The more I read about the North American education systems the more convinced I am that I would have flunked out of it in high school had I been raised there.
Martin Feld There have been similar arguments in Australia about homework and frankly, this country tends to follow the United States blindly in a number of ways. It's interesting to consider what countries like Finland are doing with an emphasis on play, community and the outdoors. Perhaps the problem is with teaching and data-obsession, rather than how much homework kids take home… what do you think?
Mathew Packer @martinfeld homework is an interesting one, and it seems that it varies from school to school as to whether they assign it or not.
For example, we have 3 schools in our area, and between my Son, my neighbour, and my Son's football team, I know kids that go to each of them. 1 of the schools gives the kids heaps of homework, another gives a "project" per term/semester, and the other school assigns nothing at all.
Ron Guest As an American parent of kids elementary age to high school it is hard for me to recognize the complaint so you might have done just fine. Either we’re just fortunate or something? Our high school daughter rarely has homework. She gets assingments of course but except in rare cases, like once a month, can easily complete them in free time at school. Most can be done online on her iPhone too. When our youngest gets homework, at most once a week, it takes him no more than 10 minutes.
Our state does put too much emphasis on standardized tests though. There’s quite a debate going on about the right balance for these.
Martin Feld @matpacker It’s good to know that you have seen some variety and that it’s not just a deluge of homework! A lot of what I see is through my wife, who’s a primary school teacher, and she has shown me that there can be a bit of a fixation on data, assessment, etc.