Homework is a vital component of the educational system, especially in high school. Parents must require their adolescents to complete homework. Do not accept excuses from your teen about homework being stupid, boring, or redundant. Do not allow other activities to be more important than homework, activities like sports, dating, jobs, chores, and social events. When your teen tells you that she completed her homework in school, ask to see it. If your child truly does not have new work to complete, he should review material.
Homework is important because it
· reinforces skills and materials learned in class
· prepares for upcoming class topics
· teaches independent work skills
· develops student responsibility for learning
· provides practice of organizational and time-management skills
· is a means of evaluating student progress
Homework is important because it reinforces skills and materials learned in class. There is not adequate time in a school day for students to practice and apply new concepts, especially concepts that are complex and advanced; these must be practiced at home. Many lesson taught at the high school level require advanced thinking skills: analysis, comparison, synthesis, application, and evaluation (see Bloom’s Taxonomy). Regardless of the subject, these thinking skills are life skills. Practicing them will improve them, and benefit all areas of one’s life.
Learned skills then prepare students for subsequent topics and skills. One cannot learn to analyze literature before one has learned to read. Concepts are introduced in earlier lessons and are then developed more deeply and broadly in proceeding lessons. The better one has learned earlier topics, the more prepared that student is for advanced lessons. Homework provides that preparation.
Working without the aid of a teacher provides students opportunities to work independently. You and your child may think that advanced calculus will not benefit your child’s future, but the ability to face a problem and solve it independently is invaluable to anyone. Homework is supposed to be challenging so that a student will learn how to problem solve. Independence is a noted characteristic of good students – those who accept the challenge.
Associated with independence, responsibility is equally essential. A student must assume responsibility for her learning. Yes, parents and teachers and school systems share responsibility for a student’s success, but the student must choose to learn and to succeed. Homework is one way in which the student has the opportunity to say, this is my part in my learning. It is not wholly the responsibility of teachers to pour information into the heads of students while they sit in class. I student must strive to learn on her own, to seek a higher level of performance. A student takes responsibility for her learning when she searches her history book, on her own, for causes and consequences.
Another benefit of homework is the development of time-management and organizational skills. Especially in today’s world, students have many responsibilities and commitments. Learning to prioritize one’s activities and to manage one’s time so as to accomplish all commitments is a lesson that will benefit anyone throughout life regardless of career choice. This might mean that a student reconsider the level of classes in which he is enrolled. Perhaps taking all AP courses is not the best use of his energy. It means that perhaps fewer extra curricular activities or fewer hours at work (again, student responsibility is practiced here with these choices) are the best ways to achieve success. Parents and their students need to consider whether new clothes, techno gadget, and popularity are more important than good grades. Determine what it is that interferes with a student’s academic performance and then resolve that situation.
Perhaps, most obviously, homework provides a means for teachers, students, and parents to evaluate a student’s learning. After the teacher represents material, it is vital to determine how much of it the student has learned. Homework provides the easiest way to measure a students comprehension of material. Teachers can adjust their lesson, students can modify their studying, and parents can better assist their teens when difficulties are identified.
Homework may seem unnecessary and an interference with off-school time, but it serves many valuable purposes. You can assist your teen’s pursuit of academic success by encouraging completion of homework. Take an interest in your student’s homework; ask to see it; discuss it with your student. Homework is an essential tool for success – now and for the future.
