And I'm a teacher.

Certainly going to get a ton of tl;dr but here is an article I wrote with my thoughts on homework...

http://teamman.ca/...why-i-dont-give-homework/

i like homework, but i get paid to do it.

It's interesting. There's a pile of educational research that contradicts some of what you say and agrees with others (I'm helping my fiancee with some university courses on this stuff so I get to read about it..)

"Rote learning is (should be?) a thing of the past."
Rote learning serves another purposes than simply feeding people somewhat useless facts. It also builds up brain power. You do something similar for your muscles by going to the gym and doing multiple sets of curls. Without some kind of rote learning you cannot hope to adequately problem solve. Just like the boring reps in the gym will help you play hockey/swim/run better.

Also, if you want to learn to be things like Doctors, Lawyers, Electrician, hell even an actuary, you are going to need fairly good memorization skills on top of the problem solving skills (the two are different as far as your brain goes. If you know D&D think Intelligence vs Wisdom)

It's a question of how much is right for an individual.

You cannot learn to read/basic math without it.

Memorization skills are valued in many jobs.. much more than problem solving skills. It's sad but it's an ugly fact of life. Things like how much each item at bulkbarn costs, what are the abbreviations for every stock on the TSX, what are the rules concerning investing in stocks should our reserves be past a certain point.. which colour wire is teh ground?:)

Yes all that can be looked up, but it's faster if you don't have to.


I know you just started teaching.. what I suggest you do is keep your thoughts and see after teaching for 20 years you still feel the same way. My parents (who taught for 40+!) didn't for example.

For the record I almost never did homework until I got to college:P

"homework" in college actually serves a completely different purpose though because ti was a way of doing something on your own (or in a group) and then getting feedback to see if you understood. Also it was a way to help learn/focus/take your time/reflect/criticize.. which is probably not what you'd expect an 8 year old to do:P

It also has to do with the amount of homework. Sending a kid him with 2 hours of homework every night is BS and is essentially just busywork.

I guess what I mean about rote learning is that it needs to be scaled back. Certainly students need to memorize certain facts, but more often then not memorizing those facts satisfies much of the curriculum and teachers are happy to leave it at that and move on. Rote learning has a role, but it shouldn't be the main method.

Yeah. Our board's homework policy is 10 minutes per grade per night, not on religious holidays, not on board holidays, and be reasonable about weekends. It's not a bad policy, but my board is among the more foreword thinking from what I've seen and heard in Ontario.

I hate home work, I miss homework.

@hawkeyee: YRDSB?
My fiancee works for them..

So 12th grade gets 120 minutes of HW per class per night? :P

yah, if they don't have to fast or flagellate themselves.

I agree, homework for homeworks sake is fluffing stupid.

In highschool, I used to skip class and homework to go to the park to study. Some of my teachers hated me for it, and others thought it hilarious. I have a long line of classes in grades 8, 9 and 10 passed with 51% because I completed no homework, attended almost no class, and got 95+% on the final exams, lol. Eventually I got into a school that let me progress at my own pace rather than forcing me to attend classes and do homework on subjects I had already mastered, and from then on, life was good!

I like I Think it was Swedish school theories.. where they go out and do, insteada just sitting in a school.

Yes Martian. YRDSB. Woodbridge area. Your fiancee is in Thornhill?

Not certain how it works in high school. I know this is the policy for elementary.

I HATE HOME WORK also but if i dont do it things will just pile up and this place will not be a home but a dump. So if you dont want to live in a dump regardless do your HOMEWORK and live in a nice clean environment.

I said that grumpy