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The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It
Nancy Kalish
Does assigning fifty math problems accomplish any more than assigning five?
Crown
September 2006
On Sale: August 29, 2006
304 pages ISBN: 0307340171 EAN: 9780307340177 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction | Non-Fiction Political
Is memorizing word lists the best way to increase
vocabulary—especially when it takes away from reading time?
And what is the real purpose behind those devilish dioramas? The time our children spend doing homework has skyrocketed
in recent years. Parents spend countless hours cajoling
their kids to complete such assignments—often without
considering whether or not they serve any worthwhile
purpose. Even many teachers are in the dark: Only one of the
hundreds the authors interviewed and surveyed had ever taken
a course specifically on homework during training. The truth, according to Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish, is
that there is almost no evidence that homework helps
elementary school students achieve academic success and
little evidence that it helps older students. Yet the
nightly burden is taking a serious toll on America’s
families. It robs children of the sleep, play, and exercise
time they need for proper physical, emotional, and
neurological development. And it is a hidden cause of the
childhood obesity epidemic, creating a nation of “homework
potatoes.” In The Case Against Homework, Bennett and Kalish draw on
academic research, interviews with educators, parents, and
kids, and their own experience as parents and successful
homework reformers to offer detailed advice to frustrated
parents. You’ll find out which assignments advance learning
and which are time-wasters, how to set priorities when your
child comes home with an overstuffed backpack, how to talk
and write to teachers and school administrators in
persuasive, nonconfrontational ways, and how to rally other
parents to help restore balance in your children’s lives. Empowering, practical, and rigorously researched, The Case
Against Homework shows how too much work is having a
negative effect on our children’s achievement and
development and gives us the tools and tactics we need to
advocate for change.
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