Too little homework in high school?

[RaiderWahoo0105]

Most U.S. Adults don't buy that kids have too much homework
I totally agree with this statement and especially back home in SWVA I think high school is ridiculously easy. I don't think there's a culture of academic success anymore.

Coach Wilson told us that back in the days of Norton high school, kids who transferred to Norton from big cities found themselves way behind the average student who for example in 4th grade was doing 6th to 7th grade math... WELL.
I graduated in 2001 and in talking to former Burton alumnus who graduated around 15 years before me I had a comparison as to what our graduating classes accomplished.

Mind you Burton was graduating around 70-80/year around his time, he said around 2-3 kids went to Ivy League or Ivy League quality, 1 became an engineer at Johns Hopkins, a couple to UVA and several to VT. And this wasn't an out of the norm class back then for Burton.
The surprising thing was most of these kids were not from affluent families. He even found that he was more than well prepared for the first year at UVA (especially in chemistry, calculus (math major's calculus), and english) - he's now a doctor.


I swear I hate block scheduling. I sincerely believe block scheduling makes students AND teachers lazy. The Northern Virginia schools system use modified blocks (like you do in college) where you don't have the same classes everyday but you do have it year round and it teaches kids to multi-task well. Most teachers in Wise County/Norton have no idea how to teach for block-long periods (efficiently) and student attention spans don't cut it. Having 7 classes a day year round really made sure you got to know your stuff.

But not only that, academic success seems to be an afterthought these days. My friend who went to Richlands told me a story about how a crowd of parents came into a science teacher's room afterschool to [censored] about her giving too much homework, and that it took away from kids having fun and practicing for sports.

Any thoughts as to what is going wrong?

[Jason]

I dont think kids should have homework at all. Being at home is their time not school time. I just dont think it is right but that is my opinion.

[LPDBlueDevils]

well I'll be the first to say that when I went off to college I was not ready, I didn't know how to study, and I didn't know how to write a research paper, two very important skills needed to suceed in college. Through many trials and tribulations I have come to master both, but it took a lot of hard work. Matter of fact I can't remember ever taking a book home in high school.

[RaiderWahoo0105]

I guess I respect that, but when are you supposed to learn the material?
The only way for your proposal to work is if teachers dumb-down the quality of material like they have becuase of the SOL's.

[imported_Counts]

I disagree Kids IMHO need to reinforce what they have learned in school to often kid can just parot the teacher in class but have no clue how something actualy works. I know that my daughter was having trouble with Math but very little Math homework so I came up with my on homework for her to do. I continued to help her with understanding why Math worked the way it does and little number tricks some she picked up on some she remaind clueless of but I am a ferm beliver in repatision so she continued to get extra homework from me that we would Grade together and withing 3 weeks Math went from a problem subject to her 2nd favorite. Now I am not saying that kids need lots of homework just for the sake of doing homework and trust I have seen her bring home plenty of busy work homework however what the kids learn at school should be reinforced in there homework. Now so long as I never have to help her congagate verbs or anything like that we should be OK LOL

[RaiderWahoo0105]

Ah see right there is different. That's elementary school, the way your mind works in elementary school (and I'm sure few of us can hardly remember) is way different than it's supposed to be by the time you're a teenager.

I had to be helped a lot in elementary school too and I got frustrated way too easily. That's the time when the curriculum should cater to making sure kids get the basics of life down (reading, writing, arithemtic).

In high school when you're doing things with more responsibility (like playing on sports teams where you're in the public eye and people really start depending on you, you join clubs where unless you do work nothing gets down, you hold down a paying job, etc...) you should already be mature enough by that point to be self-driven because adulthood is right around the corner.

Now I know everyone doesn't learn as fast as everyone else (especially in high school), which is why in high school you go see tutors to keep up with everyone else, you stay after school, you get teacher's help.

Elementary school is a good time to keep the pace of learning steady because if you really look back at elementary school you were pretty much learning the exact same kind of material over and over.

In high school you pick up new things like chemistry, physics, calculus, understanding shakespeare, and unless things are turbo-charged in the classroom you'll be behind in college (assuming that's the route you want to go).

[imported_Counts]

I agree that High Schoolers should be more self motavated but if Homework is not required then I dare say a majarity of students are not going to take it upon themselfs to do it. I do agree with one of your earlier posts that Highschool should have more paths that a Student can go down than are currently avalable.

[OAR]

I agree with you on the topic about the attention span of students. They can not possibly, unless very intersted or self-determined, to keep their attention on a particular subject for an hour and half straight. Also, I believe it falls back on the principals and teachers. If they allow themselves to become an "easy teacher" then what will the students expect of themselves if they so wish to attend college? It is hard to prep and make the lesson plans in accordance to block scheduling. However, if a teacher can find that special way to make class entertaining and intersting, then the students will learn much much more rather than sitting there listening to someone preach about a subject for an hour and a half. Just my personal opinion on things, but also I do like the idea of the college style classes implemented into the cirriculum. It would change things up a little whereas students now, have a set routine every day.

[RaiderWahoo0105]

Having a modified block in high school could have been great with the right teachers.

I also think America needs to get off its kick that a liberal education (not liberal like political, but liberal like taking english, arts, science, history, and math) is for everyone at the high school level.

The schools need to take pride in tech school programs/trade schools and make it known that it's NOT for dumb kinds. Because even though it's not the truth, and you know there are very very smart mechanics, electricians, constructions workers, plumbers, carpenters, etc... in this world, you get the idea that those fields are reserved for slow kids.
And if you're worried about teaching kids economic, political, and civic competency, I'm sure if we wanted hard enough it could be taught under a tech/trade school atmosphere such that kids can learn how to understand and fight for what is in their best interests.

High school as it stands isn't just for everyone. But for those of us who wanted to go the professional/academian's track the system needs to be more rigorous.

I like how Germany/Austria does things, except for how your fate is determined by how you do on some standardized tests before 6th grade.

[starbuck]

[ QUOTE ]
[url= I graduated in 2001 and in talking to former Burton alumnus who graduated around 15 years before me I had a comparison as to what our graduating classes accomplished.

Mind you Burton was graduating around 70-80/year around his time, ?

[/ QUOTE ]

not quite. I graduated in 88 and we only had 53.