Teaching now has become all about the personalization of the learning process and justifiably so. It can create more work for me on a day to day basis - and I'd not profess to be an expert in it - but it has been worthwhile.
Homework in my class - you'd have to spend a lot of time goofing off to have to work more than an hour a week at home doing your assignments. I hate marking - the idea of busy work seems so alien to me. Why give it? It makes more work for the teachers involved as well.
I give questions to reinforce ideas we learn about scientific concepts; lab reports to reinforce the scientific method and connect concepts to practice, tests, quizzes, and the odd 'other'. I suppose the closest thing to busy work I give might be questions like "look in this reading for the answer to question x", hoping to ensure that it will mean the kids have read it at least the once. Normal classes are way too busy to spend (waste?) time reading passages as a class.
Situations like this - an obvious breakdown between parents and teacher - make me sad for the kids involved. Parents and teachers should be a team, and if it's obvious that work could be cut down on a bit, the teacher should put aside their ego and be satisfied with their part in a job well done. I'm sure if the teacher was willing to meet the parents halfway, this contract may not have happened and the parents may have been more willing to trust a teacher's professional judgment.
I'd be happy to let a kid do less work if their abilities - and understanding of the material - were there. Unfortunately, it's not often the case (I've met maybe a handful of kids in my career that were 'that way') ... I think people think back to school and go, "Damn, I hated homework - it was so useless", without realizing there is nearly always a method to the madness.
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