Persuasive Essay On 'The Great Homework Debate'
Landon Biggs
English 1050-020
Jan Gane
14 October 2013
The Great Homework Debate Over the last several years, many educators have had strong opinionated discussions about whether or not homework for school-aged children is beneficial to their learning and achievement. Many have researched the topic through various surveys and have reported their findings. Some researchers believe homework helps students grow academically to achieve higher test scores and better grades. An article written by the NC Board of Education supports how homework does help students out. While Alfie Kohn disagrees by saying that homework takes away valuable time that could be used for their hobbies and time that they could spend with their family. Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, agree with both the NC Board of Education and Kohn by stating that most homework assignments are based on the amount of work students produce and …show more content…
If time permits, it would be ideal if teachers could plan homework assignments based on the needs of individual students. These tailored assignments would be better as ability levels vary in different students. This way, homework would not be too easy or too hard for a class of students with varying ability levels. The problem with this ideal situation is the vast amount of time it takes teachers to plan and grade varying assignments. Obviously homework helps out high school students more than it helps out elementary school students and middle school students. In middle school, there was a .15 percent gain in Grades 4-6, a .31 percent gain in grade 7-9, and a .64 percent gain in grades 10-12.(Marzano and Pickering 2) The article states that, “Homework for young children should help them develop good study habits,
English 1050-020
Jan Gane
14 October 2013
The Great Homework Debate Over the last several years, many educators have had strong opinionated discussions about whether or not homework for school-aged children is beneficial to their learning and achievement. Many have researched the topic through various surveys and have reported their findings. Some researchers believe homework helps students grow academically to achieve higher test scores and better grades. An article written by the NC Board of Education supports how homework does help students out. While Alfie Kohn disagrees by saying that homework takes away valuable time that could be used for their hobbies and time that they could spend with their family. Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, agree with both the NC Board of Education and Kohn by stating that most homework assignments are based on the amount of work students produce and …show more content…
If time permits, it would be ideal if teachers could plan homework assignments based on the needs of individual students. These tailored assignments would be better as ability levels vary in different students. This way, homework would not be too easy or too hard for a class of students with varying ability levels. The problem with this ideal situation is the vast amount of time it takes teachers to plan and grade varying assignments. Obviously homework helps out high school students more than it helps out elementary school students and middle school students. In middle school, there was a .15 percent gain in Grades 4-6, a .31 percent gain in grade 7-9, and a .64 percent gain in grades 10-12.(Marzano and Pickering 2) The article states that, “Homework for young children should help them develop good study habits,