The Homework Myth Senior editor Gary Stager talks with Alfie Kohn about his new book, The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids By Gary Stager December 2006

Printer-Friendly Page Email This Article

I'm always fascinated-and more than a little disturbed-when our practices are completely out of step with what the data say. Homework, I discovered, is a stunningly clear example of that, because more and more of it is being piled on younger and younger children, even as research continues to find absolutely no benefit to making kids do more academic assignments at home after spending six or seven hours in school. I wrote the book, first, to make it more difficult for anyone to claim with a straight face that "studies show homework is effective" or "homework teaches kids good study skills"; and second, to try to figure out why homework would continue to be assigned and accepted in the absence of evidence that it does much good.

Well, the same basic question runs through a lot of what I write: "If we say we want this (for kids), then how come we're doing that?" I spent a single page on homework in an earlier book [The Schools Our Children Deserve] and decided recently that the topic warranted a book of its own.

Take seriously all the lovely rhetoric we repeat about the need to do what's best for kids. Be willing to question the conventional wisdom, challenge traditional practices, and take some flack for doing so. Be guided by what the research says, not by pressures from people who know less about learning than you do. Ask yourself whether what families do in the evenings should be decided by families or by schools. Ask yourself whether there's any reason to believe that kids who rarely get homework-who don't have to work what is, in effect, a second shift after school is over-will be at any disadvantage

in terms of their intellectual development. And above all, help teachers and parents to remain focused on the overriding question: How does homework affect kids' interest in learning, their desire to read and think? If the effect isn't positive, we should have doubts about assigning it. If the effect is actually negative, then the obligation to question the way things have always been done is even more urgent.

I should be clear from The Homework Myth that I don't say there should never be any homework. Rather, I suggest that we change the default. There should be no homework except on those occasions when teachers have good reason to believe that a given assignment is likely to benefit most students. To me, that seems like just common sense and not a particularly radical idea. What's bizarre, I think, is the status quo, in which we say, "We're going to make you kids do school assignments at home just about every night. Later on, we'll figure out what to make you do." That assumes that homework in and of itself, irrespective of the content, is beneficial. There's not a shred of evidence to support that position.

The kind that kids, in conversation with one another and the teacher, decide is important enough to infringe on family time. The kind that logically has to be done at home, such as interviewing parents about family history. The kind that consists of reading books of their own choosing, without a requirement to summarize, analyze, or write reports about what they've read, thus turning reading into a chore.

It's been varied, as you would expect. Lots of people love it because it confirms their own suspicions about homework. Lots of people hate it because they just know kids have to do worksheets and they don't care what the research says. Ironically, neither these lovers nor the haters have to read the book to know what they think about it. The reactions I treasure are from people who were undecided about homework and find themselves convinced after they read it.

I'm not sure about "silly," but the most depressing response has been "If kids didn't get homework they'd just sit around playing video games."

   1   2   3       Next>>