The End of Homework

The Book That Ignited the Great Homework DebateEtta Kralovec and John Buell are educators who dared to challenge one of the most widely accepted practices in American schools. Their provocative argument first published in this book featured in Time and Newsweek in numerous women's magazines on national radio and network television broadcasts was the first openly to challenge the gospel of the more homework the better.Consider: * In 1901 homework was legally banned in parts of the U.S. There are no studies showing that assigning homework before junior high school improves academic achievement. * Increasingly students and their parents are told that homework must take precedence over music lessons religious education and family and community activities. As the homework load increases (and studies show it is increasing) these family priorities are neglected. * Homework is a great discriminator effectively allowing students whose families have to surge ahead of their classmates who may have less. * Backpacks are literally bone-crushing sometimes weighing as much as the child. Isn't it obvious we're overburdening our kids?