Homework, Kralovec and Buell argue, forces parents to don the role of teacher, a task many parents are simply ill-equipped, or too exhausted at the end of the day, to take on. Homework, the authors contend, often sets parent against child and cuts into quality family time, which is already in short supply in two-income homes. Buell and Kralovec explain how the practice of homework has been integrally tied to America's national economic priorities. But the authors say politicians and other policy makers have missed the mark, focusing on getting students to do more homework instead of helping to improve public schooling. Abolishing homework, Buell and Kralovec are quick to note, would be no easy task.
Homework is deeply entrenched in both school systems and social values.
Class instruction, for instance, is typically structured around homework, a practice that ensures completion of the curriculum without extending school hours. But many educators are starting to question the practice. Many of these students return home after school to challenging environments where they have to cook dinner, care for younger siblings, or rush off to work. Homework just doesn't fit into the schedules of these youngsters, and they pay the consequences. Peppered with anecdotes of students compelled to forego school activities and outside interests to do homework, The End of Homework questions America's ability to raise whole children when homework assignments leave little time to do anything other than school work.