Product Description

Etta 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?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #371749 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-08
• Released on: 2001-01-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 136 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this brief but thoroughly researched treatise on the evils of homework, Kralovec, a teacher and teacher educator, and Buell, an author and former editor of the Progressive, argue persuasively for a fresh look at the homework debate. Most parents take for granted that a greater amount of homework leads to higher academic achievement and thus better life chances later on. But the easy correlation between homework and achievement remains an unproven assumption, and the cost of overburdening students may be too high. This book suggests that children's growth and development might be better served by more opportunities for leisure time, social relationships, pursuing extra-curricular interests, sharing household chores or just simply playing. The growing class divide in the U.S., as well as increasing corporate demands on our lives, serve as theoretical backdrop for this book. One of the great American myths is that schools can "correct for the damage done by a highly iniquitous class structure," yet Kralovec and Buell make a compelling case for the idea that there are educational "mechanisms in place that serve to make the system less workable for poor and working class kids." Furthermore, assigning homework increases the achievement gap between wealthy students with leisure and those who have children of their own, younger siblings to care for, after-school jobs or crowded, noisy living conditions. The authors even argue that an increase in homework is a major reason for the escalating high school dropout rate in this latter group. The critical analysis of consumerism and corporate values may displease some, but this book will satisfy those who have begun to question the advanced intrusion of school, state and business into personal and community lives. (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This provocative book is one of the first publications linking homework with school reform. Reviewing the inadequate studies that have been conducted and citing historical documents on both sides of the debate, Kralovec, a former teacher, and Buell, an author and former editor of the Progressive, question the value of home work, providing a compelling argument that schools must educate children without over-relying on homework and extracurricular activities. Since the burden of teaching has been shifted from the classroom to the parents, the authors advocate for the reform of homework and its role, suggesting that homework negatively affects children from low-income families, where parents work all day and then return home only to be faced with intimidating volumes of their children's homework. They are simply not able to provide the same quality of guidance to their children as higher-income parents, who are usually more educated. These controversial ideas will certainly challenge both educators and parents.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Is it possible that homework isn't good for kids? Dare we even consider such a shocking idea? . . . Does it make children, teachers, and parents angry at each other rather than allied with each other?" -Deborah Meier, author of The Power of Their Ideas and Will Standards Save Public Education?, in her Mission Hill School News "The increasing amount of homework may not be helping students to learn more; indeed, it often undermines the students' health, the development of personal interests, and the quality of family life." -Ted Sizer and Nancy Faust Sizer, authors of The Students Are Watching

Customer Reviews

The Truth about Homework
How refreshing to come across a book that questions the value of homework. As the parent of three children, 16, 13 and 10 I have seen the damage homework can do to children's enthusiasm for learning and to my relationship with them. Children need free time to explore their own interests and to figure out who they are. Homework will not solve the too much TV and Video Game problem, but it will quell children's innate desire to explore their world and find out who they are.

"The End of Homework" takes a much needed critical look at the real effects of homework on learning and development and shows just how empty and unsubstantiated many of the claims from the "more homework" camp really are. Anyone with a stake in the current debate about how children use their time, the changes in the way they grow up, the shift in the balance of power away from families towards corporate institutions, and above all the role of homework in these trends should read this book.

homework stinks
i've been a strong opponent of homework for many years, ever since the day i almost had a nervous breakdown in 2nd grade when i had failed to complete an "important assignment." now as a parent of a second grade student of my own, i realize more than ever that homework is clearly detrimental in numerous ways to both our youth and our families.
this book lays out a solid groundwork of arguments against homework. if your new to the debate or on the pro homework side, you'll likely learn a great deal from this book.

An Important Book for both Parents and Teachers
I've been in the AmeriCorps, for two years, working with children who, in some cases, disparately, need help in literacy. I have seen first hand the problems children have in trying to do homework and not being able to read. I say this to make a point. Now this book does not necessarily look at ones reading ability. What the book does cover is how in some cases homework can be a burden, and in others counterproductive. This book does not place blame on any one person, i.e. teacher - parents and so forth. What it does do is show how the perception of if children do a lot of homework that it is good for them. This is not always the case. An example of this in the book was when Ms Kralovec did an experiment. When she went to a high school to teach a class, she is a college professor, she assigned no homework, all papers and work was to be done in class, using the school resources, library computer lab. At the end of the semester the students not only enjoyed the class but like that fact of not having the pressure to do homework every night. All of them did very well in that class. One student sighted that was because all the resources were in one place, school.

Another point the authors being up are not all children learn by doing a work sheet or reading from a book. To those who do not learn well this way we are setting them up to not only fail, but also lose interest in school from an early age. Even when a teacher assigns a project it puts the children that don't learn well by doing projects at the disadvantage. The authors make the point that we, educators and parents, need to go beyond smaller classrooms, but also deal with how children learn on an individual basis.

This brings me to my point, and the point of the book. Homework can be effect when used correctly, yet at the same time homework should not be the end all and be all of work. We need to always be on the look out as to whether, or not homework is working for children. This is a wonderful book and I would advise all parents, teachers and principles to read this. I will admit that there is a slant against homework, but it is fairly well balanced. If there were a flaw in the book it would be answers to if there were no homework then what? I see this book as the opening chapter in a larger issue of giving less to no homework at all.