Homework and After School Activities:Are Kids Overburdened?

Yes, yes, and yes.

CarolinaHound wrote:Yes, yes, and yes.

lol, good input.

CarolinaHound wrote:Yes, yes, and yes.

Ditto!

DM007 wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:Yes, yes, and yes.

Ditto!

Another awesome answer.
Now we're cooking.

HotParadox wrote:

DM007 wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:Yes, yes, and yes.

Ditto!

Another awesome answer.
Now we're cooking.

Yup!

lol

All right! We're off to a bang here and have two informative answers from our very own DM and doggieboy. Anybody else want to chime in with even more insight?

DM007 wrote:

HotParadox wrote:

DM007 wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:Yes, yes, and yes.

Ditto!

Another awesome answer.
Now we're cooking.

Yup!

Spot on.

I agree, as well. I almost feel like our kids are learning less than when I was in school but with 4 times the amount of homework I had. I think a lot of it is that some new teachers simply don't understand how to teach. I also think the "No Child Left Behind" act means that the teachers spend less time teaching about subjects that need to be taught and more time on subjects that will be tested on. Since the children still need to know about subjects that get neglected, they use homework as a learning tool instead of teaching it in the classroom.

lisan23 wrote:I agree, as well. I almost feel like our kids are learning less than when I was in school but with 4 times the amount of homework I had. I think a lot of it is that some new teachers simply don't understand how to teach. I also think the "No Child Left Behind" act means that the teachers spend less time teaching about subjects that need to be taught and more time on subjects that will be tested on. Since the children still need to know about subjects that get neglected, they use homework as a learning tool instead of teaching it in the classroom.

Exactly. And do you know what, lisan, they even do that in college now. What the freak, college, they actually give the kids a list of what to learn and read for the semester and then that's it for some of these profs. And then the final is on the stuff the kids taught themselves from the list. Disgusting.

CarolinaHound wrote:

DM007 wrote:

HotParadox wrote:

DM007 wrote:

CarolinaHound wrote:Yes, yes, and yes.

Ditto!

Another awesome answer.
Now we're cooking.

Yup!

Spot on.

True that.

Ok, here's a question. If the home work and other activities were lighter, would parents really take that time to spend with their children. Or would they be so tired when they come home from work that they'd send the kids off to their room with the video games and computers?

Facts are, there are teachers teaching that are not qualified because anybody with any sense will turn away from teaching as a career. Low pay, long hours, and too many students per class drives any idea of being a teacher out of people that would make good teachers.

Parents rely too much on schools and after school activities as alternate day care because they have to work to maintain a home. It's not so much their fault as much as the fact that to get ahead both parents have to work, or single parents have to work two or three jobs. So the burden of raising the children is left more to the schools, video games, and the computer.

Can you imagine what it's like to be one person trying to teach a class of 35 or 40 students? And when you get up into middle school and beyond where you have 7 periods of an hour with each period having a different set of 35 to 40 students is it any wonder they expect some help from the parents?

But then you have the parents side. Imagine both parents working 9 to 12 or more hours a day. Many of them have their own work they bring home. Or the single parents working multiple jobs just to keep a roof over their children's head and cloths on their backs. Is it any wonder they ask for the schools to do more and half raise their children?

What's the answer? Maybe lower our expectations of what kind of house we live in? Lower our standards of what's a suitable environment to raise our children in? Start working less and living in less desirable homes so we can have more quality time with our children. To spend more time raising them rather than letting our schools do it for us?

Raise the standards of what we expect from those teachers who are already stretched as far as they can be? Lower the standards for what a qualified teacher is maybe so more will deem it worthwhile to become a teacher?

I don't know. Personally I can see where both sides need some fixing. I'm not condemning either side. I'm just saying things need to be done both by parents and by the education system. In the end it's going to be the kids who suffer.

It might have been a few centuries ago when I went to school but, We were not given that kind of work load that the kids have today. Have any of you ever seen the progream Smarter than a 5th grader. A lot of the things sthey are theaching them today we did not have until high school. Iagree. To much is not good. Remember the old saying of To many cooks spoil the broth. That can also apply to school work today.

Old Timer wrote:It might have been a few centuries ago when I went to school but, We were not given that kind of work load that the kids have today. Have any of you ever seen the progream Smarter than a 5th grader. A lot of the things sthey are theaching them today we did not have until high school. Iagree. To much is not good. Remember the old saying of To many cooks spoil the broth. That can also apply to school work today.

That is true, education is becomeing more of an assembly line. And it's more about the numbers than the quality.

Old Timer wrote:It might have been a few centuries ago when I went to school but, We were not given that kind of work load that the kids have today. Have any of you ever seen the progream Smarter than a 5th grader. A lot of the things sthey are theaching them today we did not have until high school. Iagree. To much is not good. Remember the old saying of To many cooks spoil the broth. That can also apply to school work today.

That show is a load of crap! My step mom is a 4th grade teacher and she says that a lot of 5th graders wouldn't even know the answers to those questions. She thinks that they get the questions off of "gifted" tests for 5th graders, not from average 5th grade testing.

lisan23 wrote:

Old Timer wrote:It might have been a few centuries ago when I went to school but, We were not given that kind of work load that the kids have today. Have any of you ever seen the progream Smarter than a 5th grader. A lot of the things sthey are theaching them today we did not have until high school. Iagree. To much is not good. Remember the old saying of To many cooks spoil the broth. That can also apply to school work today.

That show is a load of crap! My step mom is a 4th grade teacher and she says that a lot of 5th graders wouldn't even know the answers to those questions. She thinks that they get the questions off of "gifted" tests for 5th graders, not from average 5th grade testing.

Well that is something I was not aware of, but then of course they would not tell you anything like that now would they.