A newspaper called ‘The Telegraph’ recently printed a headline that read
“California’s latest mad Democrat plan…..banning homework”
I wasn’t particularly clear why anyone would call a plan to ban homework ‘MAD’. I was even more curious why some Americans would want to oppose this plan. I was however very clear that my young (and older) readers would be tingling with curiosity that someone somewhere has sensible ideas, and I ought to be writing to them about these glorious events.
Let’s start the story at the very beginning
California’s Assembly Member Pilar Schiavo was campaigning two years ago. Her 11-year old daughter asked her if she would be able to ban homework, if she won the election. Pilar indicated that she would definitely do SOMETHING about this sore factor. Pilar won and she began talking to schools, parents and students to get a sense of how big a problem this was, for each of them.
Her daughter Sophia said, “Homework is exhausting. It’s overwhelming. And it’s depressing that my whole day, from when I wake up until when I go to bed, is nearly all taken up with schoolwork. With most of my time scheduled for me by my school, it’s making me not like school at all.”
Clearly this wasn’t a small problem. A senior lecturer in education at Stanford (Denise Pope) had also been concerned about the homework load of school-going students. She had done her bit of research into this menace. A survey of 13,000 California high school students revealed that the average amount of homework was two and a half hours!!! Denise figured that such a huge load of homework leaves little time for sleep / time with friends and family / other extracurricular activities. Remember, the child is already spending seven to eight hours in school each day.
The California Assembly Member Pilar Schiavo got to work. “I’ve spent the last year talking to every single teacher and parent and student that I can talk to, and administrators, to get their thoughts on homework, and I have been hard pressed to find teachers who love homework,” Schiavo said. “And I am definitely hard pressed to find students who find homework useful.”
Pilar also referred to more detailed research done on California students that showed that 45% of students consider homework a primary source of stress. Adding more homework can cause them to not meet developmental needs or cultivate critical life skills. That leads to students dropping activities, not seeing friends or family and choosing to not pursue hobbies that they enjoy.
Clearly, everyone was seeing a pattern. There was a problem.
How did this problem begin
Many teachers who join the teaching workforce, model their teaching life on the kind of teachers they had when they were young. The kinds that taught in classrooms and assigned truckloads of homework. For example, here is an excerpt from an interview with Casey Ciuny (a High School English teacher and one of five teachers selected as the 2023-24 California Teachers of the Year).
“I initially taught the way that I was taught, meaning lots of homework. These days, I focus more on teaching in the classroom and only assigning small amounts of homework to reinforce certain ideas.
I think there’s enough time in the classroom for the learning to take place with the professional. There is space for meaningful homework, but it doesn’t need to be 50 Math problems or 10 big essays!”
What is California trying to do?
Pilar Schiavo and a team of four other elected representatives of California got together and drafted a bill. This bill is being reviewed by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
What is a bill? A bill is like a law that has been drafted with all the terms and conditions clearly mentioned. But the bill becomes a law after it is passed by the Legislature (a majority of the elected members should vote for it). After that, it needs to be approved by the Governor of the State (who signs the bill). Once this is done, the bill becomes a law!
Pilar’s bill does not ban homework altogether. Instead it says that public school districts have to create homework policies by the 2027-28 school year. These policies should clearly consider whether the homework is truly benefiting the students or are they simply adding to their stress level. School districts would have to hold two public meetings (with students, parents and teachers) to develop and adopt their homework policies. Districts would also have to post their policy publicly and update it every five years.
The idea behind the bill is to ban all kinds of large homework loads, which is more often that not, a source of stress and hardly any learning. Also, children who hail from poorer socio-economic backgrounds do not have access to high-speed internet. This, in turn, affects their ability to complete homework (and hence lose out on grades). Some teachers are in favour of the new bill because they feel that a child’s resources at home should not affect their grades (and it should simply be the quality of learning they show inside classrooms).
Why on earth are some people not happy about this bill?
While I am not a great fan of homework myself, there are some legitimate arguments made by supporters of homework. Do they make sense to you? Take a look at these.
Homework gives students another opportunity to review class material. Children go back home, pour over the content once and see if they understand what was taught. Nobody learns everything in one glance. Students will need a little bit of repetition at home as well.
Homework gives parents a chance to see what is being learned in school. Parents often sit with their children and see what was taught in school. Going over the homework assigned is a productive way of the parents being a part of the learning process for the child.
Homework teaches students how to take responsibility for their part in the educational process. Not all learning happens when teachers explain the content. Some of the onus lies in the hands of the children as well, to go over the content once at home. Homework gives the child a chance to show that they are willing to take lead on this.
What’s your take on homework?
History trivia
This is not the first time that homework ban is being considered in California. In the early 1900s, Ladies' Home Journal took up a crusade against homework. claimed that it damages children's health. In 1901 California passed a law abolishing homework!
What changed? Parents in the US became worried about their children’s future after the Second World War. They believed that the Soviet Union and Japan would overtake them in growth and their children would be left behind with no jobs. In order to ensure that their children were sufficiently skilled (and would not waste time at home), parents advocated bringing back homework!
Podcast this week
We are revisiting an episode that has a very inspiring story of a queen from South India. I am sure you have read stories of Aurangazeb riding his armies across vast swathes of land, destroying many temples and pillaging their wealth. Many kings stood by, shivering in their boots without being able to stand up to this powerful man. But, one woman had the courage to stand up to him. She remains the only queen who won against him. Her name was Keladi Chennamma. Her story is narrated in this podcast episode, with a powerful punch. Listen to it by clicking below.
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