Parents these days....

[dirtylicious]

Lawyers pull off deal for their kids: no homework

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Record

CALGARY, Alberta - Sherri and Tom Milley were exhausted by the weepy weeknight struggles over math problems and writing assignments with their three school-age children. They were fed up with rushing home from soccer practice or speed skating only to stand over their kids tossing out answers so they could finish and get to bed.

And don't even get them started on the playground that daughter Brittany had to build in third grade from recycled materials, complete with moving parts. Or the time son Jay was told to cut pictures of $1 million worth of consumer goods from a catalog.

So this month, after two years of trying to change the homework policy at their children's school, the two lawyers finally negotiated a unique legal contract: Their kids will not have to do homework again.

"We have struggled constantly as a family with excessive amounts of homework," Sherri Milley said. "We just blindly accepted the way it was."

But after long, stressful nights of getting 18-year-old Jay through his high-school homework, they weren't prepared to repeat history with Spencer, 11, and Brittany, 10.

The "differentiated homework plan" spells out the responsibilities of the students: to get their work done in class, to come to school prepared and to prep for quizzes. But their teachers will have to mark them based on what they do in class, and cannot send work home that goes into their grades.

For the Milleys, this means a school year in which they are free to hang out as family without long-division and English-comprehension questions hanging over their heads.

"It was a constant homework battle every night," Sherri Milley recalled. "It's hard to get a weeping child to take in math problems. They are tired. They shouldn't be working a second shift."

It's not as if, the couple pointed out, they don't value education. They know firsthand the work involved in earning university degrees. But they wanted the academic work done at home to be on their terms, based on where they knew their children needed help.

Brittany, for instance, was struggling with spelling, but "we never had any time to focus on that because she had so much homework," Sherri Milley said.

And there were plenty of frustrating nights, she said, when her kids were so tired, "we'd stand over them, saying, 'Write this, write that.' " If that's what families are doing, she asked, "how do the teachers even know whose work they are marking?"

The Milleys began negotiating the contract with the Calgary Catholic school district after Sherri began collecting studies on homework, most of which suggest that, particularly for younger grades, there is no clear link between work at home and school performance.

- Toronto Globe and Mail

http://www.northjersey.co.../education/72196442.html
way to set an example.

 

[deceptivesmiles]

Can't believe they actually pulled that off. They'll have to make up for that sooner or later

 

[young br3ad]

WOW

 

[elpablo21]

from the kid's perspective though

 

[mr monday niight]

Originally Posted by Elpablo21

from the kid's perspective though

 

[eeibaby]

Wow talk about lazy parents

 

[crazy dav0]

rather interesting ... i cannot condemn the parents but some of it seems a bit dumb ... its called parenting for a reason ... and like the article stated ...the parents know the value of hard work so i don't get it. If the kid is struggling w/ spelling, how will the parents know if they don't have homeworkthat they can do at home that can be checked by the parents. its like they're being selfish and lazy.

 

[diego]

I could almost, kind of, vaguely see ther point.

 

[JLD1523]

And don't even get them started on the playground that daughter Brittany had to build in third grade from recycled materials, complete with moving parts. Or the time son Jay was told to cut pictures of $1 million worth of consumer goods from a catalog.

 

[rl treyce]

whats this world coming to

 

[danny almonte 3]

Originally Posted by DeceptiveSmiles

Can't believe they actually pulled that off. They'll have to make up for that sooner or later

they will have time when they are 30 living with their parents, in the unemployment line or in jail

it will come

 

[russ tha g]

If you've been to high school in the last 10 or so years, you'd understand. It has gotten out of hand. "Teachers" assign so much busy workand homework, but don't even explain it in a manner that is remotely comprehensible. I went to one of the best public high schools in one of the biggestcities in the country, and took IB classes, and a lot of the teachers were relentless. I think referring to it as a "second shift" is the mostaccurate means of describing it.

 

[proper english]

this is like that Rugrats episode

 

[diego]

Originally Posted by Danny Almonte 3

Originally Posted by DeceptiveSmiles

Can't believe they actually pulled that off. They'll have to make up for that sooner or later

they will have time when they are 30 living with their parents, in the unemployment line or in jail

it will come

No Homework = Jailbirds
???????????????????????

 

[westcoastsfinest]

damn i wish my parents wouldve done this for me

honestly though i think i had more homework in elementary than high school...i remember walking home carrying 4 books in my batman backpack everyday

 

[seymore cake]

Damn.

 

[stonedface]

Originally Posted by Danny Almonte 3

Originally Posted by DeceptiveSmiles

Can't believe they actually pulled that off. They'll have to make up for that sooner or later

they will have time when they are 30 living with their parents, in the unemployment line or in jail

it will come

don't you think thats a little extreme... its just homework

 

[shortydoowopp]

SMH

 

[ratxaxtat]

Homework is a waste in my eyes anyway.

 

[HEATHEN]

Real talk though I used to be mad salty when I knew that the kid sitting next to me was getting spoon-fed his answers at home. I think homework is pointlessfor that very reason, lots of parents just hire tutors to basically do children's homework for them, especially wealthy parents.


HW should be optional, if a child wants to succeed he or she will do it on principle. That way even if a child does have someone else do their homeworkthey'll suffer academically by not really knowing the material but their grades wont go up as a result of spoon fed homework.



Underprivileged kids won't have to compete with wealthy kids that are cheating their way through school using their parents and their money.

 

[mangudai954]

I disagree with homework being pointless.

 

[HEATHEN]

Originally Posted by Mangudai954

I disagree with homework being pointless.

It's pointless if kids are getting their parents to do it.

Some kids are underprivileged as it is and have to go to deal with crappy schools. THEN they have to compete with rich kids that go to school districts thatdon't even do their homework? The same kids you see buying essays in college.


Bad system.

 

[blknaitch]

I thought this was going to be about the fight at the Pop Warner game....but this is crazy

 

[mangudai954]

Originally Posted by SneakerHeathen

Originally Posted by Mangudai954

I disagree with homework being pointless.

It's pointless if kids are getting their parents to do it.

Some kids are underprivileged as it is and have to go to deal with crappy schools. THEN they have to compete with rich kids that go to school districts that don't even do their homework? The same kids you see buying essays in college.


Bad system.

True.

 

[mr monday niight]

Originally Posted by SneakerHeathen

Originally Posted by Mangudai954

I disagree with homework being pointless.

It's pointless if kids are getting their parents to do it.

Some kids are underprivileged as it is and have to go to deal with crappy schools. THEN they have to compete with rich kids that go to school districts that don't even do their homework? The same kids you see buying essays in college.


Bad system.