Homework - A Way to Keep Kids Out of Trouble?

originally posted 10 NOV 2014

I posted yesterday about whether homework should be banned? In the younger grades, is it really necessary?


One of the comments really had me thinking though:

"I would say yay to homework. I work at a school and I see kids using their extra time playing video games and engaging in activities on electronic gadgets, they are not socialising with other children."

Is homework a way to keep kids out of trouble? Do we as a society think that parents are failing at their jobs and just leaving electronic gadgets to babysit? Is this a valid reason to give homework? Time spent doing homework is certainly time they'll spend, hopefully not in front of a TV screen or video game but it is also time they won't spend with friends or involved in various groups and activities.

My daughter dances and she tells me that her friends in public school who dance are always complaining about how late they stay up doing homework when they get home (9pm). She says they are always tired. I hate to see that.

There are more and more studies showing that homework in elementary and middle school doesn't do much to increase knowledge or improve grades and instead can lead to stressed out kids who struggle with socialization and have more health issues.

Our local middle schools keep kids until nearly 5pm. I asked about these incredibly late days when we moved here and was told by some parents that it is because so many parents work and this keeps the kids out of trouble.

I thought that was a pretty sad reason to keep kids in school all day and I think the same of assigning homework if this is the reason behind it.

My kids don't have homework and have very minimal time playing video games and watching TV. They're hanging out with friends, swimming, involved in activities as are most of their friends (who don't have homework).

No doubt there are parents who don't really care what their kids do but I do think there are far more who do take parenting seriously. We need to give more responsibility to parents and place less of it on schools and teachers.