A public elementary school is abolishing traditional homework assignments and telling kids to play instead — outraging parents who say they may pull their kids out of the school.
Teachers at P.S. 116 on East 33rd Street have stopped assigning take-home math worksheets and essays, and are instead encouraging students to read books and spend time with their family, according to a letter the school’s principal, Jane Hsu, sent to parents last month.
“The topic of homework has received a lot of attention lately, and the negative effects of homework have been well established,” Hsu wrote in her letter, which was sent home with students.
“They include: children’s frustration and exhaustion, lack of time for other activities and family time and, sadly for many, loss of interest in learning.”
Hsu explained that the school spent more than a year "analyzing studies focused on the effects of traditional homework" and decided that it was more important for the Pre-K through fifth grade students to do activities that “have been proven to have a positive impact on student academic performance and social/emotional development” such as reading at their own pace and playing.
"In fact, you may be surprised to learn that there have been a variety of studies conducted on the effects of homework in the elementary grades and not one of them could provide any evidence that directly links traditional homework practices with current, or even future, academic success."
How can it be so hard for people to understand this?
If you push children too hard, too early, they will simply end up dropping out of school before they can graduate from high school. Which is what we are seeing now.
Remember this?
Mr. Rogers understood children on a fundamental level, and HE understood that you want to raise fully realized and well developed adults you let them learn through play as children.
If you want to create mindless, uninspired cogs in a machine, you force them to sit in desks and teach to the test.
My hope is that other schools will see the success of this New York school and follow their example.
My kids grew up going to a Montessori school and as a result they love to learn. Their peers on the other hand, hate school and started hating school at a young age. It is complete nonsense that just memorizing something makes you smarter. Kids need to be kids!
ReplyDeleteLots and lots of children go to traditional public schools and love it, including my own two.
DeleteThey love to learn, love to read, have wonderful teachers, and plenty of time to play and just be kids.
You must give credit to Maria Montessori.
DeleteLong ago Dr. Montessori, first female physician in Italy (and an early exponent of special education, now called adapted learning), emphasized that a child's play is his work.
Dr. Montessori recognized the neglected potential of high-need children in asylums, and went on to create unlimited educational opportunities for children across the spectrum.
The knobbed puzzles, pair-matching materials, sensory bottles, geometric cubes, and other self-correcting activities in public schools are directly linked to the work of Maria Montessori. Also unique to this great woman was her recognition of the value of each and every child, regardless of arbitrary standards of education or attainment.
For decades her methods were popular in the US and Europe, but the teacher training and the didactic apparatus are costly, so it's on the wane now. The mathematical golden bead material alone costs thousands of dollars. My Montessori teacher training cost almost as much as my tuition at a private Benedictine college. My hope is that Montessori education will enjoy a resurgence in the near future.
No surprise that Mr. Rogers, this sweet, loving, and much-loved Presbyterian minister, promoted the same ideals, with his recognition of the priceless worth of each individual.
The first grader grandkid has only one homework assignment... read for 15 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAnd, FORTUNATELY, she reads a lot more than 15 minutes.
I agree totally with this idea. I would add that children's play should mostly include other children so they can learn from each others unique ideas and perspectives and learn to work and play together. I don't think handing a child an iPad to play with (like a certain person who shall remain nameless), or forcing them to become computer literate before they're in pre-school, or sending them off to play video games is good for kids. They need to run around and experience the real world before it is lost to them forever, as sadly seems to be the case with so many kids today.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely! Using one's imagination and sharing ideas. Learning to build a fort, be it from sheets or wood or cardboard, playing with props-dolls, hot wheels, dress-up, etc, where the child creates the vision and dialogue, running, riding, swinging, building muscle...playing!
DeleteI would include non-electronic play. We're not talking video games here (although there is some value in those too.)
DeleteWe're talking manipulatives like Legos or erector sets or buttoning doll clothes.
We're talking social games like hide and seek and dress up.
We're talking children practicing using their imaginations by making up their own games.
We're talking physical play like hopscotch, jump rope, play sets and jungle jims. Red Rover and Duck Duck Goose.
Children don't know how to play any more.
And older children don't know how to create. I can't believe the number of different crafts I learned and did that today's children are clueless about.
Once I had to teach junior high students how to fold and cut out "snowflakes". They were fascinated. Then we cut out a string of "dolls" holding hands. They were amazed.
I second most of your comment, with the exception of Red Rover. It was banned in several school districts in which I subbed late in my career, probably because of the risk of injury.
DeleteAs a child, I hated this particular game because I was a runt who could never break through the tightly-clasped hands of the opposing team, so of course I was always the first one called on. Although I was not physically injured, the humiliation was obvious for all to see--which is reason enough to cross it off the list of gross motor activities for children.
Is that a picture of Bristol's other children?
ReplyDeleteWhat a shitty comment. Whoever's children they are, they are innocent CHILDREN.
DeleteThis almost made me cry. Play is children's work... so true. And yet how many of them actually get the chance to just... play?
ReplyDeleteWell, back in the day, let's say early 1950's, I did homework, lots of reading and drawing on my own, and played my heart out. I do think that it can all be done. Kids need the discipline and the reinforcement of lessons learned in class that homework brings. It's also not a bad thing for parents to keep up to date with how well their kids are absorbing what they learn during the school day. So, while I'm a great believer in giving kids plenty of time to develop their imaginations and to get physical exercise (in an unscheduled way), I do think that the benefits of some homework each day far outweigh any inconvenience to teachers or some parents. In fact, instead of discouraging homework I would discourage the overly organized activities that parents foist on their kids after school and on the weekend. Let them play outside with the neighbor kids. Let them curl up with a book or some paper and pencils or crayons. Just don't schedule them too much.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
This is my kids' experience. They do have some homework in elementary school, starting in 2nd grade but with very little time commitment and very little pressure. And free reading (or being read to) is always part of that homework. Homework increases bit by bit as the elementary years go by, but I have to say I appreciate being able to spend that time with my kids, checking on how they are feeling about school and what they are learning.
DeleteMy kids always have plenty of time to do other things because we don't over-schedule them. There's time to hang out with friends, or just lay around reading, drawing, or playing in the backyard.
They also have supervised time on the computer because it's part of the world in which we are living and they really do enjoy it.
Everything in moderation...
My child was in a half-day kindergarten program because, as our county insisted, they were "not a babysitting service!". However, after a 2-hour-15-minute school "day", the kids would come home with 2 - 3 hours of homework every night. In KINDERGARTEN. I enforced a half-hour a day of homework and anything that didn't get done, didn't get done. As I said to the school, "I am not a school--you want all this seatwork done, build it into the school day." That child is now in college double-majoring in physics and math, so clearly refusing to chain the child to the dining room table for 3 hours/evening didn't hurt a thing.
ReplyDeleteI was a product of the first year of kindergarten in our school (1948 and I was four when I started). It was a wonderful experience - we learned songs and poems, did finger painting, played outside and inside (there was a huge sandbox inside!) but reading and math were left for regular grade school. I think that kindergarten should be just that. Hours of homework for a four or five-year old is insane.
DeleteBeaglemom
With this in mind, if these parents really want their students to do something in the off time that will improve their scholarship I suggest....they give their child music lessons. Let the kid choose and instrument they like and pay for music lessons. When they are proficient enough, get them in a band or orchestra.
ReplyDeleteStudies have shown that music students are much better scholastically in all subjects. Has to do with the discipline of learning an instrument carrying over into other fields of study.
So no homework? Fine. Go practice your violin (or flute, or trumpet, or clarinet....)
There will still be plenty of time for they to play outside during daylight and practice their instrument before or after dinner and before their favorite TV shows come on.