Homework is robbing young people of lifes real lessons: SMH article by Daniel Donahoo May 1/07

Our secondary schools are piling on the homework, ostensibly in preparation for the discipline of university and the rigours of work. Yet as adults, we try to structure our workdays to avoid bringing work home, and quite a few university students balance periods in the semester fairly equally between cramming and time at the pub…

Not just secondary schools but in my experience it starts in Kindie. Both my children have been burdened with Homework through their primary years, the source of a lot of tension in the family. Apart from this, my real beef with homework is most of it is nothing more than busy work. Most times meaningless tasks from commercially produced ‘masters’ . It takes the natural joy out of learning, making it a chore for everyone (even the dog suffers). Why not give the time back to kids to explore their own worlds, in the natural environment or online. Interesting looking at the comments page for this article, SMH has touched a deep vein of interest as also shown in recent media articles.