Homework

There is a bit of a debate in the letters to the editor page of the Star about whether Kids Today are getting too much homework, especially in the younger grades, or whether they're just spoiled and coddled or what.

I'm not going to offer up an opinion because I know that schools are now using a completely different curriculum than the one I was taught with. But I do have a question that I think everyone should be asking: what about the quality of the homework?

I remember a lot of time, especially in elementary school, spent gluing stuff to bristol board, trying to draw a picture of my house (yes, for that dreaded Grade 4 French project), frantically scrambling for pictures to make a collage with when my parents didn't subscribe to any magazines, etc. I found that all very time-consuming and stressful (because it did count, and it was just as important as anything else I had going on). More academic stuff - learning spelling words, doing work problems, studying for a history test - I didn't mind as much. Of course, I'm a pretty academic person for someone who is no longer involved in academia. I consider reading a journal a nice treat, I play Jeopardy for fun, and I sit down with popcorn to watch election returns. I don't know what less academic people thought of this kind of work. I do appreciate that there are different learning styles and some of the less academic kids might feel differently about what's a worthwhile use of their time, but I also think it's a problem if you're spending more time trying to figure out how to make a mobile about your book than you'd spend writing a book report.

I don't know if Kids Today are facing these kinds of issues, but I hope people who are more directly affected are taking this into consideration.