework’s quantity rather than its quality, because the former is much easier to measure than the latter. While experts generally agree that the substance of an assignment matters greatly (and that a lot of homework is uninspiring busywork), there isn’t a catchall rule for what’s best—the answer is often specific to a certain curriculum or even an individual student.

Given that homework’s benefits are so narrowly defined (and even then, contested), it’s a bit surprising that assigning so much of it is often a classroom default, and that more isn’t done to make the homework that is assigned more enriching. A number of things are preserving this state of affairs—things that have little to do with whether homework helps students learn.

Jack Schneider, the Massachusetts parent and professor, thinks it’s important to consider the generational inertia of the practice. “The vast majority of parents of public-school students themselves are graduates of the public education system,” he says. “Therefore, their views of what is legitimate have been shaped already by the system that they would ostensibly be critiquing.” In other words, many parents’ own history with homework might lead them to expect the same for their children, and anything less is often taken as an indicator that a school or a teacher isn’t rigorous enough. (This dovetails with—and complicates—the finding that most parents think their children have the right amount of homework.)

Barbara Stengel, an education professor at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, brought up two developments in the educational system that might be keeping homework rote and unexciting. The first is the importance placed in the past few decades on standardized testing, which looms over many public-school classroom decisions and frequently discourages teachers from trying out more creative homework assignments. “They could do it, but they’re afraid to do it, because they’re getting pressure every day about test scores,” Stengel says.

Second, she notes that the profession of teaching, with its relatively low wages and lack of autonomy, struggles to attract and support some of the people who might reimagine homework, as well as other aspects of education. “Part of why we get less interesting homework is because some of the people who would really have pushed the limits of that are no longer in teaching,” she says.

“In general, we have no imagination when it comes to homework,” Stengel says. She wishes teachers had the time and resources to remake homework into something that actually engages students. “If we had kids reading—anything, the sports page, anything that they’re able to read—that’s the best single thing. If we had kids going to the zoo, if we had kids going to parks after school, if we had them doing all of those things, their test scores would improve. But they’re not. They’re going home and doing homework that is not expanding what they think about.”

“Exploratory” is one word Mike Simpson used when describing the types of homework he’d like his students to undertake. Simpson is the head of the Stone Independent School, a tiny private high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that opened in 2017. “We were lucky to start a school a year and a half ago,” Simpson says, “so it’s been easy to say we aren’t going to assign worksheets, we aren’t going assign regurgitative problem sets.” For instance, a half-dozen students recently built a 25-foot trebuchet on campus.

Simpson says he thinks it’s a shame that the things students have to do at home are often the least fulfilling parts of schooling: “When our students can’t make the connection between the work they’re doing at 11 o’clock at night on a Tuesday to the way they want their lives to be, I think we begin to lose the plot.”

When I talked with other teachers who did homework makeovers in their classrooms, I heard few regrets. Brandy Young, a second-grade teacher in Joshua, Texas, stopped assigning take-home packets of worksheets three years ago, and instead started asking her students to do 20 minutes of pleasure reading a night. She says she’s pleased with the results, but she’s noticed something funny. “Some kids,” she says, “really do like homework.” She’s started putting out a bucket of it for students to draw from voluntarily—whether because they want an additional challenge or something to pass the time at home.

Chris Bronke, a high-school English teacher in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, told me something similar. This school year, he eliminated homework for his class of freshmen, and now mostly lets students study on their own or in small groups during class time. It’s usually up to them what they work on each day, and Bronke has been impressed by how they’ve managed their time.

In fact, some of them willingly spend time on assignments at home, whether because they’re particularly engaged, because they prefer to do some deeper thinking outside school, or because they needed to spend time in class that day preparing for, say, a biology test the following period. “They’re making meaningful decisions about their time that I don’t think education really ever gives students the experience, nor the practice, of doing,” Bronke said.

The typical prescription offered by those overwhelmed with homework is to assign less of it—to subtract. But perhaps a more useful approach, for many classrooms, would be to create homework only when teachers and students believe it’s actually needed to further the learning that takes place in class—to start with nothing, and add as necessary.

Why I Think All Schools Should Abolish Homework

H ow long is your child’s workweek? Thirty hours? Forty? Would it surprise you to learn that some elementary school kids have workweeks comparable to adults’ schedules? For most children, mandatory homework assignments push their workweek far beyond the school day and deep into what any other laborers would consider overtime. Even without sports or music or other school-sponsored extracurriculars, the daily homework slog keeps many students on the clock as long as lawyers, teachers, medical residents, truck drivers and other overworked adults. Is it any wonder that,deprived of the labor protections that we provide adults, our kids are suffering an epidemic of disengagement, anxiety and depression ?

With my youngest child just months away from finishing high school, I’m remembering all the needless misery and missed opportunities all three of my kids suffered because of their endless assignments. When my daughters were in middle school, I would urge them into bed before midnight and then find them clandestinely studying under the covers with a flashlight. We cut back on their activities but still found ourselves stuck in a system on overdrive, returning home from hectic days at 6 p.m. only to face hours more of homework. Now, even as a senior with a moderate course load, my son, Zak, has spent many weekends studying, finding little time for the exercise and fresh air essential to his well-being. Week after week, and without any extracurriculars, Zak logs a lot more than the 40 hours adults traditionally work each week — and with no recognition from his “bosses” that it’s too much. I can’t count the number of shared evenings, weekend outings and dinners that our family has missed and will never get back.

How much after-school time should our schools really own?

In the midst of the madness last fall, Zak said to me, “I feel like I’m working towards my death. The constant demands on my time since 5th grade are just going to continue through graduation, into college, and then into my job. It’s like I’m on an endless treadmill with no time for living.”

My spirit crumbled along with his.

Like Zak, many people are now questioning the point of putting so much demand on children and teens that they become thinly stretched and overworked. Studies have long shown that there is no academic benefit to high school homework that consumes more than a modest number of hours each week. In a study of high schoolers conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), researchers concluded that “after around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance.”

In elementary school, where we often assign overtime even to the youngest children, studies have shown there’s no academic benefit to any amount of homework at all.

Our unquestioned acceptance of homework also flies in the face of all we know about human health, brain function and learning. Brain scientists know that rest and exercise are essential to good health and real learning . Even top adult professionals in specialized fields take care to limit their work to concentrated periods of focus. A landmark study of how humans develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work only about four hours per day .

Yet we continue to overwork our children, depriving them of the chance to cultivate health and learn deeply, burdening them with an imbalance of sedentary, academic tasks. American high school students , in fact, do more homework each week than their peers in the average country in the OECD, a 2014 report found.

It’s time for an uprising.

Already, small rebellions are starting. High schools in Ridgewood, N.J. , and Fairfax County, Va., among others, have banned homework over school breaks. The entire second grade at Taylor Elementary School in Arlington, Va., abolished homework this academic year. Burton Valley Elementary School in Lafayette, Calif., has eliminated homework in grades K through 4. Henry West Laboratory School , a public K-8 school in Coral Gables, Fla., eliminated mandatory, graded homework for optional assignments. One Lexington, Mass., elementary school is piloting a homework-free year, replacing it with reading for pleasure.

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Across the Atlantic, students in Spain launched a national strike against excessive assignments in November. And a second-grade teacher in Texas, made headlines this fall when she quit sending home extra work , instead urging families to “spend your evenings doing things that are proven to correlate with student success. Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside and get your child to bed early.”

It is time that we call loudly for a clear and simple change: a workweek limit for children, counting time on the clock before and after the final bell. Why should schools extend their authority far beyond the boundaries of campus, dictating activities in our homes in the hours that belong to families? An all-out ban on after-school assignments would be optimal. Short of that, we can at least sensibly agree on a cap limiting kids to a 40-hour workweek — and fewer hours for younger children.

Resistance even to this reasonable limit will be rife. Mike Miller, an English teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., found this out firsthand when he spearheaded a homework committee to rethink the usual approach. He had read the education research and found a forgotten policy on the county books limiting homework to two hours a night, total, including all classes. “I thought it would be a slam dunk” to put the two-hour cap firmly in place, Miller said.

But immediately, people started balking. “There was a lot of fear in the community,” Miller said. “It’s like jumping off a high dive with your kids’ future. If we reduce homework to two hours or less, is my kid really going to be okay?” In the end, the committee only agreed to a homework ban over school breaks.

Miller’s response is a great model for us all. He decided to limit assignments in his own class to 20 minutes a night (the most allowed for a student with six classes to hit the two-hour max). His students didn’t suddenly fail. Their test scores remained stable. And they started using their more breathable schedule to do more creative, thoughtful work.

That’s the way we will get to a sane work schedule for kids: by simultaneously pursuing changes big and small. Even as we collaboratively press for policy changes at the district or individual school level, all teachers can act now, as individuals, to ease the strain on overworked kids.

As parents and students, we can also organize to make homework the exception rather than the rule. We can insist that every family, teacher and student be allowed to opt out of assignments without penalty to make room for important activities, and we can seek changes that shift practice exercises and assignments into the actual school day.

We’ll know our work is done only when Zak and every other child can clock out, eat dinner, sleep well and stay healthy — the very things needed to engage and learn deeply. That’s the basic standard the law applies to working adults. Let’s do the same for our kids.

Vicki Abeles is the author of the bestseller Beyond Measure: Rescuing an Overscheduled, Overtested, Underestimated Generation, and director and producer of the documentaries “ Race to Nowhere ” and “ Beyond Measure. ”

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Should schools still set homework? 

Published 12th March 2019 by Frog Education

The ‘should schools be setting homework?’ debate is age-old and well-trodden, offering different opinions from pupils, teachers, parents, educational specialists and even neurologists. Is homework bad for your health? Is it a waste of time? What are the benefits of homework? Can it make you smarter? Just a few of the questions that frequently recur when asking whether schools should still be setting homework.    

Is homework a waste of time?

It’s understandable why some pupils regard homework as punishment. For them, out of school hours is free time and homework encroaches on that. Steals it away, never to be regained for activities they would prefer to do. An example of one pupil’s view is given in their online petition asking the government to ban homework. The secondary school student argues that teachers get a weekend so it is unfair to ask children to work out of school hours.

But is that true? Are our teachers free from work at the weekend? Recent figures would suggest not. The 2018 Global Teacher Status Index (GTSI) polled 35 countries and found that British teachers are working some of the longest hours; around 51 hours a week. And it’s not just the homework-hating-petition-making pupil that underestimates a teacher’s workload. A recent TES article on the study explains that the British public underrated the number of hours a teacher works by a “whole school day less per week”. Meaning many teachers will rely on evenings and weekends to squeeze that extra day into their working week.

The notion that homework is an additional burden on overloaded teachers was reinforced in 2016, when the principle at Philip Morant School and College banned homework to free up teachers’ time to plan better lessons. “School bans homework” makes a great headline but what the school actually proposed was for pupils to choose the work they do at home. The school recognises the requirement for continued out-of-school learning but suggests little value was placed on the way homework was previously set and marked. Indicating they felt it was an inefficient use of teachers’ time.   

Does homework make you ill?

Whether children consider homework as fair or a punishment, or teachers feel their time could be spent more effectively, there is a more serious element to consider. Is homework actually damaging student health? The well-cited Stanford research showed a correlation between excessive homework and children’s physical health. Over half the pupils interviewed in the study attributed homework as one of the biggest stress factors in their lives. 

So, if homework is potentially bad for health, pupils regard it as punishment and it adds to the workload stress for teachers, why do the majority of both secondary and primary schools set and abide by a homework policy?

Should students set their own homework?

For Maurice Elias , Professor of Psychology and a specialist in emotional intelligence in students, asking whether homework should be banned is the wrong question. Instead, we should be thinking about how we can ensure students retain what they have learned and are “primed to learn more”. He argues children need to understand life will expect them to always be learners which is why he is against the setting of no homework policies; “It sends the wrong message. The policy should be, ‘No time-wasting, rote, repetitive tasks will be assigned that lack clear instructional or learning purposes.’” He prefers the terms ‘continued learning’ or ‘ongoing growth activities’ indicating a  more student-led approach to out-of-school learning.

In place of the nightly confrontation we have with our children to determine what has been set, will we be asking ‘what are your plans for ongoing growth activity this evening?’

Which leads to an important consideration of the role of parents in home learning. The response to the Philip Morant School and College’s decision to replace set homework with an innovative self-learning approach triggered a parent-led revolt . Their main argument being that the “random” tasks assigned were considered voluntary by students and parents were concerned their children were “slacking”. So, instead of fostering independence and self-motivation in students, did the new policy just shift the responsibility of setting homework from the teacher to parents; who now have to police their child’s out of school learning?

With over 70% of UK families with both parents in work and almost half of these families with both parents working full-time, it is surely unrealistic to expect them to take on this additional accountability in their child’s education. Is this maybe the more likely reason for the parents’ concern and the root of their opposition?

Regardless of the reason, parent power won and in 2018 the school re-introduced the more structured approach of compulsory homework set and marked by teachers. This unsuccessful experiment may have been avoided if they’d consulted with Prof. John Hattie. His comprehensive studies into what makes for effective learning in schools has earned him the reputation as one of the most influential education academics. He told the BBC’s Sarah Montague in an interview that “the worst thing you can do with homework is give kids projects” and actually reinforcing what they have already learned is the best approach.

Can E dTech help make homework benefit all ?

If we can agree that homework helps develop a lifelong habit of independent learning and reinforces what is learned in school, then the setting of compulsory homework still has its place in the majority of schools today. But there is certainly a balance to be struck. One where the benefits of home learning are not outweighed by the time-intensity of setting, marking and completing the tasks.  

With the rise of edtech in schools and the adoption of 3 rd party home learning solutions that set and mark curriculum-based tasks, can the way be paved for a future where homework serves the teacher, the pupils and the parents?

Today, home learning software means that with a few clicks or tablet taps from the teacher, pre-built content can be selected, assigned and digitally distributed to pupils. This certainly reduces time spent creating homework and restores lesson time for teaching rather than the setting of homework.

Once the tasks are completed, the software automatically marks and provides feedback. A TES article on teacher’s workload cited a 2016 Canvas VLE report which found over half of UK teachers said time spent on marking negatively impacted time with pupils in the classroom. So, taking the marking element off teacher’s shoulders is a valuable benefit to both pupils and teachers.

It continues that 78% of UK teachers point to the increasing need for continual tracking of pupil performance as making the situation worse. With homework management software providing instant feedback and data, teachers can now quickly gauge how well the class have absorbed the knowledge (helping them evaluate the effectiveness of their lesson or even plan future lessons), and identify if there are individuals that need additional help with a subject.

Immediate feedback is also relayed to the pupil; providing them with insight on where they may need to further their knowledge or understanding of the subject. And of course, parents can have full visibility of their child’s homework tasks, safe in the knowledge that no-one is slacking.  

In consideration of pupils’ home learning needs, teachers’ workloads, the increasing requirement for feedback and data in schools, and everyone’s time in general, can these edtech solutions help homework become the effective learning method it was always meant to be?

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Teachers often cancel recess as a punishment. A growing number of states want to change that. 

This article about recess was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s newsletter .

In Florida, kids in a second grade class were told to walk laps during recess after no one confessed to taking money from a classmate. In Kentucky, a first grader who hadn’t been paying attention in class had to sit on a bench next to his teacher and watch his friends play. In Texas, after a few students misbehaved, an entire first grade class had to sit inside silently for recess.

Amid long, structured school days filled with academic demands, recess serves as a critical outlet and break for kids, according to pediatricians and child development experts. 

But, on any given day, an untold number of children in elementary schools nationwide have all or part of their recess revoked for infractions such as failing to finish their work, talking out of turn or not following directions. The long-standing and common punishment in schools occurs even though the practice flies in the face of considerable research supporting the importance of free play for young children.

Recently, there has been growing momentum to pass laws to protect recess time. Lawmakers in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Minnesota introduced bills over the past year to prohibit schools from withholding recess as a punishment. 

If successful, these states would go further than nearly anywhere else in the U.S. in banning the practice. Eleven other states and Washington, D.C. — as well as districts including the Austin Independent School District in Texas and the New York City Department of Education — have laws or policies that limit how teachers can use the punishment, but few have outright bans. 

Most states still allow the practice, and in places that restrict it, enforcement can be rare. Even in states that mandate physical activity or recess time, some parents report their children still sometimes lose entire recess periods. Overwhelmed educators have pushed back against losing disciplinary options or have continued withholding recess, with few consequences. 

The Hechinger Report spoke to 18 parents and students and collected 60 additional examples from parents and teachers nationwide via social media and public testimony, all detailing the stories of young students who lost recess time — including in states without laws addressing the practice but where official guidelines advise against the punishment and in districts where it is prohibited.

“When it happened to my child, my first thought was, ‘Is this legal?’” said Maren Christenson Hofer, who said her son, who has autism, lost recess more than once in kindergarten in Minnesota. “My second thought was, ‘Has this person ever met a child before?’”

Advocates for disability rights and experts in child development say withholding recess is a type of “ shadow discipline ,” informal punishments that are rarely recorded. Similar methods include silent lunches and making children stand outside the classroom. While other forms of discipline, such as suspensions and expulsions, can also be detrimental to children, they’re formally reported, with data that is transparent to parents and the public. 

But because shadow discipline methods aren’t tracked in the same way, it’s hard to know who receives these punishments or which schools use them most often. One survey found that 86 percent of teachers in the U.S. have decreased or taken away recess as a punishment for bad behavior.

Related: Kids can learn more from guided play than from direct instruction, report finds

There are myriad reasons why recess continues to be revoked. Dealing with challenging student behavior can be exhausting for teachers who work long hours and, in many cases, lack support in responding to student misbehavior. In some cases, the directive comes from the top. School districts nationwide have made recess detention part of their formal discipline policy, which in many cases is included in student handbooks.

Part of the appeal is that taking away recess can be a quick way to get some kids to comply, experts say. 

“I don’t really believe it’s the teacher’s intention to damage the children,” said Rebecca London, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of the book “ Rethinking Recess .” “I think they use it as a threat because it’s the time kids want the most.”

Still, the practice has long been identified as harmful. In 2013 the American Academy of Pediatrics released a position statement on recess stressing that it “not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons.” Recess, the group argued, is a “crucial and necessary component of a child’s development.”

‘Let them be kids’

In Midland, Texas, Rachel Davis said her two children have lost recess numerous times over the past four years. Instead of playing, they have been told to walk laps or have had to stay inside to finish work. 

“It’s so unnecessary,” Davis said. “Let them be kids.”

Experts say that while walking laps gives children an opportunity to engage in physical activity, it makes that activity a negative, rather than a positive, experience.

Withholding recess as a punishment can negatively affect a child’s relationships with teachers, feelings about school and sense of self-worth. It is a punishment that is especially stigmatizing and visible to their peers, child development experts say.

Related: How PE teachers are tackling ‘physical learning loss’

“That has potential repercussions in terms of their willingness to go to school, their attachment to school and the benefits they get from it,” said Dr. Marc Gorelick, president and chief executive officer of the pediatric health system Children’s Minnesota.

Last September, when Davis’ 8-year-old son returned to school after recovering from Covid, Davis said he came home and had a “complete and absolute meltdown.” Her son told her he wasn’t allowed to go to recess or any special classes that day, like art or physical education, and instead had to sit and make up the work he had missed.

“This is absolutely ridiculous,” Davis said. “Haven’t we given up enough of our child’s day without having to fight to protect recess?”

Davis called the principal at her son’s school, who agreed to allow him to go to recess and specials. But two months later, in November, her son’s teacher emailed Davis and said he would be staying in for part of his recess to redo a final draft of his writing project because it was “not final draft quality.” Davis was furious. “He is not going to stay in nor is that okay!” she responded in an email.

Related: Sent home early: Lost learning in special education

Elana Ladd, spokeswoman for the Midland Independent School District, said the district does not have a policy on withholding recess. The district follows state code, which requires elementary school students to have 30 minutes of physical activity a day, which could include recess or a physical education class. 

There have been efforts in Texas to legally protect recess. In 2019, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, vetoed legislation that would have required districts to create a recess policy that included required recess time and addressed recess withholding. Abbott said in a statement at the time that he appreciated the bill’s “good intentions” but argued it would have amounted to “bureaucracy for bureaucracy’s sake.”

In the absence of a state law, the Austin Independent School District school board passed a policy in 2016 that prohibits taking away recess as a punishment. Yet nine parents in the district  told The Hechinger Report in interviews or messages on social media that their children lost recess or were told to walk laps due to forgetting homework or misbehaving in the years since the policy went into effect.

Related: Some kids have returned to in-person learning only to be kicked right back out

Lisa, an Austin parent who spoke on the condition that her last name be withheld out of fear of retaliation from district officials, said her son had recess withheld when he was in first grade several years ago. In one case, her son told her that when he forgot to bring homework to school, he had to walk laps outside, a practice he said was common in his class. 

“That’s not appropriate,” Lisa said. “They’re not in the military.” Her son now attends a different school in the district where she said recess is not withheld.

Anthony Mays, Austin’s chief officer of schools, said he was surprised to hear recess was being withheld, though he acknowledged that the policy was not frequently communicated or enforced.

“We hope this is not a practice that’s widespread,” Mays said. “We value that opportunity for students to have that unstructured play time.”

In early April, after being contacted by The Hechinger Report, the district sent a memo to elementary principals to remind them that students should be attending recess, and directing them to immediately remind all teachers and staff of the policy. 

‘They’re not taught anything about recess’ 

Illinois is the most recent state to attempt to protect children’s recess time. A 2021 law made it mandatory to provide 30 minutes of daily, unstructured recess for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Unlike similar recess laws in Arizona and Florida , the law also prohibits schools from taking away recess as a disciplinary measure. 

After the law passed in Illinois, one teacher expressed her frustration in a public Facebook post. Recess, she wrote, was her “detention” time for addressing incomplete homework, behavior issues and makeup work with her students. “The kids have caught on pretty quickly,” to the fact that recess can’t be taken away, she wrote. “It doesn’t matter if they misbehave, it doesn’t matter if they don’t want to do their work.”

Experts say it’s up to school districts to make sure that teachers receive support if they’re struggling with challenging behaviors. Training in better classroom management practices could also stem turnover: Many teachers say classroom management struggles are a primary reason for leaving the job.

Across schools, there’s a need to reframe the way teachers approach classroom management in the early grades, said Cara Holt, a professional learning specialist for NWEA, a nonprofit focused on assessment and instruction. “It doesn’t have to be about consequences as it is about teaching them in that moment,” Holt said. That means making sure students understand why certain rules are set, “instead of being punitive,” she added.

Related: We know how to help young kids cope with the trauma of the last year — but will we do it?

When teachers withhold recess, they might be acting against their own best interests. Extensive research shows why recess is beneficial: Children are more attentive and productive and perform better cognitively after recess. Time for free play helps kids develop social skills, communication skills and coping skills like perseverance, stress management and self-control. Elementary school principals have reported that recess has a positive impact on academic performance and that students are more focused afterward.

“Play is how kids learn,” London said. “It’s their social time, emotional time, physical activity time, time to connect with other children, their time to be imaginative.” 

But these benefits may not be clear to all educators, especially when they feel strapped for time for academics and test prep.

“It’s not that teachers are actively taught, ‘You should take away recess as a good class management technique,’” London said. “They’re not taught anything about recess.”

‘I have really bad memories’ 

In Minnesota, the efforts to pass a bill banning the exclusion of students from recess have largely been led by parent advocates, including Christenson Hofer. Her son, Simon, 11, said when he was denied recess several times in kindergarten, he felt “just depressed.” The practice was also ineffective, he added, as he was “not likely to make better choices. I didn’t feel it was helping.”

The Hechinger Report spoke to two additional families in the district, and reviewed eight additional examples of parents who said their children have lost recess as a punishment in Minneapolis Public Schools over the past decade, provided as public testimony and letters in support of the new legislation. 

Remy Fortuin, 15, remembers being taken to a special education classroom instead of recess as an attempt to calm him down when he was overstimulated in elementary school. “I hated it,” he said. “I have really bad memories of that room.” On the days he was held inside during recess, he would run out at pickup time like he was in a panic, his mother, Nikki Fortuin said.

Related: How a growing number of states are hoping to improve kids’ brains and exercise

Crystina Lugo-Beach, media relations coordinator with Minneapolis Public Schools, said that the district’s wellness policy states that all elementary children should receive a minimum of 30 minutes of daily recess, and that excluding children from physical activity due to behavior is “in violation of the district’s behavior standards.” When asked how the district enforces the policy, Lugo-Beach said reminders about the wellness policy are periodically sent to school principals. She said the district is unable to verify the claims of recess being withheld.

On a Friday morning in March, Simon joined a virtual Minnesota House education policy committee meeting to support new legislation that would ban withholding recess. He didn’t remember what he did that made his teachers take recess away, he told the committee. 

“But I am autistic. So, there is a pretty good chance it had something to do with my anxiety,” he added. “I get anxious a lot in school. And sometimes I say things I shouldn’t when I get stressed out. Sometimes I need to move my body when my teachers want me to sit still.”

The bill received pushback.

“I know my grandson has had to stay in and miss recess because he misbehaved. You know, he got over it,” said Rep. Sondra Erickson, a Republican and former teacher, after testimony about the bill. She questioned what teachers could do about misbehavior if they lose the ability to withhold recess. 

Despite opposition from Erickson and several others, the proposed ban on taking away recess passed the education policy committee and has since been added to a pending education policy bill. 

Even if the ban doesn’t pass, Christenson Hofer sees a positive change already. 

“More parents are feeling empowered to talk to their schools about the practice of withholding recess and why it needs to come to an end,” she said. “Even if we have to take another run at it again next year, at least we are having this important conversation.”

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Teacher Voices

Old-school discipline doesn’t work any more – and shouldn’t

Why last year’s discipline reforms were the right move, and why we need to go further.

Martin Blythe

April 24, 2022, 53 comments.

When I went to school, corporal punishment was still a thing; California banned it in 1986. Did we miss it, really? No, we didn’t. Last September, new discipline guidelines for California schools were announced that limited suspensions. Do we miss the old policy, really? No, we don’t.

This week, I decided to look back at what EdSource wrote about the changes six months ago, and I re-read the letters in response. Oh my.  They were furiously apocalyptic. I will quote only one mild one: “ This is Absolutely Absurd — no discipline, no accountability. ” Were these letter writers right? Have we gotten rid of “discipline” or “accountability”? Have things gotten worse in our schools since the policy changed? Not really.

I can only see the view from where I teach in a Los Angeles public high school, but I think things have improved. Sure, there are still some difficult students who would be much better off in a nonpublic school, and there have been a few fights, but the police are gone, and there are barely any suspensions. The mood of the school seems positive. The reforms have worked. 

The culture of discipline and punishment we have lived with offers a choice that every school makes, just as cities like Los Angeles have had to decide whether to make sweeping criminal justice reforms. Schools that buck the trend and continue to dole out punishment for minor “infractions” end up producing the very thing they wanted to attack: more bad behavior. The happiest schools are those where they know when to turn a blind eye.

This is why I believe the absolute worst job in education today is being responsible for “discipline.” There are ways to do this job without being overzealous, without resorting to harassing students (or teachers), but this job changes people for the worse. After a time, when every nail they see needs to be hammered, they become consumed by it. I see this in other administrators and teachers too.

What would I prefer to see? I believe that schools need to apply “least restrictive environment” (LRE), a concept important in special education, which I teach, to school discipline. I know many teachers who would be very uncomfortable adopting this approach, but, if least restrictive environment is central to the mental health of special ed students, who are generally our most challenged, why cannot it be applied to all students?   This approach should be formalized in state law and discussed in district-sponsored workshops and professional development sessions. 

When state Sen. Anthony Portantino wants to require mental health training for teachers and staff ( Senate Bill 387 ), he is addressing the problem from the wrong end. It serves no point to drum into teachers that the pandemic has led to student depression and disaffection because teachers know this already. The individualized solution — spotting the distressed student and making referrals to our new wellness specialists and psychiatric social workers — doesn’t address what’s wrong at school. A better goal would be to identify and implement the least restrictive environment approach at a whole-school level and allow students to indulge in their natural urge to laugh and have fun. Lunchtime music and events in the central quad of my school are but one example. 

Why else would we do this? First, the relationship between teachers and students has changed over the years, just as society has changed, and we need to accept this, not fight against it, nor blame parents. Authoritarian and hierarchical teaching styles and discipline simply don’t work anymore. I am always surprised when conservatives insist that they do. They should visit a classroom. Respect and civility still matter, but teachers and students need to earn it from each other, by working collaboratively on shared goals. This minimizes conflict and the need for discipline.

Second, if we want to build on this collaboration, then project-based learning and diverse electives and sports are the best way to meet academic goals, not the single-minded pursuit of English and math, and we need a different grading system to match. I am always delighted when my wobbly nin th graders discover how much they love music or art or dance or wrestling. It steadies them.

Third, discipline problems arise because certain students don’t think school offers them what they need. The unrelenting drive to send all students to college causes a lot of unwelcome stress. This becomes a discipline problem closely related to absenteeism because many of my students want to leave school right now. They want to work with their families in construction or house cleaning or day care, partly because they can’t afford not to and partly because they do not want to go to college. We should be providing them with classes that will make them effective in their chosen careers, such as via career tech education. Our job is to present alternatives, not enforce our choice over theirs.

Martin Blythe  teaches special education English at Canoga Park High School in Los Angeles and is a member of EdSource’s  Teachers Advisory Group . 

The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our  guidelines  and  contact us .

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Haley Bartolotta 6 months ago 6 months ago

The problem is when the lack of discipline is followed by a lack of expectation for respectful behavior. What has changed is we have entitled kids who feel untouchable because there is not common ground on what appropriate behavior in a school setting looks like. You will always have those students pushing the boundaries but when the boundaries are not established we give students enough rope to make really poor decisions. … Read More

The problem is when the lack of discipline is followed by a lack of expectation for respectful behavior. What has changed is we have entitled kids who feel untouchable because there is not common ground on what appropriate behavior in a school setting looks like. You will always have those students pushing the boundaries but when the boundaries are not established we give students enough rope to make really poor decisions.

Less suspensions and disciplinary action would be fine if our society reflected discipline and self-control or if a good talking too was enough and kids magically learned from a wise conversation but they don’t.

There is a direct connection between behavioral expectations and academic performance. The school system and parents need to come to a common ground on what expectations we have for students so they develop to be kind intelligent human beings.

harmony 3 hours ago 3 hours ago

John cusack 6 months ago 6 months ago.

Do you have any evidence to even suggest modern methods are more effective and why? The prevalence of the modern phenomenon of school shootings suggests you’re wrong,

Joseph 10 months ago 10 months ago

1) Please do not refer to an entire group as being at fault by saying 'conservatives'. That's disrespectful and quite presumptuous of anyone at any level. 2) Your comments that times have changed is accurate and our approach needs to change with it. Authoritarian styles don't work. True. But hierarchical structures are necessary and need to be backed by authoritative styles. The difference between these two concepts is immense and research proven to be effective. … Read More

1) Please do not refer to an entire group as being at fault by saying ‘conservatives’. That’s disrespectful and quite presumptuous of anyone at any level.

2) Your comments that times have changed is accurate and our approach needs to change with it. Authoritarian styles don’t work. True. But hierarchical structures are necessary and need to be backed by authoritative styles. The difference between these two concepts is immense and research proven to be effective.

3) Students are not to be held on equal footing with teachers. Collaborative styles are appropriate at times, but all students need to understand that they are to submit to a higher authority with respect and learn to question and grow after listening, not to question before listening. There is no value in doubting someone’s authority if you never give it a chance, something we see a lot as a problem in our society today.

Thank you for your insight. I believe your thoughts come from a good place, but you would be well served to spend more time thinking through all consequences of your approach. Give students responsibility and guided freedom of choice and they can thrive. Give students, or anyone really, too much freedom of choice, and they will become overwhelmed and make bad choices at a higher frequency.

Dak 8 months ago 8 months ago

Yeah… I came to article looking for advice. When I got to the conservative part- it brought in politics and discredited a lot of work.

Melani 11 months ago 11 months ago

This is nonsense. It sounds really nice, but it’s nonsense.

Beven Taulakavania 12 months ago 12 months ago

Everywhere in the Globe we are caught up with the same problem. I believe this is because we spend less time with our kids talking and mentoring them on values and behaviors. Rather they spend a lot of their times in front of their screens. Their screen taught them so much more than we parents and teachers.

Dereck 1 year ago 1 year ago

I don't disagree with the concept of turning a blind eye to small infractions, but developmentally young students need to be taught boundaries. The only way to enforce boundaries is with discipline, but discipline doesn't always have to be negative. Nonetheless, it must exist. If we fail to provide this in school, these students will have virtually no chance in the real world where there is very little tolerance for the types of behaviors that … Read More

I don’t disagree with the concept of turning a blind eye to small infractions, but developmentally young students need to be taught boundaries. The only way to enforce boundaries is with discipline, but discipline doesn’t always have to be negative. Nonetheless, it must exist. If we fail to provide this in school, these students will have virtually no chance in the real world where there is very little tolerance for the types of behaviors that we are seeing today.

Very few companies operate like Google, where you get to do whatever you want so long as the work gets done. The behaviors that we are seeing in schools today, up to and including vicious fist fights, are disciplined so minorly that kids are almost encouraged to do it again because the consequence was not dire. And, I think that that’s what this is all about: consequence.

There must be a consequence for any action. If you do something well, you get a reward or you get a good feeling for accomplishing something. If you do something bad, there needs to be some sort of corrective measure that ensures that you don’t repeat the said behavior. This does not, and should not, be a physical discipline issue. That is where I think most people agree. No adult has any business laying a hand on any child regardless of the age. However, pointed words, raised voices, and referrals should never be discouraged. Regardless of upper administration wants to deal with these things or not, it is their job. Teachers can only do so much, and seeing as we’ve been undermined at every possible angle, the only people left are the administrators. They need to step up and help us enforce consequences.

At the school I teach at, we have a social contract that students and teachers create at the beginning of every year in every class. The students know exactly what is expected of them, and they also know what possible consequences could happen. These consequences are rarely negative, and focus on the student reflecting on their behavior, why they made the decision they made, and what they plan to do to fix the problem. If it’s a habitual problem, we bring the parents in and discuss it with the child in the room. If it continues to be a problem, then – because I teach in a private school – we have the option to have the student not join us again for the following year. This is not the case for public schools.

The public schools have it far, far worse! To me, it seems like the wild wild west. There’s no consequences for just about anything, and students are just as scared of the kids causing the bad behavior as getting in trouble. This is a direct result of their not being consequences for bad behavior. Of course, it’s very difficult to enforce discipline when there’s no support from administration or the parents. So it’s a dead end!

But I certainly know that the answer is not to abandon discipline and or consequences. I think sometimes we give the kids far too much credit and rope that they are not yet capable of using. I hope this all makes sense, as I think that this is going to be the major educational topic for the next decade or so.

This was a great article, but I just don’t know if we are there yet as a society to implement what you’re talking about.

Sacha maurice 1 year ago 1 year ago

Kids today play the game and get away with absolutely anything because they know there’s nobody that will reprimand them. I went to school with punishment in place and knew if I crossed a line I would be punished.

Today at 55, I’m bringing up my 12 year old granddaughter who is getting bullied at school and the kids around her continue because they know there’s no repercussions. You think taking away discipline is a good idea – wow.

Nora 11 months ago 11 months ago

I don't think the author is against discipline per se, bur rather against "unreasonable" discipline. I'll give you an example: In my son's school teachers decided (after a tragic event in a nearby school) to give disciplinary punishments even for "turning one's head in the direction of a window" or "passing a pen sharpener to a mate". They are not allowed to make a single move in the classroom... Not to mention that this school … Read More

I don’t think the author is against discipline per se, bur rather against “unreasonable” discipline. I’ll give you an example: In my son’s school teachers decided (after a tragic event in a nearby school) to give disciplinary punishments even for “turning one’s head in the direction of a window” or “passing a pen sharpener to a mate”. They are not allowed to make a single move in the classroom… Not to mention that this school already had the best record of students’ discipline, i.e. no school fights, no harassment, no insulting, no rudeness to teachers… but after the tragic event they decided to take a step into an unreasonable direction, which resulted in depression among many of these kids.

Stephen Pierce 11 months ago 11 months ago

Unfortunately, you chose to offer a, well, ridiculously extreme example. I’m not saying it is not true; I take your word for it. However, these types of extreme methods are definitely not the norm and are bound to fail. Most of the commenters here are clearly experiencing the almost complete erosion of .the necessary courage by school officials to hold students accountable with consequences that have teeth. And both the students and teachers are suffering.

Christine Combs 1 year ago 1 year ago

We’ve all been well versed in the school to prison pipeline, but the alternative in Long Beach seems to be allowing kids to roam hallways, destroy bathrooms, and do drugs. Are we saying these large swaths of students are not headed to prison because they aren’t being suspended? And are we just ignoring the fact that they are receiving no education while they are wandering? Good parenting and good education are not dissimilar. They require … Read More

We’ve all been well versed in the school to prison pipeline, but the alternative in Long Beach seems to be allowing kids to roam hallways, destroy bathrooms, and do drugs. Are we saying these large swaths of students are not headed to prison because they aren’t being suspended? And are we just ignoring the fact that they are receiving no education while they are wandering?

Good parenting and good education are not dissimilar. They require both love and discipline. When you have one without the other you create either a bully or a sociopath. Let’s fix this.

Brian Frost 1 year ago 1 year ago

How many times have we seen the newest school philosophy coming out from California, but impractical in the real world. Perhaps in a controlled setting with administrators’ support, unlimited budgets it might work. We’ve been feed this malarkey from California for decades, it amazes me school districts still fall for anything coming out of California.

Ricco D Vance 9 months ago 9 months ago

Finally, someone posted nationally what I have said locally for years. Thank you!

P. Morales 1 year ago 1 year ago

As a parent I also applaud the new 2021 CA Dept of Education guidelines regarding suspensions. I would like to note however, that at our elementary school there are new more restrictive recess detention procedures that I have seen cropping up: 1) Detaining a child from recess because they weren't feeling well enough to bounce around in PE (with parent note). 2) Detaining a child from recess after a tardy at school. I'm starting to … Read More

As a parent I also applaud the new 2021 CA Dept of Education guidelines regarding suspensions. I would like to note however, that at our elementary school there are new more restrictive recess detention procedures that I have seen cropping up: 1) Detaining a child from recess because they weren’t feeling well enough to bounce around in PE (with parent note). 2) Detaining a child from recess after a tardy at school. I’m starting to ask this question: What is US school’s obsession with child punishment? What can parents do to stop the punitive detention trend w/or without top-down state guidelines?

Lori Lapierre 11 months ago 11 months ago

“What can parents do to stop the punitive detention trend w/or without top-down state guidelines?”. Oh my God… Parent! That’s what you can do!! Don’t expect the schools to do your job for you!!! We are teachers, not parents for your lack of parenting!!!

Matt Martellari 2 years ago 2 years ago

All due respect, but if student misbehavior has gotten worse, it's due to the teachers enabling it (either willingly or unwillingly). I just retired from LAUSD after 30 years and have seen discipline systems come and go. No one believes corporeal punishment is warranted (and it wasn't when I started with LAUSD when I started in 1990). You also equate firm discipline with conservatives. Really? Only conservatives believe in appropriate student behavior? I think what … Read More

All due respect, but if student misbehavior has gotten worse, it’s due to the teachers enabling it (either willingly or unwillingly). I just retired from LAUSD after 30 years and have seen discipline systems come and go. No one believes corporeal punishment is warranted (and it wasn’t when I started with LAUSD when I started in 1990). You also equate firm discipline with conservatives. Really? Only conservatives believe in appropriate student behavior? I think what you really want to say is that “discipline” is unfair to disadvantaged students (of course you don’t though).

Do you think it’s right when one out of control child necessitates that whole class leaving to a safe space until the child cools down? For the record, authority and hierarchical teaching definitely has its place in terms of student management. Your point of view, entitled to it as you are, is what has enabled student misbehavior. No, kids aren’t the problem, teachers like you are.

Thomas 2 years ago 2 years ago

“If I were to rate this blog, it’s an A+ for me!

I agree that old-school discipline doesn’t work any more – and be shouldn’t applied these days. The generation now is very different and the old disciple will no longer work.

If I were to ask you, can you site at least 3 discipline that would work nowadays?

I am hoping that you would keep on writing. I am your #1 fan!”

Interesting. As a teacher of 34 years who has worked in three different districts and countless colleagues, I see that students in an "old-school, hierarchical classroom" setting, tend to respond in like fashion. They are careful not to trample clearly defined protocol, they are quick to understand the boundaries, and then act accordingly. Whether they are happy to be there or are "having a good time," I can't say. In most … Read More

Interesting. As a teacher of 34 years who has worked in three different districts and countless colleagues, I see that students in an “old-school, hierarchical classroom” setting, tend to respond in like fashion. They are careful not to trample clearly defined protocol, they are quick to understand the boundaries, and then act accordingly. Whether they are happy to be there or are “having a good time,” I can’t say. In most cases, however, they seem to be learning, doing their work, and, apparently performing with competence on state exams. On the other hand, when students experience “less restrictive” classrooms such as you describe, I see more wandering in the classroom (not said with judgment), banter back and forth (between students & student-teacher), and general nonchalance about appearing visibly attentive and engaged. I doesn’t mean, however, that they are not. They just seem less concerned about showing it. The vast majority of the time, students are learning and retaining curriculum in both environments. Providing that in both classrooms, classroom management is conducted with enough competence (and support from admin), students can learn and perform well in both scenarios. In fact, the most recent neurological studies clearly indicate that methodology (of instruction and classroom management) matter A LOT less than educational leaders (and educational leeches trying sell “the new way”) would like us to believe.

John Samuel 2 years ago 2 years ago

I wholeheartedly disagree with this article. I’ve taught for 20 years and am a union leader in a large urban district. The move towards doing away with natural consequences, including suspensions, has resulted in a out-of-control, dangerous schools, increased bullying and low teacher and paraprofessional educator morale.

Ryan 1 year ago 1 year ago

I agree. It's not like old school discipline is really implemented anymore so anyway and what we see in society now is a lack of discipline. Growing up, I was never struck by a teacher but I did fear them and my parents. Kids now think the world revolves around them because the adults have failed to teach them about real life consequences or reality as an adult for that matter. … Read More

I agree. It’s not like old school discipline is really implemented anymore so anyway and what we see in society now is a lack of discipline. Growing up, I was never struck by a teacher but I did fear them and my parents. Kids now think the world revolves around them because the adults have failed to teach them about real life consequences or reality as an adult for that matter. Building positive relationships with students is a good thing but if there’s no fear of consequences or authority, you see the schools now being run by the students. That should never happen but we’re too soft on them now.

Leave teaching 2 years ago 2 years ago

I truly feel sorry for any students who are in your class because I know first hand what it was like to go through this hell that you promote. Stop ruining education! I saw this new age philosophy cause so much suffering to an amazing teacher who was already going through total hell. I saw what it did to my teachers who were amazing btw who became so miserable when that new age principal came and ruined our school culture.

Ellen 2 years ago 2 years ago

Yes it does work. What is happening today is a joke with the b.s. restorative justice. More teachers and students are getting physically and verbally assaulted. Why do you think so many teachers are leaving?

Rob Phillips 2 years ago 2 years ago

I so couldn't agree more regarding this.. all the old methods of discipline only create more problems with rebellion, anger, that then lead to depression, hopelessness, and create a repetitious cycle and destructive path. Though harsh discipline may seem to work in the immediate, the long term can really be destructive for the students. And also lead to lack of enthusiasm for school, learning etc. ... which obviously know where all this leads to. I … Read More

I so couldn’t agree more regarding this.. all the old methods of discipline only create more problems with rebellion, anger, that then lead to depression, hopelessness, and create a repetitious cycle and destructive path. Though harsh discipline may seem to work in the immediate, the long term can really be destructive for the students. And also lead to lack of enthusiasm for school, learning etc. … which obviously know where all this leads to. I think more emphasis should be put on ADHD, Asperger’s and similar. I know how hard it is to focus and not get bored then frustrated with things such as schoolwork and mass overloads of repetition which though important to keep fresh, really unnecessary for the amount contained to do so.

Martin Blythe 2 years ago 2 years ago

Thank you Rob. Exactly!

Teg Louis 2 years ago 2 years ago

This seems like a nonsequitor. I think almost every sane person would agree that the curriculum and the allowed pedagogy is school is overly hierarchical, and restrictive. But this post was about disclipine. I am okay with disciplining children when they are learning useful things.

Bob Smith 2 years ago 2 years ago

Strongly disagree with this. Students are too fragile these days. Do one thing and all of a sudden you are sexist, racist, too mean, too whatever. Let the kids figure it out on their own and let them hit rock bottom on their own (non special needs kids). You should learn at a young age the value of an education and simply have your own motivation to reach those goals. It really isn't that hard. … Read More

Strongly disagree with this. Students are too fragile these days. Do one thing and all of a sudden you are sexist, racist, too mean, too whatever. Let the kids figure it out on their own and let them hit rock bottom on their own (non special needs kids). You should learn at a young age the value of an education and simply have your own motivation to reach those goals. It really isn’t that hard. The kids that care will always care and try, the kids that don’t eventually have to find their own way, and if getting in fights and not listening to rules and authority sends them out the door, so be it. Teachers have 30+ other students that need/want to learn, 1 student getting kicked out won’t make a difference but changes the whole mood and tone of the class when they get kicked out.

Simply speaking of the talk back attitudes, high/drug abusing students. By all means help those that struggling with anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses but the don’t care attitude ones, let them go.

C. Corigliano 2 years ago 2 years ago

Plato said most succinctly: You cannot discipline the mind without disciplining the body. Those making these changes should spend a few weeks teaching 6 periods a day in my school. Then ask them about the new rules. Just sayin’

tm 2 years ago 2 years ago

Kids need structure. Letting them go willy nilly is not the answer; this is why the whole education system is buckling now. However, I do believe that enforcing college for all students is wrong.

We do need to give them alternatives, ones that we as adults did not have. But what do you do with the students that do not want any of the alternatives? That part time job they had is no longer enough. What then?

Hi tm, I worry that you are misreading what I wrote. Of course students need structure but that's different from "discipline." No one would recommend doing away with it, but we can definitely improve it in the ways I suggested in the article. I'm not sure what your last questions refer to but we (schools) can help students grow in the direction they want to go. That's our job, right? Sure, there are some students … Read More

Hi tm, I worry that you are misreading what I wrote. Of course students need structure but that’s different from “discipline.” No one would recommend doing away with it, but we can definitely improve it in the ways I suggested in the article. I’m not sure what your last questions refer to but we (schools) can help students grow in the direction they want to go. That’s our job, right?

Sure, there are some students who don’t want anything we offer – I’ve had a few but they were always respectful – and they may have to find their path after they leave school. We do what we can and we often succeed.

Todd Smith 2 years ago 2 years ago

I’m very curious, what school do you teach at or what district are you in? Your experience doesn’t seem to match the average teachers’ experience at the moment.

Hi Todd – it’s at the bottom of the article.

Your experience doesn't seem to match the average teachers' experience at the moment. Have you considered that maybe your philosophy is not as effective as you might believe it to be? Beside your own classroom/school anecdotes, what evidence do you have to prove that this is working anywhere? If it is truly effective, maybe be specific about the reasons you think it isn't working in practice.... Or, please be specific about how you think this … Read More

Your experience doesn’t seem to match the average teachers’ experience at the moment. Have you considered that maybe your philosophy is not as effective as you might believe it to be? Beside your own classroom/school anecdotes, what evidence do you have to prove that this is working anywhere? If it is truly effective, maybe be specific about the reasons you think it isn’t working in practice…. Or, please be specific about how you think this is working on the grand scale in any large sample size in the United States, or in the world for that matter.

Last question, if your method is/has been proven to be successful, what is your explanation for it’s new arrival on the scene in the field of Education? It’s almost sounds like a conspiracy theory that someone has been withholding this valuable information or the establishment simply didn’t value these methods for some sinister reason. Could the majority of educators simply have been duped or brainwashed and only a small handful of enlightened ones have seen the way?

Todd, are you a teacher and, if so, in California? My commentary references the changes made last year to the discipline process here, which affects only California teachers. For further explanation, you could perhaps read the additional comments I’ve made below in response to others’ comments and questions.

Whited Dana 2 years ago 2 years ago

Help me to understand how this works with credit requirements. I mean how can students choose not to have core content classes?

Hi, how are you defining “core content”? As an LAUSD school, we have to fulfill A-G requirements (210 credits) where electives and performing arts are part of the university-mandated choices. So, for example, I have 9th grade students who are able – in our block schedule – to take Music, Art and Health at some point this year, alongside their English, Math, PE and Science classes.

Kim 2 years ago 2 years ago

Follow their natural urges? Are you kidding me. The high school I work at relaxed what seems like every rule, and the outcome is awful! Most of my students show up late every day. My 1st period of 38 is usually 4-5 at the tardy bell. Students show up and walk out whenever the mood or “urge” hits them. As a CTE teacher it’s my job to get them ready to work. What a joke! … Read More

Follow their natural urges? Are you kidding me. The high school I work at relaxed what seems like every rule, and the outcome is awful! Most of my students show up late every day. My 1st period of 38 is usually 4-5 at the tardy bell. Students show up and walk out whenever the mood or “urge” hits them.

As a CTE teacher it’s my job to get them ready to work. What a joke! More than half of my working students have been fired! Late every day, calling in sick, no work ethic. Relaxing rules, no consequences and no work ethic will ruin these kids and make them unemployable!

Hi Kim, I think you have misunderstood my points. I believe the changes you are seeing in your school and in society at large are causing this behavior. It's not the other way around where relaxing the rules and discipline causes it; indeed many schools and school districts are attempting to grapple with this relatively new reality. I truly don't want to give you advice but if I were in your shoes I would ask your … Read More

Hi Kim, I think you have misunderstood my points. I believe the changes you are seeing in your school and in society at large are causing this behavior. It’s not the other way around where relaxing the rules and discipline causes it; indeed many schools and school districts are attempting to grapple with this relatively new reality.

I truly don’t want to give you advice but if I were in your shoes I would ask your students what they are thinking about in terms of current jobs, jobs they have been fired from, what they have learned, what they feel they need, jobs they aspire to, courses and certificates they might consider, what their family expectations are and guest speakers they would like to hear from – and back off from the judgmental approach. My apologies if that sounds patronizing but I have to manage all these questions with Special Ed seniors and I can relate to your concerns.

Tammy 2 years ago 2 years ago

I taught for 25 years in a public school in Michigan. I am retired and sub in a parochial school now. I do not agree with the least restrictive environment theory for discipline. Many students today have no boundaries and no expectations from their parents. It’s up to the school to provide these. Part of our mission statement is to help our students to become productive members of society. We want them to succeed in … Read More

I taught for 25 years in a public school in Michigan. I am retired and sub in a parochial school now. I do not agree with the least restrictive environment theory for discipline. Many students today have no boundaries and no expectations from their parents. It’s up to the school to provide these.

Part of our mission statement is to help our students to become productive members of society. We want them to succeed in the workplace. Students need consequences because they aren’t getting them at home. They need to know that a dispute with a co-worker will get them fired from a job or being tardy may get them fired. I’ve subbed places where there is a less restrictive environment. Students are leaving the room all the time, being loud and disruptive for attention, and are disrespectful to other staff members and students. It’s complete chaos. There’s more drama than a soap opera, some are offended, and some are bullying their classmates.

I personally feel physically ill and exhausted at the end of the day. I may not be subbing anymore. I don’t know what’s happened to the educational system in the last 5 years! Probably the lack of support from administrators and teachers being bombarded with extra work without compensation.

Hi Tammy, I actually agree with some of what you wrote and I empathize. Sometimes I'm there too and I'm retiring this year. However, could it be argued that as a sub and - ahem - like me, of a certain age - you are having to manage in this new world I described and it's now all a bit alienating for you? I have learned to accept that sometimes we are all living in … Read More

Hi Tammy, I actually agree with some of what you wrote and I empathize. Sometimes I’m there too and I’m retiring this year. However, could it be argued that as a sub and – ahem – like me, of a certain age – you are having to manage in this new world I described and it’s now all a bit alienating for you? I have learned to accept that sometimes we are all living in Alice in Wonderland territory. Where we differ though is that I believe individual students do have boundaries and you have to find those boundaries (subtly) and I do not blame the parents at all (because many are barely hanging on and they need our help).

One of my classes (the last one of the day, with the unruliest students – and this is Special Ed!) does sometimes devolve into the soap opera dramas you describe. I do not see a least restrictive environment extending to allowing students to arrive late or just walk out – I have some of that too at day’s end – but it’s never without consequences. It’s the nature of the consequences we need to discuss. The students need to ask and show respect and respect will be shown to them. Punishing them usually doesn’t work – depends on the student. These are opportunities for encouraging students to try and be a bit more mature and this takes time and energy on the teacher’s part, but we can try to have fun with it too.

Tony 2 years ago 2 years ago

A terribly white Ethnocentric view! Questions: 1. Demographics at your school? Your kids school? 2. How many times have SRO or Cops been called to classrooms at your school? 3. Survey Of ALL teachers and staff there abut discipline ? 4. What do the parents and families, not staff say about this at your school? 5. How are school "referrals" to the office tracked at your school? (Need to know this before we ask for the data because it says a … Read More

A terribly white Ethnocentric view!

Questions: 1. Demographics at your school? Your kids school? 2. How many times have SRO or Cops been called to classrooms at your school? 3. Survey Of ALL teachers and staff there abut discipline ? 4. What do the parents and families , not staff say about this at your school? 5. How are school “referrals” to the office tracked at your school? (Need to know this before we ask for the data because it says a lot about how your school deals with discipline.)

When the current mantras used in education is how and why teachers of color matter in schools where kids of color and immigrants attend. Part of the “why they matter” is this. For those of us raised in specific conditions and being a specific identity (color), we do not have the same guilt as progressives’ thought. Old school means our parents, grandparents, church elders etc., and that means true wisdom to us! So we know first hand that old school discipline is love, especially coming from people who look like me, or those I was raised with.

Hi Tony, since you asked, my school has around 1500+ students and is more than 80% Latinx, with the rest being a mix of Black, White, Asian and Middle Eastern/South Asian (we have several recent immigrant groups - Afghani, Guatemalan, expecting Ukrainians...). Diversity and mutual respect is our strength. The police are almost never called these days; I can only recall one time in the past 6 months but I don't know for sure. Were … Read More

Hi Tony, since you asked, my school has around 1500+ students and is more than 80% Latinx, with the rest being a mix of Black, White, Asian and Middle Eastern/South Asian (we have several recent immigrant groups – Afghani, Guatemalan, expecting Ukrainians…). Diversity and mutual respect is our strength. The police are almost never called these days; I can only recall one time in the past 6 months but I don’t know for sure. Were you assuming this was a “White” school?

My point being that these kinds of policies work if fostered in the right way and that hard line policies don’t work. I noticed some of the letter writers imply that I’m arguing against any form of discipline, which is not the case. It’s all in how it’s handled. Yes we do “referrals” and yes I expect many teachers at my school would disagree with me.

Finally, I appreciate your point about love – yes that’s absolutely right – but I infer from your comments that we should use tough love and yes, we do that too, but we do it in context and it’s not all we do. As I said, respect must be earned by both students and teachers and staff. There is no reason on earth why public high schools in California with many students of color cannot treat all their students with mutual respect. It’s the least we can do for them.

mike welch 2 years ago 2 years ago

Wow! Would you be willing to share any other articles or sources that you have authored? Or perhaps other liked minded writers, teachers, or administrators? I have a ton of questions. And I'd like to share my experiences in the 16yrs it took me to come to your same conclusion. I haven't been able to articulate my thoughts as well as your points here. I'm currently facing official write ups and reprimands with pretty serious … Read More

Wow! Would you be willing to share any other articles or sources that you have authored? Or perhaps other liked minded writers, teachers, or administrators? I have a ton of questions. And I’d like to share my experiences in the 16yrs it took me to come to your same conclusion. I haven’t been able to articulate my thoughts as well as your points here. I’m currently facing official write ups and reprimands with pretty serious accusations. Thanks in advance for any consideration and time! Mike; Shreveport, Louisiana [email protected]

Donna Thayer 2 years ago 2 years ago

As a recently retired school administrator, I disagree with the notion that loosening disciplinary measures leads to a calmer, more upbeat school environment. Schools, as with all institutions, need structure. I began my career as a vice principal after teaching for 19 years in large comprehensive high schools. I always believed in fairness and consistency when establishing my classroom management. I carried these traits into my role as an administrator in a very … Read More

As a recently retired school administrator, I disagree with the notion that loosening disciplinary measures leads to a calmer, more upbeat school environment. Schools, as with all institutions, need structure. I began my career as a vice principal after teaching for 19 years in large comprehensive high schools. I always believed in fairness and consistency when establishing my classroom management. I carried these traits into my role as an administrator in a very complex school district in Stockton. Far from “harassing” students, I believed my role was to maintain safety and order for all students. To that end, Education Code set the standard for any suspensions – and, yes, expulsions – I did.

Sexual assault, violent attacks, drug sales – these types of offenses must be dealt with swiftly. Dress code violations, tardiness, and minor classroom disruptions can be dealt with through other means.

I consider myself quite liberal and absolutely loved working with students. Yet, I will always believe a school cannot run well unless discipline polices are implemented.

Kathleen J Leal 2 years ago 2 years ago

Once again qualitative data over quantitative data. The author’s lived experience of discipline getting better is great but how do you square that with another’s lived experience that says otherwise?

Robert 2 years ago 2 years ago

Yeah, just 20 miles from there, our entire district is experiencing the opposite. Went through days and days of restorative justice training, and behavior is only getting worse. I have never seen worse behavior in my 17 years of public education. Old school ways actually worked (yes it did!). T his new way of thinking for sure not working, and just about all of my colleagues around the district and surrounding districts here in Southern CA, … Read More

Yeah, just 20 miles from there, our entire district is experiencing the opposite. Went through days and days of restorative justice training, and behavior is only getting worse. I have never seen worse behavior in my 17 years of public education. Old school ways actually worked (yes it did!). T

his new way of thinking for sure not working, and just about all of my colleagues around the district and surrounding districts here in Southern CA, I have talked with, agree. Not sure how this article was chosen to be published, but his bubble does not speak for the rest of us. Behavior is out of control with these new ways.

marco lopez romo 2 years ago 2 years ago

I'm glad my kid won't be going to this dude's school or classroom. Sorry but this author is illusional. I don't want my kid in a classroom where staff turns blind eye to "minor" infractions, and I am Latino. It disrupts learning for students trying to learn. The very concepts the author supports will actually hinder minority students who want to learn. Do you think affluent families sending their kids to elite schools or private … Read More

I’m glad my kid won’t be going to this dude’s school or classroom. Sorry but this author is illusional. I don’t want my kid in a classroom where staff turns blind eye to “minor” infractions, and I am Latino. It disrupts learning for students trying to learn. The very concepts the author supports will actually hinder minority students who want to learn. Do you think affluent families sending their kids to elite schools or private schools will tolerate this nonsense? Nope. One reason white and Asian students dominate STEM.

Christina 2 years ago 2 years ago

I'm glad that the author is seeing positive effects at his or her school, but 80 miles away from LA at my little rural school we are experiencing the exact opposite. The more chances given, the fewer disciplines that are given out, the more we see the bad behavior escalate. After years of never having an incident of a student assaulting a staff member, our security guard has been assaulted twice this year by students. … Read More

I’m glad that the author is seeing positive effects at his or her school, but 80 miles away from LA at my little rural school we are experiencing the exact opposite. The more chances given, the fewer disciplines that are given out, the more we see the bad behavior escalate. After years of never having an incident of a student assaulting a staff member, our security guard has been assaulted twice this year by students. Oh, and no consequences for the students for that either. This is a growing problem in our schools and our society at large, and it’s not making people safer!

Great comment!

Dawn 2 years ago 2 years ago

Martin, please comment on the recent article in Mission Local about Everett middle school. What suggestions would you have for that situation including the attacks on teachers? Thank you.

Hi Dawn, even allowing for media over-dramatization, the school clearly has a whole cluster of problems that need to be addressed before some sort of LRE can be implemented.

Chris Stampolis 2 years ago 2 years ago

Mr. Blythe, I read your opinion column. Thank you for taking time to write it. The most effective way for children of color to continue to surpass white underachievement is to push whites farther into third place academically (behind Latino-heritage and Asian-heritage students); we need to call out racism and its obstacles when it is offered. While I do not call you a racist, I call your ideas racist. You suggest … Read More

Mr. Blythe,

I read your opinion column. Thank you for taking time to write it. The most effective way for children of color to continue to surpass white underachievement is to push whites farther into third place academically (behind Latino-heritage and Asian-heritage students); we need to call out racism and its obstacles when it is offered. While I do not call you a racist, I call your ideas racist.

You suggest that some Canoga Park kids should avoid “single-minded study of English and math” instead to work with their families in “construction or house cleaning or day care, ”

Mr. Blythe, day care workers need state certification. Construction workers need math proficiency. House cleaning professionals need mathematics skills for purchasing proficiency, as well as effective language skills for profitable scheduling and effective marketing.

California already offers the California High School Proficiency Exam (CHPSE). Kids who want “out” can leave High School early by means of passage of the CHSPE. As white male college enrollment continues to drop, let’s steer white monolingual English-speaking boys in particular towards CHSPE passage, so they more quickly can remove their obstructive and disruptive presence from the public school system.

In the interim I sincerely encourage you to learn sufficient Spanish or Chinese or Vietnamese to speak with the parents of kids who “don’t think school offers them what they need.” If parents and kids jointly want to choose a less-academic path, there are plenty of options for those families that already exist. Perhaps there are growing opportunities for white boys to provide day care services in Canoga Park. However, I will encourage Latina girls to continue to crush it academically and to widen their academic domination of California State University’s systemwide enrollment and graduation. Then those college-degree holding Latinas can hire a few white boys now and then to help with care for their kids or some floor washing in a few years.

Chris Stampolis Santa Clara, CA

Albert Gutierrez 2 years ago 2 years ago

What an incredibly racist comment—push ‘white people” into third place?? Are you kidding me??

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School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

The Pros and Cons of Homework

Updated: December 7, 2023

Published: January 23, 2020

Homework is a word that most students dread hearing. After hours upon hours of sitting in class , the last thing we want is more schoolwork over our precious weekends. While it’s known to be a staple of traditional schooling, homework has also become a rather divise topic. Some feel as though homework is a necessary part of school, while others believe that the time could be better invested. Should students have homework? Have a closer look into the arguments on both sides to decide for yourself.

Photo by  energepic.com  from  Pexels

Why should students have homework, 1. homework encourages practice.

Many people believe that one of the positive effects of homework is that it encourages the discipline of practice. While it may be time consuming and boring compared to other activities, repetition is needed to get better at skills. Homework helps make concepts more clear, and gives students more opportunities when starting their career .

2. Homework Gets Parents Involved

Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.

3. Homework Teaches Time Management

Homework is much more than just completing the assigned tasks. Homework can develop time management skills , forcing students to plan their time and make sure that all of their homework assignments are done on time. By learning to manage their time, students also practice their problem-solving skills and independent thinking. One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made.

4. Homework Opens A Bridge Of Communication

Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents can see where their children are struggling. In the same sense, parents can also see where their children are excelling. Homework in turn can allow for a better, more targeted educational plan for the student.

5. Homework Allows For More Learning Time

Homework allows for more time to complete the learning process. School hours are not always enough time for students to really understand core concepts, and homework can counter the effects of time shortages, benefiting students in the long run, even if they can’t see it in the moment.

6. Homework Reduces Screen Time

Many students in North America spend far too many hours watching TV. If they weren’t in school, these numbers would likely increase even more. Although homework is usually undesired, it encourages better study habits and discourages spending time in front of the TV. Homework can be seen as another extracurricular activity, and many families already invest a lot of time and money in different clubs and lessons to fill up their children’s extra time. Just like extracurricular activities, homework can be fit into one’s schedule.

The Other Side: Why Homework Is Bad

1. homework encourages a sedentary lifestyle.

Should students have homework? Well, that depends on where you stand. There are arguments both for the advantages and the disadvantages of homework.

While classroom time is important, playground time is just as important. If children are given too much homework, they won’t have enough playtime, which can impact their social development and learning. Studies have found that those who get more play get better grades in school , as it can help them pay closer attention in the classroom.

Children are already sitting long hours in the classroom, and homework assignments only add to these hours. Sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and can cause health problems such as obesity. Homework takes away from time that could be spent investing in physical activity.

2. Homework Isn’t Healthy In Every Home

While many people that think homes are a beneficial environment for children to learn, not all homes provide a healthy environment, and there may be very little investment from parents. Some parents do not provide any kind of support or homework help, and even if they would like to, due to personal barriers, they sometimes cannot. Homework can create friction between children and their parents, which is one of the reasons why homework is bad .

3. Homework Adds To An Already Full-Time Job

School is already a full-time job for students, as they generally spend over 6 hours each day in class. Students also often have extracurricular activities such as sports, music, or art that are just as important as their traditional courses. Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors. Homework prevents self discovery and having the time to learn new skills outside of the school system. This is one of the main disadvantages of homework.

4. Homework Has Not Been Proven To Provide Results

Endless surveys have found that homework creates a negative attitude towards school, and homework has not been found to be linked to a higher level of academic success.

The positive effects of homework have not been backed up enough. While homework may help some students improve in specific subjects, if they have outside help there is no real proof that homework makes for improvements.

It can be a challenge to really enforce the completion of homework, and students can still get decent grades without doing their homework. Extra school time does not necessarily mean better grades — quality must always come before quantity.

Accurate practice when it comes to homework simply isn’t reliable. Homework could even cause opposite effects if misunderstood, especially since the reliance is placed on the student and their parents — one of the major reasons as to why homework is bad. Many students would rather cheat in class to avoid doing their homework at home, and children often just copy off of each other or from what they read on the internet.

5. Homework Assignments Are Overdone

The general agreement is that students should not be given more than 10 minutes a day per grade level. What this means is that a first grader should be given a maximum of 10 minutes of homework, while a second grader receives 20 minutes, etc. Many students are given a lot more homework than the recommended amount, however.

On average, college students spend as much as 3 hours per night on homework . By giving too much homework, it can increase stress levels and lead to burn out. This in turn provides an opposite effect when it comes to academic success.

The pros and cons of homework are both valid, and it seems as though the question of ‘‘should students have homework?’ is not a simple, straightforward one. Parents and teachers often are found to be clashing heads, while the student is left in the middle without much say.

It’s important to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of homework, taking both perspectives into conversation to find a common ground. At the end of the day, everyone’s goal is the success of the student.

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There's harm in taking away recess for elementary schoolers as a form of punishment

Ayesha Rascoe

Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Maren Christenson Hofer about the harm of taking away recess in elementary school as a form of punishment.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Recess is probably one of the most exciting parts of being in elementary school. It's usually a time for kids to let loose a little bit and play. But taking away recess time is often used as punishment. Class was too noisy, didn't do your homework - then no recess for you. This has some parents furious, saying that the punishment doesn't actually help improve the child's behavior. And in places like Minnesota, some parents are advocating for change at the legislative level. Maren Christenson Hofer is one of those parents, and she joins us now from Minneapolis to tell us more. Welcome.

MAREN CHRISTENSON HOFER: Thank you so much for having me.

RASCOE: Your 11-year-old son was punished at one point while in school by having his recess taken away. Can you tell us about, like, what happened with that?

HOFER: My son is autistic. You know, he does have some struggles with keeping his body still sometimes in the classroom or just kind of blurting out some words, maybe at a time when the teacher would like the class to remain quiet. So we suspect that may have been what was going on. But to be honest, we don't really recall. I will say that it did happen on more than one occasion.

RASCOE: How did it affect your son to not get recess?

HOFER: Well, he described feeling sort of depressed about it. He felt that it certainly didn't help him to improve his behavior, and it made him feel sort of singled out as if he were the bad kid who did something wrong.

RASCOE: And so did you talk to your teachers and did they have any response to you raising concerns about it?

HOFER: Absolutely, and, you know, we did have a good conversation about it at that point in time. But the thing that I think really led me to act further is just how pervasive it was in other schools across Minnesota. I run a support group for parents of autistic children, and I did a very informal poll. And 50% of those parents reported that their child had recess withheld at some point in time. And, of course, you know, one of our major concerns is that this recess detention, like most forms of punishment, are used disproportionately against kids of color, kids with disabilities and especially kids with intersecting identities.

RASCOE: Some people listening may think, OK, if a child does something or is, quote-unquote, "acting up," then what's the harm in just, you know, keeping them from recess? Why is it a big deal?

HOFER: We know that recess is a really important part of a kid's day. It gives them that unstructured time. It gives them that opportunity to just release and run and use their energy. It also provides a really important opportunity for social interaction, and it also gives kids that time away from adult demands. And, you know, there's tons of research that tells us kids do better in school when they have that recess. So if we're taking away that opportunity from them, we're really just kind of shooting ourselves in the foot.

RASCOE: I know, like, when I think of my son, he doesn't like to sit down, you know, you'll - or even my middle child - like, I might talk to her and she'll do a cartwheel out of nowhere. Like, this is the way they express...

HOFER: Yeah, that's how kids are.

RASCOE: Yeah, they're constantly moving. So how - OK, if a kid won't stop talking, how do you get them to practice not talking?

HOFER: Yeah, well, I think you give them opportunities to talk and let them know, you know, these are the times when that's OK and make sure that they have those plenty of breaks. You know, like let's save this conversation for lunch time or let's save this conversation for recess time. But teaching them those skills and modeling those skills I think is the really important thing.

RASCOE: And so you've been working with other advocates to draft bills. Can you tell us about those efforts? And are you facing a lot of pushback?

HOFER: So the language that we have today directs schools not to withhold recess unless a very narrow set of conditions are met, such as, you know, imminent harm to a student or a teacher. It provides an opportunity or requirement for parental notification when a recess is withheld. And then it also has that reporting requirement so that schools are required to document that and make that information available to the public.

RASCOE: And so that gives the parent the ability to know what is happening with their child. And it also would presumably give people the ability to see how often this particular punishment is being used.

HOFER: Absolutely. We can't solve the problem if we don't have transparency to how often it's happening. It is something that's happened for decades, and nobody's really asked the tough questions about does this actually work? And, of course, you know, the science tells us the exact opposite - it doesn't. And it often does more harm than good and makes it more difficult for children to comply with adult demands. So we really, you know, are grateful to have this conversation and to really give our teachers some tools in their toolkits that actually work for both them and for our kids.

RASCOE: Maren Christenson Hofer joining us from Minnesota, thank you so much for being with us.

HOFER: It is my pleasure. Thank you.

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Problems Using Academic Assignments or Homework as a Punishment

Posted by Erica Warren on May 17, 2021

Why is This a Problem?

What are some better ways to handle unruly behaviors.

• Ignore bad behaviors and reward positive behaviors.  Surprisingly, many kids learn negative behaviors. For example, a child can learn that complaining and whining can get them what they want if someone at sometime gave into their demands.  In addition, if a child only gets attention when misbehaving, they may choose that negative attention is better than no attention at all.  So make a conscious effort to change this cycle and praise all positive behaviors with rewards, verbal appraisals and benevolent attention. 
• Use the Opportunity to Lead a Discussion and Lesson on Social Skills.   Interrupt the unruly behaviors and have a calming heart to heart discussion with your child or children.  If necessary, give a "timeout" where all involved spend 3-5 minutes sitting quietly to calm nerves. If it is a classroom, have the class sit in a circle.  Take some deep breaths and encourage the participants to let their bodies relax. Next, see if the students can identify the problem and then ask them to suggest solutions.  If they are a part of creating the solution, they are more likely to make the right decision the next time the situation repeats.
• Allow Kids to Earn the Things They Want .  Many children are given all the things they desire without having to work for it.  If however, children earn their belongings, they will value these items more and take pride in their accomplishments.

Let's Flip the Coin and Associate Pleasantries with Learning

• Integrate games into the learning process .
• Come up with fun and enticing names for lessons .
• Go multisensory and teach to all of the 12 Ways of Learning .
• Be excited about the material you are teaching.  Enthusiasm is contagious.

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Homework and Tests as Punishment for Misbehavior

Question: Is it fair for teachers to use homework or tests as punishment for a class? My son's fourth-grade teacher gives extra homework or a test whenever the class misbehaves. It doesn't seem right for her to punish the whole class instead of targeting the children who are causing the disturbance. Can you help me understand this teacher's reasoning? - Displeased

Answer: Call the school and talk to the teacher to find out her reasons for disciplining the entire class. This will enable you to understand her viewpoint as well as to explain it to your son. Hopefully, she will be able to find less-punitive ways to control her class as time goes on.

Giving tests or assigning homework to control a class is a poor disciplinary technique. It will usually control the behavior of a class for a while because students don't want to do extra work or have to study for a test; however, the troublemakers are likely to misbehave again unless peer pressure forces them to behave. Perhaps the worst thing about assigning homework as punishment is that it sends a mixed message about the purpose of homework. Students might begin to regard regular homework as both unnecessary and a punishment rather than as a way to reinforce what is being learned in the classroom.

Obviously your child's teacher is having difficulty with classroom control. The administration needs to provide her with assistance in this task so that she has alternative methods of managing the students. A mentor teacher can often be very helpful in this regard.

One additional step that you should take is to remind your child that his good behavior in the classroom is important. You should also avoid criticizing the teacher to him.

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current events conversation

What Students Are Saying About Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’

Chronic absenteeism has increased in American schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. We asked teenagers what they make of the trend.

By The Learning Network

Nationally, an estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the most recent data, from 40 states and Washington, D.C., compiled by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

The increases have occurred in districts big and small, and across income and race.

In “​ Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere ,” Sarah Mervosh and Francesca Paris explain:

The trends suggest that something fundamental has shifted in American childhood and the culture of school, in ways that may be long lasting. What was once a deeply ingrained habit — wake up, catch the bus, report to class — is now something far more tenuous. “Our relationship with school became optional,” said Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

In a related Student Opinion question , we asked teenagers if that explanation resonated with them. Had their relationship to school — and school attendance — changed since the pandemic? And if so, what did they make of this shift?

Many students said, yes, school feels different now. Why? They pointed to remote learning changing their routines, an increase in anxiety and a decrease in motivation, the ease of making up schoolwork online and much more. Read their responses in full below.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the conversation on our writing prompts this week, including students from Central Bucks South High School in Warrington, Pa .; Norwood High School in Norwood, Mass.; and West Salem High School in Salem, Ore.

Please note: Student comments have been lightly edited for length, but otherwise appear as they were originally submitted.

Remote learning made students comfortable with missing school.

I believe that there are two main contributors to missing school too much. The first is online school. Myself included. It was very easy to simply leave the call after taking attendance and the teacher wouldn’t realize. Skipping class was easy and you could still get high grades. Transitioning back to real school, kids still held that true. They knew that they could miss school and still do well because covid taught that to them. The second reason is punishment. When you miss school, nothing happens. Class goes on and you have a little extra homework the next day but that’s it. What is the issue with missing class is a very common thought and it’s true. There is very minimal downside to missing school. When I had surgery, I missed a full week of school and within a day and a half, I was fully caught up again. Missing school has just become all too easy.

— Xavier, Pennsylvania

2020 was when our lives completely changed for the worst. We all had to stay inside and stay separate from each other. It was terrible, not being able to talk to my friends, and seeing the death toll on news constantly rise. However, after a year into the pandemic, I believe students realized the power they now had, including me. Now that I am a highschooler, I am going to admit that sometimes I would just mute my class and do whatever I wanted. School became shorter and easier to pass than ever before. That’s why when we all transitioned back into school, it was weird. We all still wanted to get through class the “easy way,” yet now that we were back, it wasn’t possible. This is why we started increasing our absences. The threat of absence has become weak, students are not as afraid to stay out of school. Furthermore the threat of being infected gave just one more reason to be out of school, for the sake of “preventing others from getting sick,” when in reality you feel fine. That is most likely why the absences in school had an exponential increase.

— Joshua, Pennsylvania

Students feel like expectations are lower than they were before the pandemic.

As a student in high school, I’ve come to realize the horrible state our attendance has been in since the pandemic. The reason can be simplified into one idea: laziness. We are lazy, willing to do only enough to get by, no more, no less. If a student doesn’t need to come to a class to obtain the grade they wish to achieve, then they won’t show up. Classes are not challenging enough to make students feel that they are worth going to. My mom is used to getting texts from me during the school day, begging to be excused from a class where “we’re doing nothing” or, “I already finished the work,” which is true, yet I abuse the opportunity to miss class because I know there will be no greater coincidence, I will still be getting an A. Due to my laziness, I would rather be at home taking a nap than sitting in a class with no greater impact on my life.

— Clara, Salem, Oregon

Since the pandemic, schooling has been focused on getting students caught up to where we’re supposed to be. Consequently, more allowances are made for students who don’t do assignments or don’t even show up. And with the switch to all online because of the pandemic, things have never shifted back. If a student misses a day or even a week, they can easily see what they missed and do it and submit it from home. With this option giving them the exact same grade as it would if they actually went to school, it’s no wonder why students are choosing to stay at home or skipping class. Additionally, the pandemic had heightened anxiety levels in students, specifically social anxiety, making them less likely to show up. The allowances made by the school district for students has created a space for students to be lazy and get away with it. This is fostering a negative impact on student work ethic not only now, but also in the future when this generation will be entering the work force.

— Emma, West Salem High School

The period of school shutdowns got students out of their school routines.

When I think back to virtual learning, my brain automatically goes to how stress free it was. I was in sixth grade when Covid first hit and going through a period of my life where I was extremely anxious at school. I believe that this break is exactly what I needed at the time. However, I do believe that in the long run, this online learning time period got a lot of people into the routine of not having a routine. A lot of people at my school would turn their camera off and fall asleep or go on their phones during online learning. I believe that there were times that I did this as well. I also think that this mindset carried through into the grades where I did not have an online/hybrid option. In eighth and ninth grade, I happened to stay home sick, go into school late, or leave early a lot. I think this is due to me not taking school as seriously due to the grading methods that were being used and how some of my teachers were not grading harshly. Now that I am a sophomore in high school, I think I have finally gotten back into the routine of actual schooling and not staying home sick unless I actually feel extremely sick.

— Madison, Pennsylvania

Before the pandemic and as I was growing up, I was the kind of student that wanted perfect attendance. For some odd reason, it made me feel like a better student if I never missed a day. This included turning my parents down when they offered me to go on trips, even though I was only in fourth grade and the work that I would have missed wouldn’t have made an impact in my academic career. However, after the pandemic school began to feel optional. We felt what it was like to fall out of the routine that going to school was and were never able to fully recover from it. I think that having experienced attending school from your bed, in your pajamas has played a major role in the current trend of students receiving more absences. For me, it made me realize that the “0” next to your number of absences didn’t matter as much as I had once thought. As a now highschooler, the school days are long and every class requires an abundance of work and undivided attention that whenever there is a substitute or not much going on, it is easy to decide to leave school. With senior year approaching, everything’s purpose is college and the fact that colleges aren’t able to see how many absences a student has when they apply, does play a role in the increasing number of absences.

— Ava, Miami Country Day School

Because assignments and other materials are online, students find they can keep up with their classes even if they don’t attend school.

Schools have adjusted rules so much that it makes school feel optional. Don’t want to attend class publicly? Take online classes. Don’t want to take “required” state testing? Opt out. Before, school seemed strict, we didn’t have the option to opt out of tests, we didn’t think of taking online school. Yet now, schools make it so easy to skip because everything is simply online. Our assignments, lectures, and teachers are all online. There are no longer requirements in school. What’s the point of attending if we can graduate without taking state testing or attending advisory — also a requirement, yet I no longer have an advisory because my counselors said I don’t need to take it to graduate. It’s confusing. Students have been enabled for over 4 years now since quarantine started. School doesn’t feel mandatory, it’s optional. I’m currently enrolled into 2 AP classes, so I try my best not to miss school. But it’s inevitable, I get sick, I have family situations or maybe I simply don’t feel like attending school. But I see people skip school like nothing. “I didn’t feel like going” is a constant statement I hear. Not many students have the motivation to attend, and simply don’t go because they have a comfort in their head that they can graduate while missing multiple days of school nearly everyday.

— Olivia, Salem, OR

Current absenteeism rates have significantly impacted my learning experience for the past few years. Since the pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in the perception of the value of education and whether or not attendance is an important factor in a student’s academic success. In the years following 2020, I found myself struggling to make it to class everyday due to my new found efficiency of working at home with my computer. I felt that even if I was not in class personally, I would be able to keep up with my work easily as it was all online regardless. Due to this I would go on trips or skip class purely because I was under the impression that I would be able to continue achieving virtually.

— Ruby, RFHS

Before the pandemic, my attendance was stable but after the pandemic, my absences were piling on. It was difficult to get back in the rhythm of in person school when I had already done a whole year online, but now my attendance in school is definitely getting better. On the other hand, students in my school tend to miss school and it is a rare sight to see a full class. Some students go as far as showing up to class once a week and just do the classwork online. After the pandemic, schools went from paperwork to all online, which is a big reason why students miss all the time, knowing that school work can just be done at home. It has definitely affected students’ grades and goals in life, but hopefully in the future, absences can lower back down.

— Emily, Atrisco Heritage Academy High School

Going to school, and finding the motivation to have as good an attendance record as possible, now feels like more of a struggle.

As students, we’ve developed a comfort in staying in bed during school without having to get ourselves ready to go outside. We had the ability to wake up five minutes before “school” started to get on our zoom calls. Now, we must wake up an hour and a half prior, and make breakfast and pack lunch, before driving to school. The process is tenuous as the article states, but because we’ve accustomed to a different lifestyle, it just makes this one seem like so much more work. I, myself have noticed my difference in attendance after COVID-19. I used to be very obsessed with perfect attendance, but I had 11 absences in my sophomore year, right after coming back from online school. Nowadays, I’m more lenient on myself when it comes to taking a mental health day, because the process can be overwhelming. School is very important, so of course I try to always come in, but sometimes it can be hard. I have not noticed this trend in the world, as well as with myself until this article. It’s enlightening to know that this had not only an effect on me, but all over the country. Hopefully the rates of absenteeism will decrease as time goes on, because we are the future.

— Anisha, New Jersey

Before virtual learning, I never made much of a habit of not turning in work or showing up for class. It was so much easier then but since virtual learning, it had become incredibly difficult for me to focus as well as keep up motivation to continue school. It was easy to skip and nobody really said much about it so it easily became a bad habit. That bad habit eventually leaked into normal school as well and it always sounds so much easier to break out of than it actually is.

— Tayy, NRHS

As the average high school class skipper (only sometimes), in my personal experience, missing out on classes hasn’t really been because of mental health concerns, but more of just lasting laziness from the pandemic. I feel as though I was relatively hard working in middle school/elementary but after a few years off with only half effort assignments, I have grown to become more sluggish and reluctant when it comes to more advanced work while in school. And it makes the option of missing out on classes because of my own reluctance a lot more appealing.

— Luke, Bali, Indonesia

My schedule during the week is get up, get ready for school, go to school, go home, do homework, go to sleep and then I repeat that everyday for 5 days. As much as I don’t want to dread going to school, it’s exhausting having the same schedule repeated everyday of the week. While in school, you have assignments assigned nearly everyday. I feel as though school has had a change in its meaning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While in quarantine, we were looking at a screen for the whole day and lacked motivation to get assignments done. When we shifted to in person school again, it didn’t change. I now look at school as a task that I need to complete to shape my future. I need to have all my assignments perfect and turned in on time. The meaning of school has turned into a draining task rather than a place that you look forward to going to.

— Jamisan, Salem, Oregon

Some students face challenges in attending class that may have nothing to do with the pandemic.

I don’t believe that students are skipping because it is so easy to catch up and pass, despite their absences. In fact, I know that a lot of people who skip aren’t passing most of their classes. They do this because their parents don’t hold them accountable, and there is always something deeper going on in that student’s life that makes it that much harder for them to find the motivation to go to class. I don’t think making the classes harder will hold students more accountable, but in fact deter them from going to class at all. If a student is aware that they are failing and doesn’t understand the concept of the class, and the class proceeds to become harder, they are going to quickly become unmotivated to go to class in the first place, feeling out of place compared to the other — passing — students in the class. While I don’t have a solution for this problem, myself, I feel that the problem is much broader than we suspect, and the answer will be a much deeper journey to find.

— Kylie, West Salem HS

Schools can do more to get students back in class.

I attend a French school in London and attendance is closely monitored. Absences have to be justified by your parents or you could get into trouble. I think it’s important to attend school as we did before Covid - because as well as learning the curriculum, it is crucial to socialise with your friends and classmates, which is good for your mental health … I wonder if social media could be a factor? If students did not have access to social media or the internet, would they prefer to be in school with their friends? This increase in absenteeism could affect students’ chances of getting into University when they come to finish school or even their opportunities later in life. Students need to be reminded of this more and more perhaps. School helps you to learn not just about facts but also helps to build your emotional quotient & social intelligence — which are all valuable for life.

— Alexandre 14, London

As a current high school junior, my experiences with skipping have been minimal at best, however, I feel strongly that the reason behind skipping is pretty simple. Students don’t care as much about school and the system encourages it. When faced with the choice of sitting in a class and learning about the Patagorian theorem or hanging out with friends, many students are now choosing the latter. The lack of care or effort being put forth in school doesn’t even affect their grades! This is due to certain classes having minimal grades set at 50%, which is 10% away from a pass. This system is actively encouraging people to put minimal effort into a class just to get a pass and graduate. Removing courses like this would certainly raise the importance of getting the work done. Another solution to this problem would be having attendance as a grade, if your grade depends on you being in classes then most would show up. If you have to show up to class to pass then more students would be inclined to do so. The emphasis is on not bending the knee to people who don’t want to show up to class, not giving them a minimal 50%, we should mark attendance for a passing grade, and letting them fail. If we keep letting students skip with minimal consequences then their attitudes won’t change and thus hinder our students’ growth.

— Henry, Salem, OR

Learn more about Current Events Conversation here and find all of our posts in this column .

Discipline, Punishment, and Rewards

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

Parents have a responsibility not only to provide for their children but also to teach them the practical and psychological skills they will need to be well-functioning adults. To that end, parents set their expectations for and try to model appropriate behavior. They often reward obedience and respect, and they may use discipline to correct a child who acts in an inappropriate or unsafe way. Discipline, punishment, and reward are all part of the parental toolbox to be used when and how the situation warrants.

On This Page

• Maintaining Discipline
• Praise and Rewards

Parents are responsible for keeping their children safe and to guide them toward safe and appropriate behavior. Meeting those goals requires establishing a secure relationship and introducing age-appropriate discipline. Generally, when people think of discipline in families, their thoughts turn to punishment —time outs, grounding, denying certain privileges, etc. But discipline, research consistently shows, is often more effective when it’s positive and focused on teaching and obtaining rewards rather than avoiding punishment.

Most relationships experience conflict at some point, but when a parent and child are locked in a power struggle, no one wins. Effective parenting is not about controlling a child , nor does it mean trying to change a child’s nature to fit with preconceived notions about what constitutes a “good kid." Instead, effective parents set expectations and standards for behavior and then take the time to help their children meet them. They also make an effort to listen and to understand on a fundamental level how their child’s needs differ from their own.

When a child's or teenager's behavior is dangerous to themselves or others, parents need to persuade them to change. However, the word “no,” when constantly repeated, can harm a young person's self-esteem. If children and adolescents constantly receive negative feedback without any positive reinforcement, they may start to internalize negative beliefs about themselves and feel that they can never do anything right; as a result, they may stop trying, or even adopt self-harming behaviors. Parents and caregivers need to recognize that their words hold greater weight with children and teens than they may realize—or than their kids let on.

Time-outs may be good for adults, but they may not benefit kids , especially at an age when they haven’t yet developed strong emotion-regulation skills. Time-outs are nonviolent, but they are still a form of punishment. A child in time-out typically feels socially isolated and rejected, and they may come to believe that their parents’ love is conditional upon certain behaviors. Time-outs erode the trust between a parent and a child, teaching kids that they have to hide difficult feelings, or they will be banished from their family’s presence. Stopping an unwelcome behavior often isn’t worth the long-term cost to the parent-child bond and the child’s self-esteem.

Many parenting experts agree that time-outs need a time out . Instead of sending a child to another room, they suggest focusing on discipline that sets limits and re-directs the child to healthier responses in the moment. In this way, kids can learn to talk through their intense feelings, and eventually better manage them. This type of discipline has the added advantage of keeping the parent or caregiver physically close to the child, strengthening their connection rather than jeopardizing it.

Parents are often quick to become angry or annoyed with a whining child, but there are better ways to respond to kids’ whining . For starters, be aware that children and teens whine for different reasons: to get help or resources they urgently need, to receive more positive connection, to express unpleasant feelings, or to get rewarded with a parent’s immediate attention. If parents can identify the need behind their child’s whining, they can meet it more quickly and effectively. A positive, loving response is more likely to soothe a child and secure the relationship than an angry or frustrated one.

Rebellion is a natural part of growing up as a child learns to forge their own identity independent from parents and siblings. Adolescents who don’t want to be treated as a child anymore might rebel as they try to figure out how they want to define themselves. When taken to extremes, rebellion in adolescence can cause young people to act against their own self-interest, engage in behaviors that are self-destructive or self-defeating, take greater risks, allow their impulses to override their good judgment, and sometimes damage their closest relationships. Parents can help young rebels by listening to what they need, allowing them to experience the natural consequences of their mistakes, and providing continuous compassion and understanding.

It’s not unusual for parents to set clear limits and consequences and then not follow through. Children learn quickly if a parent is inconsistent and are more likely to take risks when they think there’s a possibility that they won’t be disciplined. Other adults in the child’s life, including relatives and babysitters, also need to be on board with the parents’ rules and enforce them consistently. If a child won’t respond to rules or consequences , parents can try using a chart system to keep their child organized and reward desirable behaviors. They can also take a deeper look at the consequences they’ve chosen and ask whether they are suitable and strong enough motivation.

Many parents will deprive their children of something they value when they misbehave (e.g., grounding, taking away a cellphone or computer, etc.). For this to be an  effective punishment for the adolescent , parents need to follow a few guidelines: Don’t take away every freedom the child has; don’t deny them access to a pillar of self-esteem, such as a sport or special interest; don’t cut off all social contact; keep the punishment short. Some parents will find it more effective to insist the child or teenager make reparation by fulfilling tasks at home or community service. These punishments only work if, once they have been completed, the parents don’t refer to the misbehavior again.

Children need a stable, safe environment with rules and consequences they can count on. However, parents often fall into a pattern where one is kinder and more nurturing and the other is the stricter disciplinarian. The inconsistency with which the two parents approach their child’s emotions and behavior can be both confusing and upsetting for the child. A healthier parenting dynamic can develop once parents get on the same page about shared values and how to handle discipline and rewards.

While it may seem counterintuitive, regularly rewarding a child for good behavior, whether that means with a material gift or verbal praise, tends to backfire. Praise and rewards can make a child feel like their parents’ love is conditional—they may become obsessed with achievement and avoid any activity where they have to work harder and run the risk of failure. As a result, they miss out on opportunities to grow and try new things.

Praise and rewards prove most helpful when they are doled out in small doses or for special emphasis. Parents will find positive encouragement and discipline to be more effective ways of getting their child to behave well. In response, children will develop a growth mindset and greater confidence in their own skills, which will only benefit them as they mature into adults.

Positive encouragement motivates children and teens to repeat helpful behaviors better than criticism does and, as a result, should be used more frequently. But praise can be tricky. Every parent needs to know that while praise feels good in the moment, it can sabotage kids in the long run when it makes a judgment about a child’s overall abilities (e.g., “You’re a genius!”). Children may be so fearful of losing their parents’ approval that they stop trying new things and lose confidence in themselves. A better approach to praise is noting effort rather than focusing on achievements (“You’ve really been working hard at learning those numbers, and you can count higher today than you could last week!”); this also facilitates a growth mindset that benefits children as they grow older.

Praise is a common form of recognition and encouragement in many different kinds of relationships, not just that of parent and child. It’s natural to want others to have a good opinion of you, and praise fulfills that basic human need. Many experts believe that parents should praise their children to strengthen familial bonds, promote prosocial values, and provide the emotional support we all need.

Education critics like Alfie Kohn argue that it’s a bad idea to praise children , no matter how good the intention. They view all types of praise from an adult as a type of extrinsic reward that undermines any intrinsic motivation a child has for repeating a specific behavior; a child only acts in the desired way when they can be sure of receiving more praise. Thus, praise becomes a form of control in the relationship.

Praising a child’s character (“You’re so great!”) instead of their effort or behavior (“You studied hard and did a great job on that test!”) links their success to their sense of identity. So if the next test is more difficult for them, or they don’t do as well on it, they feel like they have failed as a person. Praising children with low self-esteem can backfire  since they are more likely to experience shame and disappointment as a result of future failures.

Children need positive encouragement and emotional support that doesn’t feel conditional. Parents who are wondering what to say instead of praising can try explaining how their child’s actions affected someone else (“Look how happy your friend is to have a turn with your toy!”), noticing their effort (“You tried hard, and you got a good grade!”), and sharing their own feelings about their child’s behavior (“I loved watching you play soccer today!”). The point is to try to avoid expressing judgment and encourage a growth mindset so that children feel rewarded intrinsically by working their hardest whether they succeed this time or not.

Parents may express disapproval with the goal of teaching their children that behavior is not acceptable or helping them avoid certain mistakes. However, the child tends to feel this criticism as a sign that they will never be good enough to win their parents’ approval. The rebellion of the over-criticized child occurs when a child gives up trying to change and instead becomes angry and argumentative or withdraws completely. In extreme cases, the child may exhibit self-sabotaging or self-harming behaviors. Unrelenting parental criticism can have a lasting impact, making it tough for the child to have healthy relationships as an adult.

According to research, rewarding good behavior often leads to bad behavior . Instead of offering material rewards, adults will have better luck reinforcing a child’s sense of autonomy and competence. Relying on a child’s intrinsic motivation to behave well and get along with others will result in more positive outcomes over time. That’s how people learn to do the right thing even when no one is watching. While the goal should be to build up a child’s intrinsic motivation, tangible rewards used sparingly can help encourage positive behaviors, particularly in younger children.

For parents who worry about the ethics of rewards, be assured that you’re not bribing your kids . A bribe is an incentive for someone to engage in bad behavior, whereas a reward is often used to motivate prosocial actions for the benefit of everyone. Parents can even be upfront with their children that they may sometimes choose to reward good behavior or hard work once in a while, but their kids shouldn’t expect an incentive every time. That way, everyone is on the same page, and rewards can be used to celebrate a special success or milestone.

Parenting experts recommend motivating children without rewards for a number of reasons: Children who are rewarded for good behavior wind up doing it less; an extrinsic reward makes it seem like the behavior is difficult or unpleasant when it doesn’t have to be (like eating vegetables or working out); and children wind up developing a transactional attitude so that they expect an incentive in exchange for behavior they should have anyway (like sharing toys with others or talking to people respectfully). As a result, parents may have better luck raising healthy and well-adjusted children by prioritizing intrinsic motivations over extrinsic rewards.

Like other forms of corporal punishment, spanking is associated with a wide range of negative developmental outcomes for children. Spanking is generally defined as hitting a child with an open hand. Parents may resort to spanking when they feel overwhelmed and need a quick fix in the moment, but spanking does little to resolve problem behavior in the long term and only serves to widen the emotional rift between parent and child. In general, parents benefit from more positive discipline strategies that boost their child’s confidence and self-esteem rather than shaming and humiliating them with physical punishment.

In December 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that parents not spank their children. Similar to other forms of corporal punishment, the science of spanking shows that not only is spanking ineffective at changing children’s behavior, but it often backfires, increasing negative behaviors like physical aggression. Other methods are more effective at modifying a child’s behavior without causing long-term damage.

Spanking damages the relationship between parent and child. What really happens when parents spank kids is that they incorrectly model for the child that adults can use physical aggression to solve their problems. Children who are spanked may suffer long-term consequences, including mental health problems, lower self-esteem, cognitive dysfunction, antisocial behavior, and anxiety. They are also more likely to use spanking and other physical punishment to raise their own children, increasing the risk of abuse.

Spanking, which is defined as open-handed hitting, is not recommended as a form of punishment for children. Parents who spank are often at a loss for how to get their child to behave otherwise, but research clearly shows that spanking doesn’t achieve the desire result and only serves to harm the child’s mental health. What really happens when parents hit their kids is they are putting themselves at greater risk of losing control and physically hurting their child.

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Poland’s kids rejoice over new rules against homework. Teachers and parents aren’t so sure

Ola Kozak, 11, sits at the table where she used to do her homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday April 5, 2024. Ola is happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. Julian enjoyed doing his homework. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Arkadiusz Korporowicz teaches history to 5th grade children at Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Pawel Kozak and his wife Magda Kozak, parents of three, stand at their home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. They have different opinions on the decision by Poland’s government that ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Children enter a classroom at the Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Julian Kozak, 9, sits at the table where he used to do his homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday April 5, 2024. Julian is not very happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Ola Kozak, 11, right, and her younger brother Julian Kozak, 9, sit at the table where they used to do their homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday April 5, 2024. Ola is happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. Julian enjoyed doing his homework. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Poland’s Education Minister Barbara Nowacka announces restrictions on the amount of homework for primary school children, at school number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Opinions are divided on what results can be expected from the strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Pawel Kozak, father of three, speaks at his home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Pawel and her wife Magda have different opinions on the decision by Poland’s government that ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Magda Kozak, mother of three, stands at her home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Magda and her husband Pawel have different opinions on the decision by Poland’s government that ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Julian Kozak, 9, sits at the table where he used to do his homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Julian is not very happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Magda Kozak, right, spends time with her son Julian, 9, at their home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Neither of them is happy that starting in April, Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Children walk in the corridor of Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Children with flowers wait for the arrival of Education Minister Barbara Nowacka at Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Julian Kozak, 9, plays with his cat at their home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Starting in April, Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ola Kozak is celebrating. The 11-year-old, who loves music and drawing, expects to have more free time for her hobbies after Poland’s government ordered strict limits on the amount of homework in the lower grades.

“I am happy,” said the fifth grader, who lives in a Warsaw suburb with her parents and younger siblings. The lilac-colored walls in her bedroom are covered in her art, and on her desk she keeps a framed picture she drew of Kurt Cobain.

“Most people in my class in the morning would copy the work off someone who had done the homework or would copy it from the internet. So it didn’t make sense,” she said.

The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk enacted the ban against required homework this month amid a broad discussion about the need to modernize Poland’s education system, which critics say puts too much emphasis on rote learning and homework, and not enough on critical thinking and creativity.

Under the decree, teachers are no longer to give required homework to kids in the first to third grades. In grades four to eight, homework is now optional and doesn’t count towards a grade.

Not everyone likes the change – and even Ola’s parents are divided.

“If there is something that will make students enjoy school more, then it will probably be good both for the students and for the school,” said her father, Pawel Kozak.

His wife, Magda Kozak, was skeptical. “I am not pleased, because (homework) is a way to consolidate what was learned,” she said. “It helps stay on top of what the child has really learned and what’s going on at school.”

(Ola’s brother Julian, a third grader, says he sees both sides.)

Debates over the proper amount of homework are common around the globe. While some studies have shown little benefit to homework for young learners, other experts say it can help them learn how to develop study habits and academic concepts.

Poland’s educational system has undergone a number of controversial overhauls. Almost every new government has tried to make changes — something many teachers and parents say has left them confused and discouraged. For example, after communism was thrown off, middle schools were introduced. Then under the last government, the previous system was brought back. More controversy came in recent years when ultra-conservative views were pushed in new textbooks.

For years, teachers have been fleeing the system due to low wages and political pressure. The current government is trying to increase teacher salaries and has promised other changes that teachers approve of.

But Sławomir Broniarz, the head of the Polish Teachers’ Union, said that while he recognized the need to ease burdens on students, the new homework rules are another case of change imposed from above without adequate consultation with educators.

“In general, the teachers think that this happened too quickly, too hastily,” he said.

He argued that removing homework could widen the educational gaps between kids who have strong support at home and those from poorer families with less support and lower expectations. Instead, he urged wider changes to the entire curriculum.

The homework rules gained impetus in the runup to parliamentary elections last year, when a 14-year-old boy, Maciek Matuszewski, stood up at a campaign rally and told Tusk before a national audience that children “had no time to rest.” The boy said their rights were being violated with so much homework on weekends and so many tests on Mondays.

Tusk has since featured Matuszewski in social media videos and made him the face of the sudden change.

Education Minister Barbara Nowacka said she was prompted by research on children’s mental health. Of the various stresses children face, she said, “the one that could be removed fastest was the burden of homework.”

Pasi Sahlberg, a prominent Finnish educator and author, said the value of homework depends on what it is and how it is linked to overall learning. The need for homework can be “very individual and contextual.”

“We need to trust our teachers to decide what is good for each child,” Sahlberg said.

In South Korea, homework limits were set for elementary schools in 2017 amid concerns that kids were under too much pressure. However, teenagers in the education-obsessed country often cram long into the night and get tutoring to meet the requirements of demanding school and university admission tests.

In the U.S., teachers and parents decide for themselves how much homework to assign. Some elementary schools have done away with homework entirely to give children more time to play, participate in activities and spend time with families.

A guideline circulated by teachers unions in the U.S. recommends about 10 minutes of homework per grade. So, 10 minutes in first grade, 20 minutes in second grade and so on.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a crisis around youth mental health have complicated debates around homework. In the U.S., extended school closures in some places were accompanied by steep losses in learning , which were often addressed with tutoring and other interventions paid for with federal pandemic relief money. At the same time, increased attention to student wellbeing led some teachers to consider alternate approaches including reduced or optional homework.

It’s important for children to learn that mastering something “usually requires practice, a lot of practice,” said Sahlberg, in Finland. If reducing homework leads kids and parents to think school expectations for excellence will be lowered, “things will go wrong.”

AP writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Michael Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed.