Do Your Homework!
ELLYCE FIELD
Special to The Jewish News
I I
t's that time of year
again. Time for un-
smudged sneakers,
brand new backpacks,
crisp notebooks and un-
sharpened pencils. And time
- for the homework hassle to
rear its perennial head.
Homework, educators say,
is a necessary evil. It rein-
forces concepts learned in
school; it develops respon-
sibility and inner resources.
But as parents we shake
our heads. How much help
should kids be given? How
can parents get them to stick
to a schedule? What should be
done if children seem in-
capable of doing their
homework?
"Homework is the type of
thing that has gone in cycles,"
says Dr. Robert Abramson,
director of the United Syn-
agogue of America's depart-
ment of education. "We've
heard cries for more home-
work and cries for less
homework. We are back into
a period where homework is
considered part of the learn-
ing process. Homework is em-
phasized on the national and
local level."
According to Abramson,
homework must be measured
in terms of educational cri-
teria.
Homework offers necessary
drill. "Sometimes you can on-
ly go over something so much
74 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1989
Your child may not think so, but homework
is important. As a parent, you should
reinforce this message.
at school, in terms of time. It's
important to walk away from
it and then try it again at
home, like spelling or math,"
Abramson says.
Homework reviews school
work and helps students
assimilate knowledge. It also
develops higher order skills.
"Sometimes teachers ask stu-
dents to apply a new concept,
solve a problem or apply a
piece of knowledge. Home-
work might be analyzing a
poem or a long term project,"
Abramson says.
In general, homework
should be an extension of the
learning process. When it
isn't — when it starts to
become superfluous or frus-
trating — then there is a
point of diminishing return.
"More homework is not
necessarily better home-
work," says sociologist, Joyce
Epstein, a researcher at the
Center for Research on Ele-
mentary and Middle Schools
at Johns Hopkins University.
Epstein conducted a study
which included 82 teachers,
more than 2,000 students and
1,200 parents from public
elementary schools in Mary-
land. She concluded that at
the elementary school level,
the lowest achieving pupils
spend more time on home-
work than students with bet-
ter grades. These students
also receive more help from
their parents.
"These younger students
and their families are still
trying to be responsive to
school demands for mastering
basic skills," Epstein says.
"The children and their
Homework should
be an extension of
the learning
process. When it
starts to become
frustrating, then
there is a point of
diminishing return.
parents spend more time
working on needed skills. But
those who cannot work to
completion become
`homework problems' and
learning begins to drop."
What is needed, says Ep-
stein, is "better homework
and more information for par-
ents for parents about produc-
tive ways to monitor and help
their children at home."
Dr. Alice R. McCarthy,
Director of the Detroit Free
Press Parent Talk Advisory
Board and co-author of The
Parents' Answer Book, says:
"Parents shouldn't place
themselves in the middle, bet-
ween a student and his
teacher, even if they'd like to
see the homework done suc-
cessfully. Homework is an
issue between the child and
his teacher. Children need to
learn that school is their
work."
Parents do have obligations,
though. They shouldn't do
their children's homework,
but they are responsible for
establishing the best environ-
ment for home study, main-
taining a physical presence,
offering consistent and loving
encouragement, and keeping
open lines of communication
with the school.
"Every family has its own
rhythm," says Abramson.
"There are no hard and fast
rules where or when a child
should do his homework. If
parents work all day and
aren't home when school is
over, maybe the child needs to
do his homework when his
parents are home, after din-
ner."
Rather than that of enforcer
or active participant, a
parent's best role is facil-
itator. Abramson suggests
parents ask their child what
homework has been assigned
and rehearse the steps need-
ed to complete it. Offering to
review or listen to the fin-
ished homework helps
parents separate from the
child.
"Parents should not become
so involved in the successful
outcome that they feel they
are being graded on the
work," he says.
How to help'when the child
is unable to complete home-
work within a reasonable
amount of time, forgets, lies
about or refuses to do home-
work?
Dr. Alicia Tisdale, an edu-
cational and clinical psycho-
logist in practice with Birm-
ingham's Beacon Hill Clinic,
offers several suggestions.
"Before getting down on the
child and assuming it's all his
fault, be sure the quantity
and quality of homework is
appropriate to your child's
developmental ability. For in-
stance, 10 to 20 minutes is a
6-year-old's normal range for
sitting and concentrating on
homework," she says.
Tisdale says, children often
don't know what the home-
work assignment is. To help
your child become better
organized, she recommends
asking several key questions:
Where do you keep your
school bag, your assignment
notebook? Does the teacher
write the assignment on the
board?