Is homework really necessary?

By Charyn Pfeuffer

Studies have shown that too much homework isn't beneficial to students, but many researchers think some amount of take-home work is valuable.

Lynn Stoddard’s years as a teacher and administrator in northern Utah schools produced a few opinions on the educational system. Among them, homework isn’t needed, at least from a traditional standpoint.

"It's such a strong myth in our society that teacher-assigned homework is good for kids," Stoddard was quoted. 

He debates that take-home work is detrimental for a few reasons: 
•         It is an excessive burden on parents. 
•         It interferes with family activities. 
•         It puts much stress on many students. 
•         It makes less time for other beneficial interests. 
•         It gives children an aversion to learning.

When it comes to homework, Stoddard says kids tend to learn what’s necessary to pass a test and then ditch the information as soon as it’s no longer needed.

Instead, Stoddard said children should have self-chosen home study.

"If you can get a child curious about something, you can't stop them from reading about it," he was quoted. “It’s time to look at individual children, instead of a standardized public system we have now.”

But a review by researchers at Duke University of more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 showed that, within limits, there is a positive interaction between the amount of homework which is done and student achievement. The research supports the ‘10-minute rule,’ the widely accepted practice of assigning 10 minutes of homework per day per grade-level.