A GOOD IDEA I
A GOOD IDEA I like the lede for this column:
I want to get rid of homework as we know it.
I know I’m being wild and crazy. Usually in this column I gather lots of research and information from experts before stating an opinion. But today I’m just talking as the tired parent of two children who have done loads of homework over the past 12 years, much of which has been — by any sensible reckoning — a complete waste of time. Yet my children, along with most kids I talk with, don’t read enough. Certainly no kids I talk with seem aware that Maryland standards require all students to read a minimum of 25 books a year.
So here’s my idea: In elementary and middle school, there should be only one homework assignment — that each student read for at least one hour a day and write about what he or she reads for at least 15 minutes a day in a dedicated reading journal.
An excellent idea which you’ll never see in the government schools. Teachers are way too enamored of “projects” to ever put this into practice.