Stolen childhood: The case against too much homework

My eldest son, Santi, spends an average of five hours in school as a grade one pupil. Since he is in the Autistic Spectrum, after class he also has to do about three hours of numerous therapies (speech therapy, occupational therapy, and SPED) in order to provide him the skills to cope with the demands of school and empower him to overcome the challenges of autism. And when he gets home, he still has to deal with homework. Sometimes, when I see him at home at night, I can sense how tired he is and I admire his ability and patience to deal with so much schoolwork as well as therapy. However, what I have found surprising, after talking with fellow parents, is how the amount of scholastic work after class or “homework” for children in pre-school and grade school has reached the point of becoming unreasonable. Thus, while Santi’s special situation in regard to the hours spent at therapy, of course, is unique, the homework requirements of other children without special needs are not that far behind. One parent related to me how, after a long day in the office, once she got home, she would have to go through her child’s lesson plan and homework for about two hours minimum every day. This overload of homework has, in my view, become unhealthy for our kids.

The usual reason given by school administrators for giving so much homework is that, firstly, it improves performance of children in school and, secondly, it builds both discipline and character. Naturally, any self-respecting parent would want all those things for their children and, intuitively, improved performance, discipline and character-building would be the result of doing school work at home. However, Alfie Kohn, a leader in progressive education, a noted author and lecturer on education, parenting and human behavior, has been very critical of this view on the usefulness of homework and says that research does not support the claims of the benefits of homework, whether academically or in other areas of a child’s development. According to Kohn, in his article “Rethinking Homework,” there are three facts that we should know about homework:

1. “The negative effects of homework are well known. They include children’s frustration and exhaustion, lack of time for other activities, and possible loss of interest in learning.  Many parents lament the impact of homework on their relationship with their children; they may also resent having to play the role of enforcer and worry that they will be criticized either for not being involved enough with the homework or for becoming too involved.”

2. “The positive effects of homework are largely mythical. In preparation for a book on the topic, I’ve spent a lot of time sifting through the research. The results are nothing short of stunning. For starters, there is absolutely no evidence of any academic benefit from assigning homework in elementary or middle school. For younger students, in fact, there isn’t even a correlation between whether children do homework (or how much they do) and any meaningful measure of achievement. At the high school level, the correlation is weak and tends to disappear when more sophisticated statistical measures are applied. Meanwhile, no study has ever substantiated the belief that homework builds character or teaches good study habits.”

3. “More homework is being piled on children despite the absence of its value. Over the last quarter century the burden has increased most for the youngest children, for whom the evidence of positive effects isn’t just dubious; it’s nonexistent.”

Reading Kohn’s articles and talking to the parents — especially families where both parents are working — who complain of the loss of quality family time because the time of their children is spent either at school or doing homework, it becomes apparent that there is a need to have a dialogue with school administrators and teachers about the amount of homework that our children should be given. Obviously, we parents have the greatest stake in the rearing of our children and our input on this matter should be taken seriously.

The schoolwork and homework demands on our children have already spawned an industry of tutorial centers to help our kids cope with their schoolwork. Having to get professionals to tutor our children was far from the norm when I was growing up in the ‘80s and while I’m certain that many, if not all, of these tutorial centers have the best intentions in helping children cope with the demands of schoolwork, their very existence is proof of the increased scholastic demands on our kids.

In fact, for me, the homework issue is broader and more problematic than merely reducing the amount of scholastic work at home. It goes to the very issue of the telos, or objective, of education. A focus on homework, discipline and on tests and examinations rewards learning by rote and has a mechanical view of what learning is all about. The heart of education should be about teaching our children how to think, in a clear and lucid manner, how to analyze problems, and how to make good judgments within a context of proper values. In short, education must be about creating empowered citizens and realizing our children’s full human potential. When I was president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (The University of the City of Manila), we made it a point to have numerous symposiums, talks (the personalities who gave lectures were as varied as former heads of state to the deputy Secretary of State of the US), concerts (we had world-class pianists and violinists hold demos and lectures on site), plays and other activities outside of the classroom that would enrich the learning experience of the students. So if providing enriching learning experiences outside the classroom are important in higher education, then it is more so at the pre-school and grade school level.   

Ultimately, my foremost objection to too much homework is that it steals childhood from both children and parents. Not only is it detrimental to the development of the child but it takes away precious time that I have as a working parent to enjoy my kids. It should always be remembered that having a well-balanced childhood is vital to creating healthy and happy adults. For me, childhood was about playing jolen (marbles), agawan base, kickball, and dodge ball. Being a kid was strolling aimlessly around Phil-Am subdivision in Quezon City with my buddies and playing with He-Man and Star Wars toys at a classmate’s house. In the ‘80s, after classes, I spent my time doing these “childish” pursuits and essentially living the carefree life of a young boy. Homework was very little or, for some subjects, nonexistent. While seemingly useless, these pursuits taught me how to play with and, thus, how to relate with others. Playing also engendered personal creativity through our made-up stories, particularly as we played with our various toys. Additionally, the games I played as a kid taught valuable life skills, such as dealing with competition and pressure. Unfortunately, the overemphasis on homework and not providing our children sufficient time for daily play and recreation may create a new generation of adults without these important skills.

Finally, while, as parents, we want our children to achieve success in school, we have to find that balance for them so that they can study well and also have the time, simply, to be kids. Like all parents, one of the things I want to provide my kids is a real childhood: I want my sons, Santi and Mike, to be able to look back at their childhood as time of play, fun and great creativity; I certainly don’t want their primary memories of their childhood to be about homework.