Among the
maladies afflicting Pakistan's education
system, homework is an unlikely one for most
parents and educators. But for most
children, it is one of the major causes for
conflict with their teachers and parents as
well as a constant stress in their lives.
Stress is not something we commonly
associate with children since we tend to
think of childhood as a happy and carefree
time. But even if we think back at our own
childhood, homework was, at least for most
of us, a burden. In a society where we have
a near religious faith in the ability of
homework to provide extraordinary academic
results, we tend to forget other factors
that influence a child's performance such as
a well trained teacher or a favourable
learning environment. Also we forget the
most important factor that homework is
work.
Journalist and college professor, John Buell,
challenges our almost religious faith in
homework's superpowers in his book
Closing the Book on Homework: Enhancing
Public Education and Freeing Family Time.
This is a sequel to his initial attempt
The End of Homework that he
co-authored with Etta Kralovec. When he
published his first book CNN interviewed him
and trivialized his research by asking
viewers to participate in a live poll on
whether homework should be banned. In his
book Buell recognizes that his suggestions
and findings on homework may again be
trivialized by parents and educators the
same way they were when he published his
first book. Yet he realizes that the
significance of homework cannot be
underestimated and his work strongly
testifies to that.
Although Buell bases his arguments on the
American education system, his study finds a
parallel in Pakistani society as well. For
most Pakistani school children there is an
expectation to attend a prestigious college
and then a professional university which
means spending more hours doing homework
plus attending tuition/coaching centres. It
is seen as a cause and effect situation
whereby doing homework should lead to good
grades. Parents generally feel that when a
child is not doing well in school it is
probably linked to not doing enough
homework.
Buell believes that there is a limit to how
much information one can grasp in a certain
duration of time and too much homework like
any form of overwork can leave one burnt
out. According to most learning theories,
learning works in small doses. And Buell
disproves the assumed automatic link between
homework and performance by bringing forth
evidence from neuropsychological and modern
learning theories.
Grounded in credible research, his book
refutes some of the myths about homework.
His findings suggest that most of the
studies done on the effects of homework do
not show that homework causes better or
improved academic performance. Also, that
for a lot of children it contributes to
increased dropout rates in schools. But his
main concerns are the effect of homework
especially on poor working class American
families and its heavy demands on family
time. Another important myth that he
dismisses is the assumed superiority of the
American school system in the world. Through
analysis and international comparisons Buell
shows how the American school system has
been using increased homework and
standardized testing to distract attention
away from its structural failures.
Global capitalist economic structure
provides the context for most of Buell's
arguments regarding homework. Although the
connection between the economy and homework
may not seem self evident at first, Buell's
analysis quite successfully shows the
significance of homework in achieving
desired results out of overworked students.
Homework represents time management,
self-discipline, work ethics, and
initiative. All these values are at the core
of the business civilization. Buell suggests
that these values that homework represents
can also be instilled through other creative
activities.
Today the world is dominated by corporate
interests. Corporate funding is essential to
most public institutions including education
which represents a huge business serving as
a prerequisite towards economic growth. With
such strong market forces at play, it
becomes crucial for benefactors,
corporations in this case, to dictate the
terms of the game. Businesses pressurize
governments and education systems to produce
the desired results for the economy and this
translates into increased demands on
students. Therefore, schools serve as
training grounds for future labour force and
their standards are dictated by the economy.
Buell's analysis is crucial in raising
important questions regarding homework. But
he only offers general suggestions towards
resolving this issue. Nonetheless, his
research invokes interest in a topic that
has usually been considered unimportant by
most education reformers. Also, it serves as
a basic guide for parents, teachers,
reformers and researchers into an integral
and standard practice of our education
system. |
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