Parents Complaining About Too Much Homework

[wpgflamesfan]

Originally Posted by redforever

Part of being intelligent and a grown up is not being condescending and a smart arse.

Dion has told you he struggled in school and had to work hard to get a 50% in Math and for him, that was an accomplishment. No, you might not understand that concept because you only achieve at the 88 to 90% level. But you could certainly be open to the fact that is how it is for some people.

We all have our strengths, we all have our weaknesses. And when we have a weakness, we have to work very hard to try and overcome it. And if overcoming and getting a 50% is as good as it gets, then who are you to say that something like that is complete b.s?

I can tell you one thing, I am allergic to a sewing machine, oh yes I am, I can not be very creative or productive on a sewing machine at all. Nor can I be creative with a paintbrush in my hand. And no matter how hard I would try to change those weaknesses, I will never be an accomplished seamstress or artist. I could work my arse off and I would still be drawing stick men.

On the other hand, give me some dirt, some plants, some flowers, and I can be very productive and accomplished. I can be quite artistic in my gardens, never on a piece of paper.

So be happy and proud of yourself and your high achievements, but at the same time, be open to the fact that most people will not get to that same level. It might be because they were not born with as many cards in the deck, it might be because they do not work as hard as you, it might be a combination of many things. But that is how humanity is, we are all different, accept it.

Just forget it. It's clear you want to discount everything i've said.

I don't understand how i'm being condescending and a smart a**. I do agree and have said so several time about how some people simply cannot do well in school. However I don't believe this is true for the majority of people that do not do well in school. Also I did not once say that only being able to get 50% was b.s. I said it was b.s. that all kids who get high grades don't have to work at it which is what Dion said in his previous post. And I don't expect everyone to get 90%. Good grades are completely different from person to person.But i'll leave it alone for right now

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Meh. High school was exceedingly easy for me. I didn't really study, had a 100% streak in Math 30 for pretty well the whole year (unfortunately, I only got 99% percent overall because the grading system didn't allow for three digit percentages), and some of my classes were independent study (physics, chemistry). My test scores were so high that I pummelled the curve - usually, the teacher would take the highest score and make that what the test would be out of, but because my scores were so close to perfect, I'd make 3/4 of the class fail. By the time I was in grade 12 I had accumulated so many credits that I was able to get an exemption for taking anything resembling even a partial course load, so I'd have my afternoons off every day.

In university, not studying pummelled me for a bit. Some of that too was because I found the natural sciences classes very boring. I switched to business and found that much more interesting and therefore I did much better. My final year finance classes were incredibly difficult. I also took a lot of options in topics that I knew I would find difficult - sociology, psychology, management accounting (ug), computer science.

lol... sounds like a finance kind of guy.

What is this? Your bio? Nobody cares, and this isn't even on topic. I know I'm singling you out, so I apologise but there's been a bunch of posts like this from different people, but seriously.

Truth is that there are more people that are average than great, like you, and this has already been mentioned. Coming over and patting yourself on the back about how awesome you are only makes others feel bad and really doesn't contribute. I forget who hit the nail on the head, but our society is constantly evolving into a materialistic, money = success,
depression / stress filled place.

I don't think work ethic has declined, I think our lives have become so busy we are almost always burning ourselves out. You compare Canada to some european countries, most companies overseas get a whole lot more vacation and R&R than Canadians. Furthermore, Albertans are typically worse than the national average I think (at least used to be).

A jam packed curriculum plus hours of homework plus multiple extra curriculars... my god. What next?

edit: I wanted to clarify that I was referring to your high school description

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

lol... sounds like a finance kind of guy.

What is this? Your bio? Nobody cares, and this isn't even on topic. I know I'm singling you out, so I apologise but there's been a bunch of posts like this from different people, but seriously.

Truth is that there are more people that are average than great, like you, and this has already been mentioned. Coming over and patting yourself on the back about how awesome you are only makes others feel bad and really doesn't contribute. I forget who hit the nail on the head, but our society is constantly evolving into a materialistic, money = success,
depression / stress filled place.

I don't think work ethic has declined, I think our lives have become so busy we are almost always burning ourselves out. You compare Canada to some european countries, most companies overseas get a whole lot more vacation and R&R than Canadians. Furthermore, Albertans are typically worse than the national average I think (at least used to be).

A jam packed curriculum plus hours of homework plus multiple extra curriculars... my god. What next?

edit: I wanted to clarify that I was referring to your high school description

I got tired of wpgflamesfan's assertion that people who got great grades in high school had to study lots. Fact was, there were quite a few students in my grade that did the same thing as me - got great grades, studied little.

I surely am not "patting myself on the back". High school is trivial. Certainly, what is learned in high school is extremely trivial (I'm fairly certain everybody over the age of 30 here would now breeze through every high school course, no matter how badly they did when they were 16).

And I actually double majored - Finance and MIS .

Oh, I'll add: My wife, back when she was about 25, took Physics 10, 20, 30 in a matter of weeks so that she could qualify for a post-secondary degree she was thinking of taking. She struggled with the math-like courses back in high school. She couldn't believe how easy these courses were. She demolished it, while working full-time. Age and experience make a difference. Maybe young people do so poorly because they're young, and not because they're not getting their daily dose of homework?

[jammies]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I don't get you people who say "I never did homework but I was on the honour roll". I didn't do it either but I sure as hell wasn't on the honour roll. How did you do it?

Improvisation coupled with the ability to speed-read. I never did any studying at home, always left my assignments to the last minute and half-assed them, and so on. Still had no trouble with any course because 80 - 90% of it was exam scores, which were always dead easy.

BUT when I got to university, and they ratched up the difficulty another level, plus took away the structure that forced you to at least attend your classes, those bad habits killed me. So I wouldn't envy anyone who can breeze through school, in the end that just encourages laziness and procrastination. It takes a different, and arguably more important kind of smarts, to realize that hard work is essential to success.

As far as kids today go, though, they have it much harder than I did 20 years ago. My nephew *always* has homework in Grade 6 - assigned homework, not "I couldn't get it done in the time alotted at school". Personally I think if they start in Grade 7 with a small amount of homework and then increase it until Grade 12, that's six years of it and more than enough to teach kids responsibility. And if the curriculum doesn't fit into the current school day, they need to either revise the cirriculum or revise the schoolday's length.

[wpgflamesfan]

Originally Posted by jammies

It takes a different, and arguably more important kind of smarts, to realize that hard work is essential to success.

This is kind of the point I was trying to get across. I believe what you said is true and is what kids need to work on the most.

[Shazam]

What hard work? What could a 16 year old kid possibly do that's so "hard" that it'll prepare them for "life success"? More to the point, how would this "hard work" be implemented in schools so that every child would benefit from it? More homework? More spankings? More titties in vital parts of textbooks?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by wpgflamesfan

I said it was b.s. that all kids who get high grades don't have to work at it which is what Dion said in his previous post.

This is what i said bud...." For the most part the learning part came easy and they grasped the subject quite quickly. Some that i knew didn't have to study very hard for exams and all - often bragged about it to."

Do you see the word "all" being used?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by troutman

I think many smart kids are not challenged in high school. When they get to University they are not prepared. I sure wasn't.

My mother went to school with a guy who graduated from HS with honors and all that stuff. Dropped out after the first year due to a nervous breakdown. High school didn't prepaire or challenge him enough for what was expected of him in university.

[Shazam]

I'll just write one more thing.

There is only one thing that'll truly make or break a person.

That's failure. You need to fail at something.

After you fail, your success will depend on how you deal with that failure.

If you accept the failure, and learn why you failed, and improve on those reasons, then you will be prepared for life, and whatever is thrown your way.

If you accept the failure, and decide that failing is acceptable, then life will always be hard, and you will decide that fate has dealt you a cruel hand.

Now then, I have no idea why people think that getting the young'ns doing hard labour will somehow help with this. Perversely, I suppose giving them momentous amounts of homework will set them up for failure at an early age, but I don't really see the point in that. Crushing a person's spirit at a young age doesn't really do anything but form a long lasting negative life view.

Think of the people you despise the most. It's the people that can never fail. That'll never suffer, no matter what actions they take. Like, Paris Hilton.

Think of the people you admire the most. They're the ones that took a risk. Now then, I guarantee you that that risk wasn't the first one they took, and that their previous risks resulted in failures. But they learned from those failures, and that took them to where they are now.

All you can do is give people the opportunity to succeed. Some will indeed succeed, and some will fail. And, that's all school can provide you with. An opportunity. For some, the success will come easily. For others, it will take much effort. And for the rest, no matter what they do, they will fail. And no matter how much other people want them to succeed, and no matter how much effort teachers and administrators put into making those people succeed, they will still fail.

[Weiser Wonder]

Originally Posted by Dion

My mother went to school with a guy who graduated from HS with honors and all that stuff. Dropped out after the first year due to a nervous breakdown. High school didn't prepaire or challenge him enough for what was expected of him in university.

I remember multiple students in the Honors residence hall have nervous breakdowns freshmen year. They were not prepared to be mediocre and didn't know how to start working to do well at school.

It's easy to graduate high school with honors for tons of kids. Not for me, I didn't do homework and paid for it with a low GPA but managed to get into college with high standardized test scores.

College I found it's still pretty easy to slack off and pass. Not do well, but pass. A lot of those honors kids put a lot of stock in getting good grades and when it didn't come easy it destroyed their self-esteem. Me? I learned to disconnect my self-esteem from my grades long ago.

[flip]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

I remember multiple students in the Honors residence hall have nervous breakdowns freshmen year. They were not prepared to be mediocre and didn't know how to start working to do well at school.

It's easy to graduate high school with honors for tons of kids. Not for me, I didn't do homework and paid for it with a low GPA but managed to get into college with high standardized test scores.

College I found it's still pretty easy to slack off and pass. Not do well, but pass. A lot of those honors kids put a lot of stock in getting good grades and when it didn't come easy it destroyed their self-esteem. Me? I learned to disconnect my self-esteem from my grades long ago.

I know a lot of other Advanced Placement students out of high school that had a hard time in University just because they became average. University is basically the top 10-20% of all the students, and not just in one high school, in all of more than calgary.

It damaged a lot of kids egos who were used to being at the top of the class, they basically worked themselves to death (or near to it).

[kipperiggy]

I graduated from high school with an almost perfect average, and was second in my class. I did probably 1.5-2 hours of homework per week night, and easily at least 6 hours on the weekend. I worked for my good grades, but the girl who got fourth overall in the class wrote up chem labs in calculus instead of taking notes. To generalize that all people with good grades don't have to work, or do have to work, is just inaccurate.

Anyway, I had homework through junior high also, but nothing beyond maybe finishing my math assignment I didn't get done in class, or a few major English and Social Studies projects throughout the year. I was lucky in that my teachers would tell us specifically, "if you don't get these worksheets done, you don't get any more class time." and if we wasted the period then it was our own fault for slacking. I never had a teacher squander a period with mindless babble and then assign homework at the bell. As for elementary school, we only got homework if we didn't finish assigned work in class.. maybe 3 or 4 projects through those 7 years, mainly in the latter years.

I don't live in Calgary, or Alberta for that matter though, so maybe it's different here. I remember hearing growing up about school being tougher there, and by the sounds of what you guys are describing, that's an accurate statement. I just finished my first year of university and achieved an average of 90%..I wouldn't say that having what sounds like less homework throughout school really harmed me.

It really comes down to who your teachers are and how they teach, as well as each individual's work ethic. If a teacher is going to pile on the homework, not all the kids are going to do it, no matter how much or how little homework there is. Also, not all the kids that attempt every single assignment are going to understand the concept just by having 25 synthetic division questions thrown at them. Some teachers are going to think that continuing to pile the homework on is going to help every kid learn, while other teachers are going to look for other additional methods of teaching to try and reach every kid.

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by Dion

I studied business admin at both SAIT and NAIT. It took me 3 years to finish a 2 year course. During the second year i went half days - mornings - to repeat all my accounting and business math courses i failed from the first year. Just to get caught up. It was only when i got into my specialty - marketing management - in the third year did i finally pass all my courses and end up with a diploma. Toughest 3 years of my life BUT i made it!

Hell yeah bro!