Homework In America Vs Other Countries
Brandi Baylon
Met Life has published an annual survey of teachers since 1984. In 1987 and 2007, the survey included questions focusing on homework and expanded to sample both parents and students on the topic. Data are broken out for secondary and elementary parents and for students in grades 3-6 and grades 7-12 (the latter not being an exact match with secondary parents because of K-8 schools).
One hour of homework is the median estimate for both secondary parents and students in grade 7-12, with 55% of parents reporting an hour or less and about two-thirds (67%) of students reporting the same. As for the prevalence of the heaviest homework loads, 11% of secondary parents say their children spend more than two hours on weekday homework, and 12% is the corresponding figure for students in grades 7-12.
The Met Life surveys in 1987 and 2007 asked parents to evaluate the amount and quality of homework. Table 2-3 displays the results. There was little change over the two decades separating the two surveys. More than 60% of parents rate the amount of homework as good or excellent, and about two-thirds give such high ratings to the quality of the homework their children are receiving. The proportion giving poor ratings to either the quantity or quality of homework did not exceed 10% on either survey.
Parental dissatisfaction with homework comes in two forms: those who feel schools give too much homework and those who feel schools do not give enough. The current wave of journalism about unhappy parents is dominated by those who feel schools give too much homework. How big is this group? Not very big (see Figure 2-3). On the Met Life survey, 60% of parents felt schools were giving the right amount of homework, 25% wanted more homework, and only 15% wanted less.
[iv] Data for other years are available on the NAEP Data Explorer. For Table 1, the starting point of 1984 was chosen because it is the first year all three ages were asked the homework question. The two most recent dates (2012 and 2008) were chosen to show recent changes, and the two years in the 1990s to show developments during that decade.
Indeed, most countries around the world have been reducing the amount of homework assigned. Back in 2003, the average time spent on homework worldwide was about six hours a week. In 2012 that shrank to about five hours.
At Human Restoration Project, one of the core systemic changes we suggest is the elimination of homework. Throughout this piece, I will outline several research studies and reports that demonstrate how the negative impact of homework is so evident that any mandated homework, outside of some minor catching up or for incredibly niche cases, simply does more harm than good.
Perhaps this is because the largest predictor of college success has nothing to do with rigorous preparation, and everything to do with family income levels. 77% of students from high income families graduated from a highly competitive college, whereas 9% of students from low income families did the same.
A similar study in Frontiers of Psychology found that students pressured in the competitive college admissions process, who attended schools assigning hours of homework each night and promoting college-level courses and resume building extracurriculars, felt extreme stress. Two-thirds of the surveyed students reported turning to alcohol and drugs to cope.
Americans are some of the most stressed people in the world. Mass shootings, health care affordability, discrimination, racism, sexual harassment, climate change, the presidential elections, and literally: staying informed on current events have caused roughly 70% of people to report moderate or extreme stress, with increased rates for people of color, LGBTQIA Americans, and other discriminated groups. 90% of high schoolers and college students report moderate or higher stress, with half reporting depression and a lack of energy and motivation.
Finland, frequently cited as a model education system which grew to prominence during the 2000s through popular scholars like Pasi Sahlberg, enjoys some of the highest standards of living in the world:
When I came up with the idea of writing this article, I was hoping to hear about the fun and exciting things my peers do during their off periods. What I really found out was that most kids just do homework.
To combat workload stress, some countries, such as Finland, have cut down on homework amounts and added time for recess, while other countries, such as Italy, end school at lunchtime, according to Oxfordlearning.com.
There are different homework policies around the world. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) keeps track of such policies and compares the amount of homework of students from different countries. For example, an average high school student in the US has to spend about 6 hours a day doing homework, while in Finland, the amount of time spent on after school learning is about 3 hours a day. Nevertheless, these are exactly Finnish students who lead the world in global scores for math and science. It means that despite the belief that homework increases student performance, OECD graph shows the opposite. Though there are some exceptions such as education system in Japan, South Korea, and some other Asian countries. In fact, according to OECD, the more time students spend on homework, the worse they perform in school.
Finnish education approach shows the world that when it comes to homework, less is more. It is worth to mention that the world has caught onto this idea and, according to the latest OECD report, the average number of hours spent by students doing their homework decreased in nearly all countries around the world.
So what Finland knows about homework that the rest of the world does not? There is no simple answer, as the success of education system in Finland is provided by many factors, starting from poverty rates in the country to parental leave policies to the availability of preschools. Nevertheless, one of the greatest secrets of the success of education system in Finland is the way Finns teach their children.
Thirdly, there is a lot of individual attention for each student. Classes in Finland are smaller than in the most of other countries and for the first six years of study, teachers get to know their students, their individual needs, and learning styles. If there are some weaker students, they are provided by extra assistance. Overall, Finnish education system promotes warmth, collaboration, encouragement, and assessment which means that teachers in this country are ready to do their best to help students but not to gain more control over them.
The combination of these three fundamentals is the key to success of any education system in the world and Finns are exactly those people who proved by way of example that less is more, especially when it comes to the amount of homework.
- What is a revolution? A revolution is a sudden change of government. It happens when a large number of people decide to take power from a government that treats its people unfairly.
- Who fought in the American Revolution? People who lived in 13 British colonies in North America fought against British troops.
- What caused the revolution? The people in the 13 colonies were not happy about the way that the British government treated them.
- When did the revolution take place? It started in 1775 and ended in 1783.
- Why is it important? The 13 American colonies won the war and then became the new country of the United States.
Beginning in the 1600s, groups of people from England and other countries moved to North America to start a new life. They took control of the land, though Indigenous peoples had lived there for many years. The Europeans formed colonies. A colony is an area controlled by one country but located somewhere else. By 1763, Great Britain controlled a large part of eastern North America. Most of the colonists lived in 13 colonies along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
Before the 1760s the colonies had a lot of freedom even though they were under British rule. The British government was across the Atlantic Ocean, more than 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) away. The colonies had their own leaders and learned to solve their own problems.
In the 1760s, however, the British government tried to take more control over the colonies. One major reason for this was that Britain had spent a lot of money fighting in several wars. By the 1760s Britain decided that its American colonies should help to pay its debts.
There were several reasons that the colonies went to war with the British. Some of the main causes were:
- Taxes: The British made the colonists pay taxes on everyday items that the colonists used.
- Boston Massacre: British soldiers fired into a crowd of people. Several people were killed, including a man named Crispus Attucks.
- Intolerable Acts: The British punished the colonists for protesting the taxes. They made harsh laws and sent the military to rule Massachusetts.
To raise money, Britain forced the colonies to pay new taxes. In 1765 the British lawmakers, called Parliament, passed a law called the Stamp Act. The act put a tax on legal papers, newspapers, and other printed items. The colonists protested against the tax. They were especially angry because Parliament was taxing them even though they had no representatives in Parliament. Because of the protests, the British government ended the tax in 1766.
In 1767, however, a British official named Charles Townshend got Parliament to pass several new laws. The Townshend Acts taxed tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass coming into colonial ports. These taxes made the colonists even angrier.
To keep order, the British government sent soldiers to Boston, Massachusetts. On March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired shots into a crowd. Crispus Attucks and several other Americans were killed. This event became known as the Boston Massacre.
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