A Homework Ban Is A Bad Idea

(I typed up a case, but my browser crashed. Now I have to type it all up again so I am sad. Anyways, Happy Belated New Year!)Once again, I would like to thank the judge(s) and my opponent for putting in the time to make this debate possible.DefinitionAs my opponent states, "Everybody CAN be wrong." This includes our views, such as "The Earth is round" and "The Nazis were bad." I am doing nothing to advocate these statements, but we could be wrong despite thinking these are right. Rene Descartes once almost proved that he knew nothing because his sense could be fooling him, he could be in a dream, and an omnipotent being could be deceiving him. [5] This demonstrates the uncertainty of things, so Pro's belief in a "commonsense defintion" of "bad idea" is fallacious reasoning. I would like to proceed using "bad idea" in accordance to the general will.ValueSince the opposition has not provided a value of his own, we agree and are bound upon "equality" as our value. There should be no disputes, but I will address Pro's skepticism: read my rebuttal in Round 2. As you can see, my contentions that I use to back up my criterion/value does not apply at all to Pro's belief in a supposed "Bad Equality." The only "advantages" I put out are impossible to re-create. This "Good Equality v. Bad Equality" is completely not applicable.My Opponent's ArgumentsAcademics v. SocializingWe are not ignoring people's needs. In addition, "exceptions" are irrelevant to our debate.Personal ResponsiblityThis is irrelevant. By using equality as a value here, we mean equal opportunity for people to learn. The learning environment should be made equal for everybody. Success is judged by the amount of effort IN this equal environment.College HomeworkMy point was that some college courses do not give homework. I am demonstrating this system and nothing else. My question to the opposition was to ask about his opinion upon this system. He has neglected to answer.Foreign LanguageIf homework was graded, a student with parents who are fluent in that language can pretty much tell all the answers to him/her. This is unfair to other students. Students should be given equal opportunity in an equal learning environment, but of course effort can be put in to guarantee success. The point here is that a Homework Ban would not be a bad idea in this case. Homework regulations are irrelevant because the opposition is supposed to be proving why a Homework Ban IS a bad idea.EssaysThe opposition says, "The mind can't come up with a quality essay in that short period." Who said the essay is supposed to be written in that short period? Students will not necessarily be completed in a single period - contrary to the opposition's assertions. In a class, students can learn and practice. There would be enough time to prepare an assigned essay. In addition, I would like to point out a logical fallacy in the opposition's argument: "a homework ban prohibits this [deep subject courses], leaving the most gifted to have to take less involved, more boring classes." I have already explained how the system after a Homework Ban could work.Homework ReductionTo summarize what Pro believes: More Homework, Less Effort = Less Homework, More Effort. That is not what we are aiming for. What we are trying to do is create an equal environment for students in order for them to determine their own successes through efforts. A learning environment based on equality is not the same as equalizing efforts. What is more important is equalizing the workloads for an equal leanring environment. If work is done at home, as in homework, there is room for inequality as shown in my contentions that I will restate later.Effort in SchoolworkWithout homework, teachers will be able to monitor students doing work. This is beneficial to diagnosing what the student is having trouble in. Nothing is difficult to implement there. If a kid was taunted for being "stupid" in the hallway, he/she will attempt to improve upon himself/herself. To do that, the kid will want to ask the teacher a question. If not, then while doing schoolwork, the teacher will see it and help.The NCLB Act coupled with a Homework Ban will result in teachers being more aware of how students are doing with subjects through schoolwork. Even if the kids don't talk to the teachers, the teachers will still see the trouble spots. The teacher will see the points that the students missed. This is actually more efficient. A Homework Ban is the best of both worlds.StressIf stress impacts whether or not you can follow along with the material in class as the opposition claims, then if the student does poorly, the teacher can catch it and quickly pay greater attention on him/her so that the student can catch up with the learning that might have been missed. This will take away distractions easily. Anyways, a more interactive teacher will have no problem getting students involved in learning instead of these distractions, and these are the teachers we are pushing for. Barack Obama, the president of the United States, has pledged to provide better quality education. His education policy includes hiring better teachers, and these are the kinds of teachers we are looking for who will make the classroom a more interactive environment. [6]The problem, though, is that there ARE distractions at home despite this "personal responsibility" material that is irrelevant.Using this, I can say: School = No Distractions, Home = Distractions. What should we opt for?Missing the PointI understand my opponent's point, but he has no evidence whatsoever to back up his IEP contention. As I have stated previously, schoolwork is the efficient way to judge whether a student is having trouble or not. With homework and its many factors (that I will re-address in my KVI), it is too unreliable to determine a student's real problem.Key Voting Issues/Contentions (KVI)The criterion I provide is that students should be given equal opportunity to do well in school.Homework is subject to many factors, which are my original contentions: Academic Dishonesty Time Money These are the supposed "advantages" that many students have other others, making homework very unequal.From this, it is possible to say that a Homework Ban is not be a bad idea. It would ban this "inequality" so that we can provide a more equal learning environment for students, supporting my criterion. ConclusionThe opposition has neglected to respond to most of my rebuttals in Round 2. He has also not sufficiently attacked my side, so a Homework Ban is still not a bad idea. Additionally, he has not supported our agreed value of "equality" very much. My opponent has also not provided a criterion to work towards. His contentions do little to support his side of the debate that states a Homework Ban is a bad idea. Especially without sources/evidence to back up any of his claims, I believe these are grounds to claim that the negation (Con) has won the debate.I stand in the firmest negation of this resolution, that people are not strictly against a Homework Ban, and I urge the judge(s)/voter(s) to agree and vote accordingly.Thank you very much. Have a nice day.[5] http://oregonstate.edu...[6] http://www.whitehouse.gov...;