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Francois Hollande wants to ban homework

Francois Hollande wants to ban homework

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A humorous story, but I wonder what posters think of

a) Hollande's motives for this proposal, and
b) his statement that "an education program is, by definition, a societal program."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2012/10/17/french_homework_ban_president_francois_hollande_says_homework_leads_to_inequality.html

In a move that will have children across America begging their parents to move to France, French president Francois Hollande has proposed a ban on homework.

Hollande suggested the take-home-study prohibition as part of his plan for education reform. The recently elected socialist party leader said “an education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school, rather than at home.” He added that the homework ban was a matter of equality, since wealthier children have parental support at home that poor children do not.

But parents in France are saying je crois que non, with two-thirds of the country opposing the plan. If only Mr. Hollande was able to lower the voting age—he'd have a powerful new bloc.

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Originally posted by Teinosuke
A humorous story, but I wonder what posters think of

a) Hollande's motives for this proposal, and
b) his statement that "an education program is, by definition, a societal program."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2012/10/17/french_homework_ban_president_francois_hollande_says_homework_leads_to_inequality.html

In a move that will have chil ...[text shortened]... an. If only Mr. Hollande was able to lower the voting age—he'd have a powerful new bloc.
My understanding is that he also wanted to lengthen to school day/ year. So homerwork might actually be done in school as school work. In that sense it might have a more significant change in where students do work rather than in what students do.

As a parent homework allows me to see the skills that teachers wish my students to have. Sometimes I can re-explain things that my sons have missed in class. Whether it is a different voice or a second time, there are times I feel my child benefits from a homework assignment. (If a homework assignment is merely a waste if time there might be little to no educational value/ but that does not mean homework is a bad idea it simply means there should be quality control for homework assignments).

Banning homework simply because some people have more parental support than others hurts everyone. It never makes sense to hurt everyone simply because we can end up with a low value equality.

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There is quite a bit of educational research that says homework is not necessary.

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Originally posted by Teinosuke
A humorous story, but I wonder what posters think of

a) Hollande's motives for this proposal, and
b) his statement that "an education program is, by definition, a societal program."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2012/10/17/french_homework_ban_president_francois_hollande_says_homework_leads_to_inequality.html

In a move that will have chil ...[text shortened]... an. If only Mr. Hollande was able to lower the voting age—he'd have a powerful new bloc.
While the underlying idea of having children do work in school rather than at home is interesting, to mandate it by government fiat across schools that may have exceedingly diverse circumstances is almost incredibly stupid. Let the individual schools make their own decisions based on their own circumstances.

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Originally posted by sh76
While the underlying idea of having children do work in school rather than at home is interesting, to mandate it by government fiat across schools that may have exceedingly diverse circumstances is almost incredibly stupid. Let the individual schools make their own decisions based on their own circumstances.
Yet, I assume you do agree with national standards with regard to some aspects of public education.

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Australia's also looking at homework workloads for children, this is just a media clip but there are extensive guidelines on the topic on several state government websites: http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/13178845/Timetobanhomework-TodayTonight_files/

General consensus seems to be, minimal up to year 6 unless it's a parent-child activity such as reading aloud, solid workloads once you get past year 8. The discussion has been going on for quite some time here, it's part of a push to get kids up away from computers and out into the wider physical world.

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Originally posted by moon1969
Yet, I assume you do agree with national standards with regard to some aspects of public education.
I don't. NCLB has been a predictable disaster.

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Originally posted by no1marauder
I don't. NCLB has been a predictable disaster.
Why was its failure "predictable"? Was it because of its national scope, or simply because of failures in its conception / implementation?

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Originally posted by AThousandYoung
There is quite a bit of educational research that says homework is not necessary.
It does not add considerable value to time spent in school.

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Originally posted by Teinosuke
Why was its failure "predictable"? Was it because of its national scope, or simply because of failures in its conception / implementation?
Mostly B(1) but partially A. A "one size fits all" model is a poor choice for a country as diversified as ours.

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Originally posted by quackquack
My understanding is that he also wanted to lengthen to school day/ year. So homerwork might actually be done in school as school work. In that sense it might have a more significant change in where students do work rather than in what students do.
This was implemented in the school I went to (grades 8-12). Most children had a poor home environment, so we had a 'study period' of one and a half hours at the end of each school day in which to do homework and revision. I am sure that this did benefit some students, but in my case it was largely a waste of my time. Partly because I was usually done with homework in the first 15-20 mins, and partly because it was so hot that it was difficult to really do any studying anyway.
I think it should have been optional.

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