October 2007 — News
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Homework: A Math Dilemma and What To Do About It
The issue of assigning homework is controversial in terms of its purpose, what to assign, the amount of time needed to complete it, parental involvement, its actual affect on learning and achievement, and impact on family life and other valuable activities that occur outside of school hours. I have encountered all of those controversies in my years of teaching mathematics. Math homework is usually a daily event. Unfortunately, many teachers assign most homework from problem sets following the section of the text that was addressed that day. There is little differentiation. For the most part the entire class gets the same assignment. (In fairness, teachers do take into consideration the nature of those problems, which are often grouped by difficulty, deciding which to assign based on the general ability level of students in the class: below average, average, above average, or mixed.)
Often teaching involves a "one size fits all" strategy. Elaborating on Joseph Simplicio's (2005) thoughts, the student who "didn't get it"--that basic understanding of how to solve the problems--can't complete one homework problem, let alone 20. The better or gifted student gets it after a couple of problems and doesn't need to complete 20. Then there is the student who completes all 20 to build confidence that he/she does get it. The first gets frustrated and quits, the second gets bored and quits, and the third might get frustrated and bored by all the time it takes to get done or hastily complete the work with errors. Some might copy each other's work along the way, too. These scenarios are not all-encompassing, and you might be thinking, "You exaggerate." But homework has and most likely will continue to pose a dilemma.
It is time to treat math homework a little differently.
The Dilemma
Arguments against homework are becoming popular in the press. Critics, such as Alfie Kohn, question the need for homework and circumstances under which homework should be given. Certainly, it should not be expected to be the "default state" (2006). Parents find themselves more involved with helping their children to complete it, and there is more of it for younger students than in past, adding to everyone's frustration (Wallis, 2006).
I recall in my early years as an educator moving to a new state and one particular interview for a middle school teaching position. The principal asked for my views on homework, and I responded that, yes, I believed in the concept. He was adamant, however, that no homework be given at his school because students' home situations and expectations after school meant that, for the most part, they would not do it. All assigned work needed to be completed during class time. It was a lesson learned about the importance of knowing about the home-school relationship in the learning process. Today, given the hectic and often overfilled schedules that are part of so many students' daily lives, I'd consider Simplicio's (2005) solution to the dilemma, which "lies in setting aside time at the end of the school day to coordinate and supervise homework activities in school" (p. 141).
