Holiday Homework [and homework per se]
Channel: The Raging Feminist
Date: 2022-02-09

Is handing out holiday homework to students ethical especially when students don't have much free time to start off with?
Does the school system own our children's free time?
Does the school system have priority and monopoly over what our children do after school, on weekends, and on holidays?
Should they?

Consider that once students leave school and enter the workforce, very rarely will they ever again easily be in a position to enjoy and self-direct their own free time for extended periods.

The letter I wrote:

Dear Teachers,

We did not touch any of the holiday homework. We mean no disrespect by this.
My belief is that school time is for school work, and holidays should be holidays - a chance to take a break, unwind and allow the kids a chance to structure and self-direct their own free time on their own.

Holidays should not be another excuse to load kids with work just to "keep them busy". It is essentially stealing their free time, large portions of their childhood, and it will later train and condition them to distrust us, since we (parents, teachers, schools, educational institutions) really have no idea or guarantee whether the things we're requiring them to do today will actually be of practical beneficial use in their futures.

Their days at school are already so long, and it's enough with the homework overkill already. Once they complete their educations, never again (for most) will they be able to enjoy extended windows of time for their own use, until they retire potentially. Let's not foreshorten this.

If my child does badly on the exams due to her skipping the homework, I take full responsibility and am totally okay with that.

All the best to the teaching faculty; I'm aware the system is not an easy one to work in, and it is increasingly difficult to adapt to the constant changes going on in the world around us, and how they affect the educational environment.

Yours sincerely,
An Adamant Parent

Related:
https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity

Above link to Sir Ken Robinson's outstanding speech on schools, our education system, and fostering creativity in our kids.