Children should not have homework.

It is true not all grades in Finland are free from homework but there are some without and that was my point. Visiting Finland myself and asking people about life in school is not enough to convince people of the truth and it could very well be possible that Finland has the most homework in the world and every child goes home with homework. Since you are far better at finding hard evidence than I, I'll let you do the honors. I am proud of myself for trying and I did my best but I'm glad I realized this direction of debate was not for me as I always felt it was too much effort to try to persuade people based on facts that could never truly represent the whole. I was wrong to think that homework for every child could only go one-way. Through some careful contemplation I realized that not every child is the same. That homework can be right for some and not others. Now as I go into a more philosophical direction, who is anyone to say what is right for the whole? I can honestly say homework was not right for me. But was it that it was extra school work at the end of a day full of school work, or was it just that it wasn't something I was invested in with all my heart? Had it been martial arts, or astrology, which were my interests in high school, I would have loved to dedicate extra time to it, because it would not be viewed as work to me. Having the freedom to choose how I spent my time was not a choice I had in school. I am certain I was not the only one who felt that way and perhaps you can find some statistics that can back up that claim. It was full of false support and encouragement for dreams that weren't mine. School had succeeded in holding me back from preparing myself for the life I wanted to live. I am certain that many children enjoyed the time they spent studying for what they believed would help them get where they wanted to go in the future. Perhaps there are a few studies somewhere or a graph that can show the trend of students who went to school and claim homework helped them achieve their dreams and not the dreams of others. Who is to say what is right for someone else? Can we truly trust parents and adults to decide what's best for a another human being when it is not their future to live? Many say that children don't know what's best for themselves but is it right to make choices for them without their consent? Is giving children a little more extra time to be children too much to ask? I think to better prepare children for the future of responsibility we need to let them make their own choices towards in their education including whether homework is right for them. I also agree with a change in the education systems granting teachers to be more animate with their children and making learning fun and I agree with a lot of your suggestions that could support a more enriching and stimulating environment for children. "However, this time is used for something important: for better understanding of a topic or subject. How is someone supposed to learn more about a subject, or grasp it, without practice?" Practice can be done in school with teachers that can answer their questions. "Either way, you can see there is actually a lot of free time still even with homework." What if the only family time they have is on the weekends and activities are planned for the whole weekend? "If it's taking time out of sleeping, that's because the child is either poor at time management skills, or is spending too much time for free time." In regards to the notion that that amount of free-time is not enough invigorate their creative, social and overall, free-time needs so that time goes into later hours which would keep them up later. And who is to say too much free-time is wrong for children? I agree with having the options of taking night classes but I still agree that homework should be an option. :)