Educators close book on homework

Young students at Beacon Day School in Oakland, California, work hard at school, but they don't have to take work home with them. The private school does not assign homework until the sixth grade

In this story: More family time Less is more Homework 'essential,' defender says RELATED STORIES, SITES

OAKLAND, California (CNN) -- It seems like a child's wild fantasy.

But it's a fact at Oakland's Beacon Day School: Homework doesn't exist for students in the lower grades.

The private school just doesn't believe in it, saying younger children aren't developed enough to benefit from it or have the discipline to study for long periods.

	QUICKVOTE
Is homework beneficial to students? Yes No View Results

"So you know what happens? Mom and Dad do the homework," said Thelma Farley, the school's director of education.

Farley isn't the only one making a case against homework.

Educator Etta Kralovec, co-author with John Buell of the new book "The End of Homework," believes homework places undue burdens on families and students, with questionable academic benefits.

"A lot of people first hearing the idea think we're crazy," she said. "But when people stop and think about their own lives and how homework impacts it, they quickly change their minds."

Kralovec said parents in this fast-paced society already have a limited amount of time to spend with their children, and that homework only aggravates the problem.

"Parents, in addition to whatever support they want to give to a school, have educational agendas for their own kids, and they need to have to pursue those educational agendas, whether it's religious instruction or cultural heritage or teaching kids hobbies," she said.

Etta Kralovec and John Buell, co-authors of "The End of Homework," believe that homework has questionable academic benefits and a negative impact on family life

Beacon students Timothy Loggins and Drew Gerken won't have to take schoolwork home for a few more years, and that's just fine with their folks.

"I think homework is not useful until a child is older," dad Chip Gerken said, "and in fact, it is harmful for a younger child, because it teaches a child that school is a chore -- that it's not fun."

Sandra Loggins agreed.

"Not having homework allows us to be a family in the evening to do those things that help us build our family," she said. "Whether it's reading or being together, there's better ways to learn than having rote homework to do every single evening."

Kralovec, a former teacher with a doctorate from the Teachers College at Columbia University, suggests even the reading of literature is better dealt with in a classroom setting than at home -- even if that means studying fewer books.

"Let's be honest. Kids don't do that reading. They get Cliff's Notes, they read half of it. It's an unusual kid who does all the assigned reading in high school," she said.

"You know what happens? Mom and Dad do the homework," said Thelma Farley, the school's director of education

She places more value in a few things deeply studied, as she put it, "than a lot of things shallowly studied."

Although she says the argument against homework has connected with weary parents and some educators, it's a tough sell in a society that grew up on homework. She says those educators who might want to cut back on homework are fearful of public reaction to it.

"The fact is, people in their communities really have to take this on as an issue," she said. "They kind of have to get organized around it because change is not going to come from the school -- it has to come from the parent."

Beacon, which operates for 240 days per year, holds off on homework until the sixth grade.

"That's the time developmentally -- children are about 12 years old -- and they're entering a new stage of development where they can actually think about abstract things for the first time," Farley said. "And they can begin to organize and develop and do some independent work."

But that philosophy hasn't made much headway in Oakland's public schools, which acknowledge that many of their students may be years behind in basic skills.

"We think that homework is absolutely essential," said Dan Siegel, president of the Oakland Unified School District board.

Siegel notes that many students there come from poor backgrounds and don't know how to read, and that English is the second language of roughly half of those entering elementary school.

"Our teachers who focus on reading have an approach of trying to get the children to read on average at least one book a week, and that is the book they read at home," he said.

CNN Correspondent Greg Lefevre and CNN.com Writer Thurston Hatcher contributed to this report.

Students and teachers experiment with virtual high schools
August 9, 2000
Parents to face their own report cards this fall in Chicago schools
May 30, 2000

The Beacon Day School
Oakland Unified School District
Beacon Press

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.