Too Much Homework?

img src=”http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/images/homework.jpg” align=rightIs homework for kids a good thing? I have never thought so–now a new book, a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307340171?ie=UTF8tag=wwwviolentkicomlinkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=0307340171″emThe Case Against Homework/em,/aimg src=”http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwviolentkicoml=as2o=1a=0307340171″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” / says that there is a href=”http://www.slate.com/id/2149593?GT1=8592″no link between homework and achievement for elementary students/a:br /br /blockquoteFor elementary-school students, Cooper found that “the average correlation between time spent on homework and achievement … hovered around zero.” In Kohn’s book, he highlights a 1998 study that Cooper and his colleagues did with second- through 12th-graders. For younger students, the amount of homework completed had no effect on test scores and bore a negative relationship to grades. (The results weren’t quite so grim for older students. Their grades rose in relation to the amount of homework they completed, though their test scores did not.) Kohn looks at these findings and concludes that most homework is at best a waste of time and at worst a source of tedious vexation. /blockquotebr /br /All I know is, last year in elementary school, my kid and her friends were miserable and cranky, with hours of homework every night that seemed senseless. (The picture is her homework from one day last year — the backpack is full, and weighed 19 pounds. PLUS the stack of books next to it.) Now, in middle school, homework ranges between zero to fifteen minutes a night–all very manageable. I have seen the kids in her middle school blossom into happier, more cheerful beings who have time for other interests. Is less homework the reason? It sure seems like it to me.