Elementary Kids Given 3 Times More Homework Than Needed
Children are over-burdened with homework, says a new study. It reveals that elementary school students get "three times more homework than is recommended for children their age," according to today.
Published in The American Journal of Family Therapy, the study explored issues of homework and family stress by examining almost 1,200 parents. They discovered that kindergarten, first grade and second grade children are probably studying too hard after school.
Education leaders with both the National Education Association and the National Parent-Teacher Association have suggested that school educators should recommend a "10-minute rule" that goes up with the age of students.
Hence, they feel that kindergartners should not be given homework, while first-graders should work for 10 minutes, second-graders for 20 minutes and so on till 120 minutes in the 12th grade.
Yet, the study revealed that kindergartners spend 25 minutes on homework, and the load for first and second-grade children is almost 30 minutes.
The study's authors noted that 25 minutes of homework for kindergartners "may be both taxing for the parents and overwhelming for the children." They also wrote that "it was unsettling to find that in our study population, first and second grade children had three times the homework load recommended by the NEA."
Denise Pope, a Stanford University education professor and author of the new book "Overloaded and Underprepared," remarked that there is very little evidence of any link between homework and achievement.
"The only type of homework that's proven to be beneficial to elementary school students is free reading, and the fact that the kids can choose what they are reading makes the difference," Pope said.
Psychologist Harris Cooper found that the link between academic success and homework stopped at two hours in high school and an hour -and-a-half in middle school.
Pope added that when children have too much homework, they spend all their time on homework and extracurricular activities, which is not really healthy.
"Kids are not going to give up their extracurriculars, but then they are stuck with all this homework, so the things that get left out are actually really important things like chores, family time and sleep," she said.
Time spent on homework also had some relationship with the parents' age and educational background. Hence, parents of Hispanic students seemed to spend more time on homework than non-Hispanic students in the second, third and 12th grades, according to time.
