Actually interesting story behind that one. Throughout elementary school, I had massive social problems due to being microscopic in size compared to my classmates, and being kind of a brain (going into school only knowing Polish, and acing everything from grade 2 onwards). In grade 4, they start assigning our first homework. My marks drop due to homework. Mom at parent teacher interview asks teacher politely to not count my homework mark towards the report card due to social problems. They say it may hurt my learning. When she asks to see test marks, she finds I'm acing them all still....so the teacher agrees. I never had to do homework until about grade 6.....and even then I still hardly did. I just don't see the point. The reason they mark homework, is because it is proof (more or less, unless you cheated) that you have gone over the material and understood the concept. Marking homework hurts everybody really. I was a quick learner, and not really lazy (I spent most of my 'homework' time practicing piano). I won't learn piano by reading sheetmusic, but I could learn a mathematical concept by reading a page from a textbook. Marking homework hurt my marks, and as a kid, my self esteem. As for slower learners, if they are determined, and have some level of responsibility/work ethic, they will eventually learn it as well. The only people who are losing in the non-homework marking are the slow learners who are LAZY. The slow learning part may be difficult to overcome, but overcoming laziness should be taught at a very young age. I'm glad this particular study took place, and I hope this issue is looked at more seriously. If I spawn more people with my brain, I don't want them to have to waste all the time they could be using to learn a sport, learn to play an instrument, write books, see friends, family, or pretend they're superman. Mandatory homework is rubbish and I stand by it.
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