Reduce homework, lengthen schooltime

Burden of Proof My Burden of Proof is to prove that greatly reducing the amount of homework given [to High School students] in favor of increasing/setting the length of the school day from 9am to 5 pm does not provide sufficient increased benefit to society or the students to justify making said change. Con Case My case will address several factors that strongly oppose the outright reduction of homework as well as opposing the imposition of a 9 to 5 school day (increased). These are not rebuttals to Pro’s Case but arguments that in themselves oppose great reduction in homework & lengthening of school day. School Day Length Lengthening the school day will ultimately detract from the extra-curricular activities that Students can participate in, both by directly decreasing the amount of overall time available for those activities and by decreasing the viability of participating in activities. § Reduced daylight hours available, shortened leisure hours available for decompression from the now lengthened school day, less time to complete homework and more importantly study for examinations, less time and less prime hours available to obtain and work an after-school job. o It is important to the end of educational and social development that extra-curricular activities be a part of a student’s daily or weekly routine. Participation in extra-curricular activities yields better development social and intellectually. Benefits of participating in extracurricular activities included having better grades, having higher standardized test scores and higher educational attainment, attending school more regularly, and having higher a higher self-concept. Participants in out-of-school activities often learned skills such as teamwork and leadership while decreasing the likelihood of alcohol use and illicit drug use and related problem behaviors. Those who participate in out-of-school activities often have higher grade point averages, a decrease in absenteeism, and an increased connectedness to the school. (Wilson, U. Wisconsin-Stout, 2009) [1] Homework Guidelines Homework is a necessary tool of education. By extension, reductions in Homework will hamper ability to fully develop and achieve the best level of education & should be seen as a failure on the part of the education system. There are several components of homework that are valuable in themselves, both educationally and socially 1. Preparation “Homework teaches pupils to take responsibility for their tasks and prepare for life after school. Homework prepares pupils for their next stage in life”. 2. Scheduling “Homework is a way to organize time. It is also a way for teachers to organize their lessons to include appraisal of homework and testing. Homework is also part of organizing one’s free time”. 3. Control and assessment “The teacher assesses work done by assigning tasks followed by appraisal and testing. This helps a teacher to monitor a pupil’s development”. 4. Love and care “Homework contributes to family members helping each other.” 5. Identity and status “Homework is a sign of a pupil’s identity and acknowledgement that a child is now “big enough” to take responsibility for one’s schoolwork. It also gives status to a particular subject. When a pupil gets homework to do in a particular subject, that subject gets more respect”. 6. Community and contact “Homework serves to improve communication between teacher and parents”. 7. Work performance Hellsten’s conclusion is that a pupil’s work done in school is not seen as a task carried out. (Hellsten 1997 as cited by Dennis, Malmö högskola, Lärarutbildningen, 2007) [3] Homework teaches responsibility and offers a sense of achievement “[H]omework for pupils is an integral part of the working methodology of the school. To teach pupils to take responsibility for a task suited to their individual capabilities were an important part of character building which the school is responsible to provide” (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1980 p 50). It even pointed out that homework should be used to give pupils the opportunity for revision and practice, important methods of learning that serve to secure knowledge intake of knowledge and the learning of skills. (Skolöverstyrelsen as cited by [3], 2007) [3] The type of homework assigned is critical. Homework in itself as a tool or an institution cannot be held responsible for the failure of teachers or ‘the system’ to assign meaningful and useful homework. Subject influences effectiveness of Homework Homework can be assigned in several ways. Research has shown that the most effective way is to assign homework daily. In the USA, more research has been carried out than in other countries. In his book, The Battle over Homework (2001), Harris Cooper summarizes 120 studies on homework. ….Studies carried out on older children [high school] show that homework has a greater effect on their ability to learn but that ability varies depending on the subject. For example, in math, the difference in performance between those who had done their homework and those who had not, was very little, while greater differences could be seen in subjects in the areas of social science and language. The latter areas are areas that demand more factual and repetitive learning on the part of the pupil. [3] Students whose parents have achieved a higher level of educational success do more homework than students with parents of less educational accomplishment. This is representative of the value of homework, those who have attained greater education require greater time spent doing homework from their offspring, an obvious endorsement of the institution. On an average day, 39 percent of high school students whose parent(s) had less than a bachelor’s degree did homework, compared with 52 percent of those with a parent who had a bachelor’s degree or higher. In addition to being more likely to do homework on an average day, high school students whose parent(s) had higher educational attainment spent more time, on average, doing homework. Twenty-four percent of students with a parent holding a bachelor’s degree or higher spent 2 or more hours doing homework, compared with 13 percent of those whose parent(s) held less than a bachelor’s degree. (Allard, Monthly Labor Review, 2008) [2] Homework: memory/motivation Homework is an integral part of the process of committing learned lessons to memory. ...homework assignments [review] what has been done in the classroom ...it is beneficial to associate what is being learned to what is already known.[when] based on things that people have already mastered, it is easier to store knowledge in one’s memory. ...assignments which are not too difficult provide better motivation and pupils feel motivated if they can manage an assignment and the risk of failure is small. [3] Conclusion A 9-5 school day will harm students by decreasing time to participate in extra-curricular activities (sports, clubs, jobs, volunteer/community work, decompression, educational leisure) that are key to students’ development. Homework is an integral part of the educational process and offers a number of benefits to Students, Teachers, and Parents/Families. The decrease and or elimination of Homework coupled with the lengthening of the school day does not provide sufficient added benefit to students or to society to justify making a change to the current school day and education model (it in fact would be harmful to students’ education). Sources: 1. http://www2.uwstout.edu... 2. http://www.bls.gov... 3. http://dspace.mah.se...