Not having children who are of school age but grandchildren who are rapidly approaching that exciting time in their lives, I found this piece on homework very informative.

American students continue to fall behind much of the rest of the world in math and science and recent surveys of their literacy and knowledge of history, civics and geography hover between embarrassing and “Oh my God.”

But one of the hottest issues in American education today is the crusade to cut down on “excessive” homework; and the war is being waged not by educrats, but by parents.

Two Letters to the Editor have been received and each has a very different perspective on the above article:

I am fine with a reasonable amount of homework, but I have read that 10 minutes per night per grade level was ideal. That would be nice. By 5th grade, the teachers no longer follow this standard here. They pile it on and act as if our family life should revolve around school. (And by the way, my kids don’t watch TV on school nights and don’t do any sports. We limit after school activities because we believe kids should have some unstructured time in their days.)

or:

Each night we sit with her at our kitchen table to complete assignments. It is such a lovely way to spend one on one time with our child. I can’t imagine why a parent would not want to be involved in such a process. Not only are you spending time with your child but you are contributing to the childs knowledge and growth of the world. Why would this be so stressful?……

Drawing from my long past experiences, homework was to my children an accepted part of attending school. Even though it is quite a while ago, I remember nights that assignments seemed never ending. Has it really changed that much or is it just that now parents and children are so busy with other obligations that it seems that way?

I would love to hear what parents of children in school today feel on this issue. I find anything which affects the education of our youth extremely important and if homework has become oppresive then is there anything to be done to correct the situation?