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End the Tyranny of Homework!
To put it another way, if a teacher is unable to impart the basic knowledge required of a student during the many hours he spends in the classroom, why expect that same student to acquire that knowledge independently and, presumably, on his own time without the benefit of a teacher? Why must parents be pressed into service to do the teacher’s job? Why must otherwise good time spent with one’s family or just being a kid be wasted on the rigors of homework? Did it build character? No. Did it help me to learn "time management" techniques? No. Did it develop in me a burning desire to learn more? No. By contrast, during my teenage years, I became a professional magician, earning scads of money entertaining at birthday parties and other events. I learned to be confident in front of an audience of any age. From this experience, I learned to be skeptical because the world was full of "magicians" who quoted studies, surveys, and dubious science to prove how right they were when, in fact, not only were they wrong, they were capable of doing a lot of harm in the process. Someday, perhaps, grateful generations of students will erect statues of Aflie Kohn on the campuses of their schools. Who is Alfie Kohn, you ask? He is the author of "The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing." ($24.00, Da Capo Press) To learn more, you can visit www.alfiekohn.org. Suffice it to say, I am going to share the central message of his book with you because it happens to have answered many of the questions asked above. It answers the questions that parents across this fruited plain called America continue to ask teachers and school administrators without ever getting a decent, honest answer. Indeed, anyone witnessing tiny tots and older students trudging to school, stooped over with backpacks filled with the previous day’s homework assignments, must surely wonder why whole generations of Americans went to school without once wearing a backpack? There was homework, but it was never the horror and burden that it is today. As Kohn notes, the mystery surrounding homework "deepens in light of the fact that widespread assumptions about the benefits of homework—higher achievement and the promotion of such virtues as self-discipline and responsibility—aren’t substantiated by the available evidence." That’s right. The author poured through countless studies of homework and concluded that it serves no purpose whatever. What is evident, however, is "The most striking trend regarding homework in the past two decades is the tendency to pile more and more of it on younger and younger children." Those of us who have examined the education establishment since the 1960s have long concluded it is utterly failing the students passing through government schools. Loading up kids with after-school work is simply proof of that failure. Kohn notes five significant aspects of homework and why it is a bad thing.
(2) It is responsible for a lot of stress in the lives of children by simultaneously overwhelming the struggling student and removing the joy for high achievers. (3) Homework is frequently the cause of family conflict. Specifically the nagging to which parents must resort followed by the whining of the child. This affects the parent-child relationship negatively, as do the tensions that arise when kids try to work with parents on homework. After a full day at school, home should be a place to unwind, to engage in hobbies, to play, to be a kid! (4) There is less time for other activities. "There is less opportunity to read for pleasure, make friends and socialize with them, get some exercise, get some rest, or just be a child." The freedom to "do nothing" is very important to children and, in my case, an adult. (5) Perhaps most important of all, one of homework’s worst adverse affects is to dull a love of learning. If learning something is always "work" than learning anything takes on the same connotation. This is why most kids hate homework. Learning is what they are required to do in school. Why can’t their home be free of the tentacles and burdens of school? Kohn’s book, a densely documented look at the realities of homework clearly demonstrates that all the things we are told about it or believe about it are wrong. There are laws against child labor in America that were, when enacted, considered quite progressive. There is no law against homework. There ought to be! Have you purchased your autographed copy of my new book, "Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fiction"? No? To do so, click here. One observer of New Jersey’s political system, Dr. Murray Sabrin, PhD, calls it "the coming Stalinization" as the Governor and the majority Democrats in the legislature move toward the concentration of all real power in Trenton. If they succeed, highway signs will read "Welcome to the People’s Republic of New Jersey." There are likely to be fewer people in New Jersey and, most certainly, fewer corporations and businesses of every description. A study by the DC-based Tax Foundation noted that New Jersey is regarded as having the second-worst business tax climate in the nation with CEOs rating it as the fifth-worst place in which to do business. The mismanagement of the State’s finances is reason enough to leave and, most certainly, paying some of the nation’s highest property and sales taxes is also sufficient cause. There are 566 communities and cities in New Jersey and "home rule" has worked just fine as it was understood that each had to prudently manage its own affairs such as the maintenance of a school system and various public services. Small towns did this routinely. Big cities, however, the strongholds of Democrat power, did not. Then things got really bad. The state Supreme Court, ignoring the fact that only the legislature has the constitutional authority to raise money and determine its allocation, decided that those big cities deserved to have schools the equal of smaller, frequently more affluent ones. It demanded that billions be spent on those inner city schools and the result has been the appalling waste of some $8.6 billion to date. There is literally no end in sight for the remaining amount of money to be borrowed and spent by court order. "The state income tax undermines home rule," notes Dr. Sabrin, "by shifting resources—plundering—the suburbs and transferring the funds to the state’s corrupt, mismanaged and dysfunctional urban centers." Nor should you think this is a problem solely of the schools. The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey has proven so rife with corruption that the state has had to step in to clean up the mess its administrators left in their wake. Bear in mind, the state income tax, the state sales tax, and opening Atlantic City to gambling were measures New Jerseyeans were assured would cover the cost of its vast education system and provide property tax relief. It never happened. As fast as money flowed into the state’s political cesspool in Trenton, the faster they spent it. What they couldn’t acquire by taxing, they borrowed. The state budget for Fiscal Year 2007 is nothing short of mind-boggling. Its projected spending totals $31.4 billion. The increase between FY 2002 and FY 2007 is $8.9 billion. New Jersey citizens will also be subject to 26 new taxes estimated to generate $2 billion. Since June 2002, a total of 94 new taxes have been imposed.
A Democrat and a very liberal one at that, Corzine, formerly a U.S. Senator and before that a Wall Street mogul, has proven to be totally wedded to squeezing every last dollar out of New Jerseyeans before seeking to resolve the school funding mess or getting rid of any of the many welfare programs. One of the Governor’s recommendations is to request New Jersey’s many small towns to merge in various ways. This is not going to go over well with volunteer fire departments or any of the other services that are performed well precisely because they are specific to the community they serve. The real problem, however, is the cost of government in the big cities of New Jersey. The cost of government in Newark, for example, is $5,197 per resident. This does not compare favorably with the state average of $3,000 per person. As journalist, Paul Mulshine, pointed out, "Bringing the cost of government in Newark down to the state average would save a staggering $511 million annually. The savings in Jersey City would be $218 million annually. The savings in Camden would be about $202 million. That’s a billion dollars in savings from just three cities." These cities, however, are all Democrat strongholds. The state is also held hostage by its public service unions, all Democrat enclaves. The most recent Republican Governor, Christine Whitman, balanced the books by not funding the state pension funds and now the state must replenish those promissory notes with yet another huge bond program of borrowing. Little wonder that New Jersey is one of only nine states whose bond ratings have headed south since 2001.
The problem New Jersey voters have is an adolescent love affair with Governors whose promises are forgotten within seconds of being uttered. This was particularly true of our famed "gay" Governor who resigned in disgrace, thus opening the office to a run by Corzine. Corzine promised an increase in property tax rebates. He promised not to raise taxes. Promising to run the state like a business, Corzine showed up at a rally of public employees sounding like a union executive. Well, close enough. Earlier he had dipped into his personal fortune to pay off the mortgage of a former girl friend who just happens to be the president of the Communications Workers of America NJ chapter. You would think that the 8.5 million people who live here would have figured out by now not to believe the Governor or most of their legislators. Next year it is anticipated the Governor will tell voters that the state has a $7 billion deficit! Full disclosure: The author has lived in New Jersey since birth with time out for college and military service. As he frequently tells people, "I’m from New Jersey, I don’t trust any air I can’t see!" |
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I do not recall doing much homework when I was growing up. Most certainly, I was not burdened with it in elementary school. It probably began in what is now called Middle School grades. I do recall wondering, after having spent the better part of the day in school, why the teachers thought that additional study at home would have any benefit?
Gov. Jon Corzine gained national fame by closing down New Jersey in a confrontation with the legislature over the state’s financial mess. While, from afar, he may have appeared to be a courageous politician, it is worth noting that his answer was to raise the state sales tax. He had promised not to raise taxes before being elected. Then the Governor turned a blind eye to a whopping $344.7 million in pure "pork", almost all of which was added to the budget in the late hours of the night without any scrutiny.