"Homework has no place in a young child’s life. With no academic benefit, there are simply better uses for after-school hours."

Sorry, but that's just plain wrong!

It's not the amount of homework that's the problem, it's the quality. I've been waiting to weigh in on K-12 US education for quite some time, so excuse my long reply. I hope some find it informative.

Here I go with my Eastern European perspective on homework in grades 1-6.

My education in the US started in 7th grade, after completing grades 1-6 in Bulgaria.

I studied German from grades 1-4, when enrolled in a music academy and played percussion instruments (drums and xylophone), and also learned the basics of playing the piano, and folklore dancing. I practiced playing percussion for at least 2 hours a day and did homework for another 2-3 hours a day in those grades.

During the Summer after 4th grade, I was taking private lessons in Math, as I was applying to a specialized Math and Science school. In those private lessons, I learned about linear equations, mathematical series (geometric, etc), and how to derive their formulas, among other subjects that are typically taught in grades 7-10 in the US.

After taking the placement exam, I got into the school, where I also had to pick German or English. I picked English and had about 10-12 actual hours of English classes a week.

Every day we learned 15-25 English vocabulary words, and for homework, I had to write each word 20 times in a notebook, which was periodically graded by the teacher. This was on top of learning grammar and memorizing short stories (2-3 times a semester) that I'd have to recite for a grade.

I also had extra curricular Math classes on Saturdays that discussed special math topics.

On average, I'd spent anywhere between 2-4 hours a day on homework for all of my classes, sometimes a lot more.

That was in 5th and 6th grade.

Classes were taught in 2 different schedules. 7:30 - 2:30pm OR 11pm - 6pm. Which alternated every semester.

Also, I had plenty of time to play around with kids in the neighborhood and enjoy my childhood. That stuff you see in those youtube videos of Russian kids climbing old abandoned soviet buildings and doing crazy parkour stunts? Yep, I did all of those too!

Kids, especially in elementary school, should be taught the principles of hard work and time management and be exposed to as many different subjects and skills as possible. There isn't a better time for it, because the older you get, the less free time you have to do the things you want!

The doom of american education is standardized scantron tests. Students should be tested on how well they know and apply concepts, instead of how well they can eliminate answers and guess the correct one.

Unfortunately you'll never see a student in the US be graded on his ability to solve a math problem on the chalk board, or recite a poem, or history lesson in front of the class. That is what I had to do in grades 1-6. It teaches you to always be prepared, because the instructor can call on you at any time.

I had anywhere between 3-7 actual grades (marks) in most of my classes. Some of them were impromptu examinations by being called on randomly to do a math problem on a chalk board, explain the significance of a particular king/ruler in history class, recite a poem in literature class, recite a short-text in a foreign language class, and the rest were tests and midterms.

Compare that to the US, where you have 10 up to 20 graded assignments per class in K-12.

I found homework assignments in 7-12 grade in the US to be a complete joke. Fill out blanks on a piece of paper by copying them from the textbook or complete a huge packet of boring mind numbing problems? What in the world?

I'll assume that's because those are easy to grade, but in reality, it's much better to give fewer more complex assignments that require a lot more knowledge and skills to complete. Quality over quantity!