As the world engages in a global homework debate, there are many parents whose major concern is not public policy, but what will happen at home tonight. These parents start out with the full intention of supporting the teachers and their children’s schools. Yet, something goes wrong as they fall into a homework trap.
The problem starts in elementary school. The notes come home, and the parents get “the call.” They meet with the teacher and make plans to make sure everyone is on the same page. By middle school, there are several teachers, the disciplinarian and the nurse, all fretting over what these children do not do. These parents would do anything to help their children, yet nothing they do reaps results.
The key misconception about homework-trapped children is what I call the “myth of motivation.” These children are viewed as lazy and unmotivated, as if they are different from the other children who would rather play than do their homework. There are reasons why these children don’t do their work and it’s not because they lack motivation. Rather, they have “under-the-radar” learning problems. Minor differences in learning capabilities can have major implications on the work that’s sent home, much more than it has on the work done in class. No one would question that a slow-running child truly wants to win the race, yet we somehow believe that homework-trapped children lack the desire to get their work done.
We know that people don’t spend large amounts of time engaging in tasks they don’t do well. Yet, homework-trapped children are made to struggle for hours to get everything done. These children would be far better off if they were asked to work for a fixed amount of time (perhaps 10 minutes per night per grade).
Excessive homework pressures teach children to lie, forget, argue and procrastinate. This eventually brings in the child-study team, not to deal with learning problems, but because the child’s behavior has been bad. With that, the child may get sent to a different class or an alternative school where, voila, homework is no longer required. It’s an odd turn of events that these homework-trapped children, who could have succeeded with some homework relief, only get that relief after they’ve acted out.
I offer three very simple adjustments that are crucial for homework-trapped children, and which, frankly, I think should be policy for all:
● Time-bound homework. Just like school starts and stops by the clock, define homework as a fixed period of time. See what the child can do in a reasonable amount of time and work with that child on using the time well.
● Reduced penalties. Zeros factored in 25 percent of the grade is too harsh of a penalty to alter behavior. Lesser consequences will prove more effective in both mobilizing the child and allowing the parent to approach the issue calmly.
● Respect lines of authority. Teachers are in charge of their classrooms. Parents are in charge of their homes. Teachers should not tell parents how to organize their homes. In the end, when decisions are to be made about behaviors in the home (i.e., homework), the parent needs to be the one with the final say.
I am aware of the controversy around how much homework children should get. It’s an important debate but one that I’ll leave to teachers, the experts, to figure out what makes the most sense. But in developing their models, it is critical for teachers to understand that homework assignments are using borrowed ground. Homework requires the tacit permission of the parents to allow it in their homes. While most parents will support the school in what it asks, they also need the power to withdraw that permission, if needed, without consequence to their child’s education.
Kenneth Goldberg is a clinical psychologist and author of “The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students and Teachers .”
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