Do you know how long ago there was a technology upgrade in my school?

It was in 1962!  Our blackboard and white chalk had a tech upgrade to greenboard and yellow chalk.  Conventional wisdom says that happened when it was discovered that yellow on green is easier to read than white on black.  Apparently the makers of highway entrance and exit signs agree.  Interestingly, an article in the October 2016 issue of The Atlantic suggested that the change may have been made because “these [green] chalkboards are lighter and more durable than slate, and thus easier to ship.”

My children experienced the next tech revolution in schools: whiteboards!  The impetus for the installation of these in schools in the 90s (they’d been available since the 60s) was the arrival of computers in schools.  It was feared that chalk dust might harm the computers.

But at least two things about school haven’t changed in over a century.

If it is too hot in the classroom, turn off the lights!  That never actually resulted in anyone putting on a jacket that I can recall.

And, of course, homework.

Why is there homework? Is it helpful to students in mastering material?  Is it stressful and harmful to family harmony and family time?

These questions have been debated since the late nineteenth century.  I have spoken with menahalim who would like to eliminate it and but fear backlash from teachers and from some parents.  I will not weigh in on the merits of homework, per se.  I would rather explore homework ba’asher hu sham. 

The key to success for every child in every situation is to meet an expectation.  Homework is no exception.  In order to help children succeed at homework, rebbeim and moros need to make their expectations about each homework assignment clear.  “I expect them to do it,” is not enough.  Homework should be a measure of a child’s success at meeting an expectation of the mastery of some skill.  Some educators think that homework can only be used to measure recall of material taught, but that is not the only skill can that homework can measure.  Often, homework questions use material taught in class as a launching point for the measurement of other, very different skills.  How can a teacher know what a child is succeeding at if the teacher doesn’t know which skill is being measured by each question or assignment?

Perhaps there are other skills that a homework question or assignment may be designed to measure, but let’s consider these three that I have discerned:

 

  1. Recall/Review
    1. Does a student remember what was taught?
    2. Does he or she understand it well enough to tell it over?
  2. Discover/Research
    1. Is the student being asked to learn something new on their own?
    2. Is the student able to access resources and express what they have found?
  3. Extrapolate – Can the student derive additional information from material that was taught?

 

The teacher should be aware which of these skills each question or assignment is designed to measure.  The student’s mastery or lack thereof may then be useful feedback for the teacher in determining whether the next step for that student is to be praised or assisted, and in what way.  If a number of students are struggling in one of these three areas, the teacher will know what to work on with the class.

All of this is predicated on the assumption that students will do their best to complete their homework.  When children don’t attempt to complete their homework to the best of their ability, the resulting measurements will be inaccurate.  Homework can only measure competence, not compliance.

You: Really? If a child’s homework is incomplete and appears to have been done carelessly, that’s not a measure of non-compliance?

Me: Not necessarily.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  That child clearly did not meet the homework expectation but the child hasn’t been asked what happened that prevented them from meeting it.

You: So now the parents have to ask the child what happened?

Me: The parents?  How did the parents get involved in this?

For most students, homework is a reality.  For many parents, homework is a reality, too, perhaps too much so.  Whose homework expectation is it?  It is an expectation expressed by the teacher to the student.  Any issues arising from the homework expectation should remain between the teacher and the student.

Homework is not the same type of school-generated expectation as, for example, a dress code.  Children are not expected to buy their clothing; parents are expected to meet that expectation when they buy their child’s clothing. 

Homework is an expectation that should not be met by parents.  Parents should not be expected to help their children with homework or address issues of homework non-compliance.

You: Did I read that right?  Do you believe that parents should not help their children with homework?

Me:  Yes, you read that right.

To elaborate, let me share author K.J. Dell’Antonia’s analysis of this matter:

“When it comes to school and homework, we parents have become confused about the goal.  We think we want our children to ‘achieve’ and ‘succeed’ – but those are the wrong verbs.  They’re too easy for us to take over and run with.

“Instead, our children need to learn to achieve and succeed themselves.  Think of it like basketball.  The goal of the game isn’t getting a ball through a hoop.  If it was [sic], we could get a ladder, or lower the hoop, and then all go out for ice cream.  But no, the goal is to get the ball through the hoop as best as a player can and to figure out where you belong on a team, how to follow the rules, and even ultimately whether you really want to be on the court.  Without those things, there is no game.” (How to Be a Happier Parent, Avery, New York, 2018, pp. 145-146)

On a practical level, if a parent helps a child with homework, the result will not be an accurate measure of that child’s competence.  Teachers need to discover their students’ capabilities, not those of their parents. 

You: So parents have no role at all when it comes to homework?

Me: The role of parents is to provide a comfortable place, free of distraction, where each child can do his or homework and studying.

You: Does “free of distraction” mean I should stop my daughter from listening to music through her earbuds while she’s doing her homework?

Me: If, al pi darcha, she can focus well or better when the music is on, leave her alone.  What is a distraction for you might not be for her.

If a child chooses to do homework carelessly or not at all, that is a concern to be addressed by whoever issued the unmet expectation: the teacher and sometimes the hanhala.

If a teacher or hanhala member doesn’t know how to work with a non-compliant child, he or she should seek outside guidance.