"No more late with homework. Take the opportunity to play or do what you like most after school". These words would be a balm of magical effects in our house, they would be a relief for our eldest daughter and for us, after having suffered in our own flesh a course with little respite. Hopefully, for the return to school, we will arrive a note from the school entitled "New homework policy" as with which a teacher from the United States has already earned her students, parents and to many people, turned viral.
This note was sent by a teacher from Texas to the parents of her students, giving a twist to the debate duties yes-duties no in which, it seems to me, the "no" gains more and more weight. And there are many good reasons why children should not have homework, so why carry them with them? Well, even so, I am sure that some parents would not like this little note, which says:
NEW homework policy
Dear Parents: After much research this summer, I will try something new. Homework will consist only of work that the student does not finish during the school day. There will be no formally assigned homework this year.
Research has not been able to demonstrate that homework improves student performance. Rather, I ask you to spend your afternoons doing things that have been shown to correlate with student success. Have a family dinner, read together, play outdoors, and take your child to bed early. Thank you.
I love this note, because it shows that things can be modified, because the teacher has had a lot of courage to change something with which she was not really satisfied (With how difficult it is sometimes, even due to external pressures from parents, partners, directives ...).
Because she has realized that the duties feed the inequality, unnecessarily pressure the children and their families, leave them without free time, without enjoying such simple and necessary things as playing, reading, dining together, going to bed soon.
The homework debate is on the street
These lines were shown by Facebook user Samantha Gallagher (Fort Worth, Texas), who said her daughter loved her new teacher now. The image has been shared at the moment more than 66,000 times in the social network and people from all over the world have contacted her to tell her that they saw her image and her impressions. Afterwards, a friend shared the image on Reddit, where in just one day he has generated more than 4,000 comments.
This tells us that something is changing, that people are increasingly aware of unnecessary pressure children suffer with excessive homework And the debate is positive. In fact, some people commented that this is the policy that is followed in their classes / schools. How I envy you!
But the debate is not only in the networks. Also, thanks to other media, it is on the street and we can check it if we talk about it with our friends, classmates, parents of other children ... Every time you hear more about homework (as conceived in general) they serve little good and that children are loaded with too many hours of useless homework every day. There are even campaigns about it that transcend.
In Spain, children are the most pressured by homework, although, fortunately, some things are changing. Of course, the author of this note is not the only teacher who promotes a school without homework, there are also those who veto them in summer, which for some are vacations, like an Italian teacher who commissioned her students with inspiring tasks for these dates.
But there is still a long way to go and the "abolition" of homework in a generalized way (or the establishment of really useful and stimulating duties such as those explained here) for the sake of the student is not seen on the horizon. Many obstacles along the way, from the immobility of many teachers, or from the management teams to the pressure of a sector of the parents or the legislative silence about it.
In the case of your children, are they pressured by homework and exams? Have you experienced family stress situations due to an overload of tasks? Wouldn't you like to receive a "gift" like this note from the teacher that establishes a new homework policy? I'm already crossing my fingers to go back to school ...
