NationStates Jolt Archive

Why do schools give hours of homework and bullshit in-class worksheets, just so, when you go to college, you don't have to do any of that?

Because it prepares you to deal with spending hours on papers and online quizzes and the like which are piling up like all hell. Blah...

I assume you are in school and just got a lot of homework...

Well, at Uni you still have to do homework, they just deem you mature enough to do it by yourself.
That being said, I didn't do a single bit of homework in my last 4 years at high school, and I got an OP 2 (out of a scale from 1 = best to 25 = worst).

So if you think you know the topic: Don't do your homework - and tell your teacher just that. Maybe he'll test you in front of the class and you can make him look stupid...

I know. This situation is getting out of control, teachers should be banned giving homework before the amount of homework given gets astronomical, because to tell the truth, teachers giving more homework for the same grade now then they did in the past.

Why?

Because maybe they think your mature and intelligent enough to handle it?

Go ahead, prove those bastards wrong!

Just shut up and do it.

Why?

Because maybe they think your mature and intelligent enough to handle it?

Go ahead, prove those bastards wrong!

Just shut up and do it.
I see you misunderstood me. Homework should not be banned because student can't handle it, but to knock some senseinto todays teachers, ther are starting to give more than they should.

It's based upon the horrible assumption that the quantity of input is directly proportional to the quality of the output.

That, and it's easier than actually teaching.

It's based upon the horrible assumption that the quantity of input is directly proportional to the quality of the output.

That, and it's easier than actually teaching.

At my school proffesors will often pass off Friday classes to their TA's to teach. They use it for reviews but it seems to be a way for them to avoid doing any teaching themselves.

I'm in a language course for immigrants, and I get MOUNTAINS of homework.

Not because my teacher is lazy/a bad teacher/filling us with busy work/whatever, but because there is a ton of stuff to learn, and we need to practice outside of the classroom for it to stick.

Maybe your teacher wants you to think about the stuff you're learning, so you don't forget it right away? Why are you in school in the first place -- to LEARN!!

So do your homework, remember what you learned, and be a more intelligent person.

If you don't want to do your homework, then why bother even thinking about college? Just drop out and live on a fast food workers salary.

At my school proffesors will often pass off Friday classes to their TA's to teach. They use it for reviews but it seems to be a way for them to avoid doing any teaching themselves.

I was a teaching assistant many moons ago. I always had to take the friday labs and freshman classes. Sometimes - depending upon how advanced the age/alcholism of the professor in question is - you are not necessarily worse off that way.

That, and it's easier than actually teaching.
Yes, todays teachers can often be too lazy to teach, so they bombard students with five hours of homework. Why is it that you have to have a licence(sp?) to drive, but not to teach? Requiring teachers to have licences that you can only get if you pass a special series of tests is probably the best solution to getting better teachers.

I think you need to quit complaining. I am in University and all my professors tell me I should spend at least 1 hour studying to every one hour I spend in the class room. Some even go as far as 2 to 1. Not to say I do this because I have a Full Time Job and am a Full Time Student. Regardless, you should just suck it up and do it that's what your there for. School is to learn and you are in class for what 6 hours a day maybe. So don't even try and tell me you don't have any time to do it either.

I am in University and all my professors tell me I should spend at least 1 hour studying to every one hour I spend in the class room. Some even go as far as 2 to 1.
They tell us here at UQ to take 10 hours per subject, which would make it a 40 hour week....if anyone ever actually did it. :D

A certain level of homework is useful- If you don't pay attention and participate, it gives you a chance to apply what you should have learned, forcing you to figure out some of it out- Good for the Maths & sciences. Also, in most history and/or liberal arts majors, there's just not enough time in the day to go over material- you should read what's required and use class to make sure you understand the material.

However, there's a very definite limit of usefulness- people should only use what they learned in a few Science classes, or learn what they're meant to use in one Lib Arts class. After that, it just gets annoying.

Also, in University you almost need that much time to read everything you are supposed to. I am only three weeks in and am already behind in reading for some of my classes. I also have a Latin Assignment and a History Essay due on Friday.

Speaking as a semi-insider...

Students are required to meet certain standards at certain grade levels. There are standards set at the federal, state, and local levels, and since these are rarely in sync, students are forced to take seperate standardized tests for each set. These test results are used to judge not only the students, but the teachers and the schools. The results can affect school funding, or even whether or not the school can remain in business, so to speak. In some areas, teacher salaries depend on the test results.

So, teachers need to make sure the students learn enough to pass each of these tests, and since each test may focus on different areas of the subject, it means more work for the teachers AND the students. Add that to the workload necessary to meet the day-to-day standards set by the bureaucrats. Now consider the classroom time wasted on students who lack the attention span and discipline necessary to sit relatively still and remain relatively quiet for less than one hour. Also, consider the fact that teachers are aware that many of the students couldn't give a toss for education, and won't be able to meet those arbitrary standards at any rate. So, to re-enforce what was taught in the class, or to cover areas which there was no time to get to, or just to cover their own asses by saying "all the material was covered, either in class or through outside work," teachers assign home work.

You can choose not to do it. A lot of the worksheets you turn in will never even be looked at, unless you correct and grade them in class. Those are the busy-work assignments teachers use to cover their asses, or just to punish you for being rude, lazy, whatever. Most essays do get read and graded based on their merits, though...pity the poor english teacher with 300 students, most of whom know only the most rudimentary grammar and spelling, never mind handwriting (most students do not appear to have access to printers or typewriters, or if they do, they choose not to take advantage of such). Just be aware that choosing not to do the work may invoke certain consequences.

The workload has increased for students over the years, because the amount of material to be covered has increased. Students need to learn the same amount of history and science as they did 50 years ago, as well as all of the history and science which has happened since then. To keep pace with the science, the math has gotten more advanced. For some older folks, algebra was an option in high school...for many kids today, it is required in middle school.

So students do have more demands on them now than previously, from the top of the academic chain to the bottom. And that means teachers do as well. Unless you live in a society which allows you to only study those things that actually interest you, you just have to deal with it. And if you think college will be different, stop your foolish dreaming now. There are going to be many required courses that will have seemingly little to do with your chosen major, assuming you are prepared enough to choose a major. If not, then you'll have that much extra work to do.

And the real world, after school? Save your choices for your personal time, my friend. On the clock, your choices are few and far between, and of little consequence.

Or you can be one of the few, the proud, the brave...you can focus all of your youthful energy and attention on something you really love, and make a career out of it RIGHT NOW. F school. Be the self-taught prodigy who takes on whatever it is you want to take on. And conquer that mofo.

Best of luck.

Stop with the bitchin'. I tried it, it accomplishes nothing. Get to work, join the machine!

Hey, I don't know. I am in the top of every class I am in ((Besides Maths, which the I am in the second top for)) am getting an average of 19/20 for most of my tests.

I get barely any homework, the only subject I get it for is maths, and there is a reason for that ((You just copy it out of the back of the book after you understand how to do it, but first you make sure you know how)).

Seriously, I never have homework, and I am currently at the top of most classes, I absorb the stuff without needing to think about it, and when I DO get homework, i can generally get it done in class on top of other work. Therefore whats the bloody point?>

Why do schools give hours of homework and bullshit in-class worksheets, just so, when you go to college, you don't have to do any of that?

Who says you don't have to at college ? For most subjects (well, the sciences at least) your textbook will contain assignments and problems. Maybe the teachers do not demand you to hand them in, but you can be certain that if you haven't practised the stuff till death you will fail the exam.
If not, you are either a genius or a grade received from your college is worthless.

Why do schools give hours of homework?

Who knows? The only people who actually do it are the ones that don't need to.

Teachers do need "licences" they are called B.Ed. or Dip.Ed.

It's all a game. School, college, work, etc. Figure out a way to win. that's basically it. If you know what you want to do, and are able to do it without playing by their rules, then go do that. IE: you know you need a 90 average to get into XXX university; if you can get that w/o doing everything you need to do, cut corners. College is the same way, unless you want to graduate at cum laude (and even then sometimes you'd be surprised...). Work, same thing. just some tips though:

Cheating makes you lose
Avoiding over things & situations you are unfamiliar with makes you lose
Being nasty to the wrong people makes you lose.

***Make sure you are already a master of the things & situations that you choose to skip over; if you don't, you'll probably be called on it later, and it sucks. ***

Some teachers are good and use homework as a way to help you along by using homework and tests as guides as to how good THEIR teaching is... others use it as a means to distract from their lack of teaching, as someone else mentioned before. Know the difference; the latter is very easy to manipulate, and youre better off learning on your own in that case.

Class time becomes a waste of time as well, if youre not being taught; use it productively then. learn something; read the class textbook instead of listening to the lecture if the teacher isn't teaching. 75% of the time this works better than fighting sleep.

The bottom line is, if it doesn't further your appearance of success (ie. grades) and/or your overall learning, then it's probably pointless. If you can't make the discernment, though, you're better off doing it. better safe than sorry: in that case, play by their rules.

homwork may be crappy to contend with, but believe me, teachers aren't having it better either.

The teachers in my schoool actually bring homework back home (haha, now it's their homework =P) and mark them, sometimes taking more than 3 hours.

That's why being a teacher sucks. lol.

Also, in University you almost need that much time to read everything you are supposed to. I am only three weeks in and am already behind in reading for some of my classes. I also have a Latin Assignment and a History Essay due on Friday.

Crap.

In my final year of school alone, I had far more homework than i've had to do so far in 2 years of university. My 4th and 5th years of high school weren't much better either.

BTW, a tip. Don't read everything. Just pick a few topics to specialise in. You aren't going to write essays on every topic, and your exams will have a range of questions to choose from. Nobody reads everything.

I see you misunderstood me. Homework should not be banned because student can't handle it, but to knock some senseinto todays teachers, ther are starting to give more than they should.


Have you considered that one hour or so a day, may not be enough to cover an entire subject matter?

Take history for example.
When teaching the class about a particular event, they usually explain what happened, and where, and what the ramifactions of the event where.
That usually takes up most of the hour, and consequently, the rest of the class.
Then they assign a bit of homework to you the student.
Why?

So that you must read the event for yourself, and learn.

Theres no guarentee that all the students were paying attention to the teacher, when she gave you a brief synopses of the event, is there?
Also, most of the time you cant really fully explain such things in a short amount of time, and expect to cover everything.

Thus...the homework.
Making you learn it for yourself.

Sorry, but all Im hearing is "Waaah, I have a lot of homework."

Tough.

It sucks, I know...but if you cant handle homework, youre gonna have a hell of a time earning a living. later on.

Homework helps alot, especially it really grinds you to think, and finally confirms what the teacher has taught that you understand the lesson, you could sit in class all day listening and when you go back home forget everything.

I agree teachers should be lax about homework. Back in Highschool, My teachers use to cane me if I don't do homework, either cane or stand outside class for the entire session, I personally don't think that it helps to punish students in that manner, now my lecturers (in uni) just quiz the students who don't do their homework to make them think during the class. Or at least embarresed the to pull their socks up.

But really concerning homework, if you don't want to do it, don't, it's your fault if you fail.

Have you considered that one hour or so a day, may not be enough to cover an entire subject matter?

Take history for example.
When teaching the class about a particular event, they usually explain what happened, and where, and what the ramifactions of the event where.
That usually takes up most of the hour, and consequently, the rest of the class.
Then they assign a bit of homework to you the student.
Why?

So that you must read the event for yourself, and learn.

Theres no guarentee that all the students were paying attention to the teacher, when she gave you a brief synopses of the event, is there?
Also, most of the time you cant really fully explain such things in a short amount of time, and expect to cover everything.

Thus...the homework.
Making you learn it for yourself.

Sorry, but all Im hearing is "Waaah, I have a lot of homework."

Tough.

It sucks, I know...but if you cant handle homework, youre gonna have a hell of a time earning a living. later on.

It's necessary to some degree of course. However, the official guideline for students in their final years of high school over here is 4-5 hours per subject, per week- with more, if necessary. A typical load is 5 or 6 subjects. It's too much.

Or you can be one of the few, the proud, the brave...you can focus all of your youthful energy and attention on something you really love, and make a career out of it RIGHT NOW. F school. Be the self-taught prodigy who takes on whatever it is you want to take on. And conquer that mofo.

Best of luck.

Yes! That's the way!

If not something you "love," then something you can figure out yourself to a high enough level to be successful at it.

It's the path I ended up choosing (after not being able to stand employment), and I don't regret it for a second. I just wish I hadn't bothered trying employment first!

All the stuff about ending up at McDonald's wages if you don't do well in school is BS--provided, of course, that you REALLY DO learn what you need to know on your own...

Homework helps alot, especially it really grinds you to think, and finally confirms what the teacher has taught that you understand the lesson, you could sit in class all day listening and when you go back home forget everything.

I agree teachers should be lax about homework. Back in Highschool, My teachers use to cane me if I don't do homework, either cane or stand outside class for the entire session, I personally don't think that it helps to punish students in that manner, now my lecturers (in uni) just quiz the students who don't do their homework to make them think during the class. Or at least embarresed the to pull their socks up.

But really concerning homework, if you don't want to do it, don't, it's your fault if you fail.

my philosophy teacher dosent give any homework, and he's the best teacher in the school.

im serious.

ive learned more in his class then any other class (especially those with lots of homework) and we have had 2 bits of homework this year, which were both assesed courswork, and compulsory.

added: i have done a whole 1 page of maths this semester, and on the last 2 tests (this semester) ive got top marks

teachers are too afraid that parents would complain about the lack of homework

The school I went to was particularly obsessed with homework. 3-hour assignments from every class was the norm by the third year (we only had two 3-hour classes per day, you understand, but still, that's six hours work of work). I barely had a life of any sort whatsoever trying to keep up with it, and neither did anyone else in the school -- and I can tell you, a happy face was a hard thing to find there. It was absolutely obscene. So I stopped doing it, and told them that. Constant nagging, threats of suspension and a great big pile of unfinished nonsense later, and I passed all my classes with flying colours.

The only compulsory homework that's acceptable in my opinion is coursework, which is important. The rest is useless, and only serves to make childrens' lives hell. Kids aren't allowed to be immature these days, and it makes me sick. And if your teacher is piling it onto you, you have my blessings to completely ignore whatever you think is unnecessary. Don't lie about it, either. Contrary to what they and others will tell you, it won't hurt your chances at all. Just so long as you study for exams and do coursework, and work hard in class, you'll get by just as well as the others -- you'll just actually have had a childhood as well.

My god, just wait till you get to university. Got some real hard-core work to do there.Just that nobody will actually run after you to get it done.

My god, just wait till you get to university. Got some real hard-core work to do there.Just that nobody will actually run after you to get it done.
I don't understand this, really. It's true that nobody chases after you, but i've found the workload considerably less than high school.

True, i'm studying humanities...but I have friends studying science that agree.

Yes, it's all true. We teachers give you tons of homework because we HATE you and want you to suffer! That's exactly it. It doesn't matter to us that we will have to read the same damn paper 150 times, because we know deep in our hearts that YOU suffered. It doesn't matter to us that we have to spend all OUR free time after school and on the weekends lugging homework around to correct no matter where we go, because it's all done to torture YOU!

It has nothing to do with checking for understanding. It has nothing at all to do with allowing you more time than you'd get in a 50 minute period, plus access to more resources contained in the classroom/school to write. It has nothing to do with allowing you to take the day's lesson and attempt to create something new out of it. And it certanly has nothing to do with parents calling and complaining that we're not giving you enough homework.

Yeah, you got us figured out, we're doing this just to annoy YOU. /sarcasm

Why is it that you have to have a licence(sp?) to drive, but not to teach? Requiring teachers to have licences that you can only get if you pass a special series of tests is probably the best solution to getting better teachers.
We DO have to get licences.

Now, each state is different, but let me tell you what I have to do to gain a teaching licence in Nevada.

I must hold a BA/BS, but it can't be just ANY BA/BS, I have to have so many credit hours in my subject fields as well as at least 60 credit hours in education that included 60 hours practicum in the schools, teaching.

I must have compleated one semester of student teaching under the care of the dean of the College of Education at my university and the master teacher I am assigned to, again teaching, but NOT getting paid for it.

After that, and by the way, I have already been tested twice, once to get into teacher education, and another time to graduate, I must take two (or more) tests, one is general knowledge, and the other is for my area(s) of content that I will have endorced on my licence.

After doing and passing all of this, and taking a loyalty oath, I am granted a provisional licence, meaning that in a year, the Dept of Education for Nevada will be checking up on me with my school, my student's work, and other factors to see if I am worthy to be given a full licence to teach.

Oh yes, we do have licences.

Homework, for the most part, is useless. The only class I ever find it useful in is math classes, because I usually don't pay attention, and instead do the problems using the book to learn. But thats my problem.

If a student has a text book, or equivilent study material that he can use outside of class, then homework shouldn't be given. In class time for tests and lectures, outside of class for studying. If a student decides to not study, he can fail on the tests.

The only homework I find to be objectively useful is reading outside of class. A teacher doesn't need to lecture about reading; maybe go over it, but he can take 10 minutes in class to do that, after people read at home. But worksheets, etc, are only for the people that don't need to know the subject. Stupid people will copy, smart people will either copy, or do it while already knowing the work.

I think, at least in public schools, too much time is wasted. While my AP and honors classes do a decent amount of work, classes like Economics, journalism, and physics give me too much time with nothing to do. I have read 50 pages of my econ textbook because of wasted time, I could have probably read 100 more if I hadn't opted to sleep during some of the wasted time.

I think they give it too keep kids off the streets.

Why do schools give hours of homework and bullshit in-class worksheets, just so, when you go to college, you don't have to do any of that?

For s**ts and giggles.

I don't understand this, really. It's true that nobody chases after you, but i've found the workload considerably less than high school.

True, i'm studying humanities...but I have friends studying science that agree.

the sciences get a little nuts around test time, or if you have a few too many lab classes in the same semester.

but yeah, i found the workload at college to be trivial. i found the workload at grad school to be about the same (this may have something to do with the fact that i can shoot off a decent 20 page paper in 2 to 3 days).

i can't speak to the level of homework in high school, because i tended to just not do any - except in math which was quick and easy, and made up a significant enough portion of the grade that passing without doing it would be difficult at best.

HOMEWORK!? Pffft! Big Fuckin deal, Do it, Learn it! :rolleyes:


Homework is nothing compared to other peoples "REAL" probs. :headbang:


Rich

Why do schools give hours of homework and bullshit in-class worksheets, just so, when you go to college, you don't have to do any of that?

For me college (at least math and physics courses) were like that, many problems and proofs being worked out in class and generally an hour or two of homework per class period (I was on trimesters so only 3 classes at once, which generlaly met Mon, Wed, Fri so probably 3-4 hours of HW a night)

Homework is used to make sure that students apply the lessons of class and the information in textbooks and that they learn them by repetition. By not doing it, you risk not being able to do the material when you need to in real life.

For everyone who says, "oh I'll never use algebra," my father was a RN until he retired in 2003. He told me he had to use algebra all the time to deal with dosages and other stuff. You never know when you're going to have to apply something you learned in class.

My big pet peeve about school isn't homework. It's the fixation on grades that has affected my generation and those that have followed. I can point you to one class in which I got an "A" but I only ever learned one fact that I still remembered even a matter of weeks after the class ended.

Conversely, I can point you to two classes in which I got a "C," but I probably learned more in each of those classes than I did in any other class I've taken at uni.

Why do schools give hours of homework and bullshit in-class worksheets, just so, when you go to college, you don't have to do any of that?


YOu obviously have never attended a university or if so one with no standards whatsoever. YOu get plenty of homework and papers in the university level. Grow up and do the assignment because once you go to college and DONT do the work you flunk and you lose your parent's money and they wont be very pleased with you in the least or if you want to be lazy go work at Mickey D's.

May I make a comment? A teacher gives students homework because most times the students don't actually learn in class for some reason...And then another thing...if you actually know what you are learning...then the homework should not be that big of a deal...you should be able to pass it by and get the best grades and so on. What I am wondering though is...why don't students learn well in class? thats what class is for...to learn...the homework is not supposed to be a learning experience...it's supposed to be like another quiz or test that shows what you have learned. Now most days though it is for the student to learn...which just kind make me annoyed. I never did my homework and got straight A's on tests. But of course that did nothiing since homework just took my grade down again.
Homework is to teach you to remember what you actually learn...it's like building a habit. Experts say that it takes only 28 days to build a habit. And a lot to break it. But the habits here are the many things you learn. So when you learn anything new...you get more tedious homework that you should be able to do if you know what you are learning about...if you don't...then you have reason to complain. Class time is the place to learn...but teachers don't always have all that time to teach each student one on one. So....there are many complications around I guess.
Sorry...I just couldn't hold that/those comments in anymore...this is a topic I like talking about.

If you dislike it so much, then don't do it. Just, don't complain if you don't do as well as you'd have liked to.

In my school and sixth form we signed an agreement to various things ("I won't smoke, drink or abuse substances on property", "I will be polite and respectful out in public" etc etc), one of which was that we'd do our homework. So when kids attempted to out-smart the system and not do it, saying "But I don't have to, you can't make me anymore. And you can't give me detention or anything if I don't", the staff could point them towards the agreement they'd signed (and you couldn't not sign it).

It was similar in many ways to an internet messageboard. When you signed up, you agree to the rules and things, which take precedence over any Human Rights; you can't complain about being kicked out of school if you break the rules, even if the school is limiting your free speech or whatever.

And that's how it should be; you do the homework, or you get punished. If you don't like it, then drop out, find somewhere more lenient.

As said above... it's not given for fun. Every piece of work you do outside of school needs to be marked, and taking time up in lessons for this means there's less time to teach the next bit, so everyone's got to work harder. Teachers have longer holidays then many other professions, but that's because they don't have evenings or weekends.

To torture me. That proves what I've always thought -- one of my teachers is Frisbeeteria... :(

I think schools put far too much emphasis on grades these days.

I taught a class a couple of summers ago at the Iowa Leadership Camp on "Integrity" (read: cheating), and discussions produced some interesting opinions from high school kids (first of all, they were shocked I was asking them what they thought instead of dictating to them what to think). Most of them were honors students, and having been one my whole life myself, I related to what they had to say.

Their teachers would pile them with so much homework, not thinking about the homework being piled on them from other honors teachers, and so 100% of the class said that they sometimes had to cheat in order to have time to get it all done and achieve good grades. This, it seems to me, prohibits learning. They have to cheat to keep that ever-important grade point high.

Basically I think we need to re-work our achievement assessment system.

I don't believe in homeworks. They are pointless.
In China, where I'm from...
In my university we only have classworks, or when the professor does assign homeworks I finish them in the library before I go back home. By the time I get back home it's usually time for dinner, and it mainly depends on me whether I should review for the class the next day or play games on the computer... This has been the same way since elementary school. In elementary school the classes actually end at 2 in the afternoon, but then you go to a "self-study session" in which everyone does their homework quietly with the teacher acting as tutors. The "self-study session" ends at 4:30 however if you finish your homework early you could leave early, if you finish your homework late you could stay a while longer to finish it up. Often, the teachers collects the homework immediately after those sessions.

This is because in the "socialist system", "in a 24-hour day, 8 hours are alloted for sleep, 8 hours for work/study, and 8 hours for leisure. If you give homeworks for them to do at home, then what is the point of classworks and classes? One attends a class to study, afterwards what one has learnt is reviewed or tested in classworks quizzes and tests taken in the school during schooltime. The next day when one goes back to class the materials are reviewed when the corrected classworks/quizzes/tests from the previous day are returned and discussed.