New Report: Kids Say School is Too Easy

But don’t worry, kids, this report will ensure you get much more homework

By Jeremy Greenberg Jul 10, 2012 3:26PM

Well, American kids definitely lead the world in one area: admitting to things sure to cut into their video game time. A study from the Center for American Progress reveals that from as early as 4th grade, kids are admitting that school fails to challenge them. The study also surveyed many junior high students who find history to be humdrum, and high school students who lament that they don’t do enough writing. Maybe that’s why teens love to text, it satisfies an unmet need to work on their reading comprehension.

This study is interesting when measured against the highly competitive prep and high schools. There are pockets within the education system that do a great job challenging kids. In fact, some are so competitive, they draw criticism that they’re too taxing. But those schools are the exception, not the rule.

So how should bored kids get the challenge they need from school? I say that they should assign more homework. This would teach self-discipline—arguably the single most valuable life skill. Our children are coming up in a world oversaturated with distractions. Facebook notifications, text messages, and emails all conspire to block kids from becoming their best. If a large amount of homework is assigned, it will force kids to focus on their schoolwork amidst a house full of distractions. Yep, more homework is the answer—just don’t make it so hard that the parent has to help.

Do you think schools should assign more homework?

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15Comments

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Jul 10, 2012 11:47PM

No no no Jeremy Greenberg...

Why is there this conception that 'more homework = more challenging'? What happened to the focus on content that you were previously talking about? Homework indeed has its merit, but it only has that merit if it challenges a person to critically think. Give me 10 easy addition math problems, and I'll say its too easy. Give me 1000 easy addition math problems, and I'll say its too annoying. Give me 1 hard math problem, and I'll be studying the steps and logic and derivations that are required to solve it - that is worth more than any amount of tedious problems you'll throw at me.

I went through elementary, junior high, high school, and now am breezing through a university. Each time the teacher or professor will say something like, "Wait until you get to high school," or, "Wait until you get out to the real world." Here I am, still waiting for what they were trying to blow up into a big proportion.

The problem is there is not enough specific tiers of teaching for the great diversity of students and their ability to learn. Not enough teaching specialists. Too much grouping and simplifying classrooms among students of varying abilities to learn.

The problem is also that so much of the existing system is old, outdated. The United States is living in a huge tech era, amplifying the amount of resources that a child has to learn compared to the 90's. The lag to catch up is what is causing this statement of school being 'too easy'.

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♣Bloody♠ ♥Violets♦

Jul 10, 2012 11:54PM

As one of these students who isn't challenged, I can say that piling on homework doesn't do a thing. Some of us are more advanced than the rest in our grade, or the work and school in general is just too simple. Don't pile on pointless homework that's just as simple as the rest of our work, bring the challenge into the classroom. Try pushing us to think a bit more, and we'll pay more attention and get our fill of what we need to learn properly.

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makesnosense575

Jul 11, 2012 4:07AM

I don't think homework is the answer. Homework is usually busy work and I remember handing in absolute garbage that my teachers would then slap an A on. I learned quickly that it didn't take much to not just get through, but also get a good grade in high school. Most of my teachers' idea of teaching was to have us open up our books and have us take notes on the material; they were essentially babysitters who only got up and taught when it was to teach us good test taking skills so we could pass the state mandated standardized tests. I went to school in Florida and our entire curriculum, starting in the 3rd grade was geared toward teaching us to pass the FCAT, which was a joke. I passed high school with grades that don't reflect what I learned because just about everything I'm learning now in college (luckily with my grades I was able to get into a good one) I'm learning for the first time, things like American history, WWI, WWII, and studying literary classics that we had "no time" to read during high school. I did have a few teachers that knew the system was bogus and tried to actually inspire/teach us and for them I made sure to do my best (never once did I sleep... well maybe once) and I will always be grateful to those few.

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Ben W.

Jul 11, 2012 1:21AM

More homework!? BS. How is that going to challenge kids more? They need more challenging curriculum. Then the homework they do get will be meaningful. School is too easy because the average to smart kids are packed in with the idiots. No child left behind, right? So while teachers spend half of the class explaining something 3 times to some kid that should be in special ed, the rest of the kids are drawing doodles in their notes.

On another note, who honestly expects junior high history to be anything more than humdrum?

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Jeremy Fridy

Jul 11, 2012 3:59AM

Most homework is simple busywork. Assign Projects. Make them show they have actual mastery of both the subject and the skills to apply it, make them challenge their peers, then they will work and succeed.

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Caity728

Jul 11, 2012 1:55AM

As a student who found the vast majority of my elementary, middle, and high school classes unchallenging, I don't think more homework is the answer. Even though most of the classes weren't very challenging, I still had hours of homework in the afternoon. The thing was, a lot of it was busy work. Like the teachers were just trying to meet some homework quota or something by giving us tedious assignments that just re-hashed the exact same things said in class over-and-over again. Large amounts of homework doesn't force kids to focus. I'm sure there are some kids who thrive under copious amounts of pressure, but you can't apply that strategy to everyone. My honors English teacher in 8th grade assigned us papers due every single class. It didn't make me work harder; it made me (and most of the rest of the class) so overwhelmed that I stopped doing the assignments. It wasn't that I lacked discipline - I'm a straight A/A&B student; there were literally not enough hours in the time I got home from school to the time I went to bed to do her homework AND all the homework for my other classes too. Trying to fix the problem by heaping on more and more homework makes school challenging in all the wrong ways: the panic-attack-inducing kind of challenging as opposed to the mind-expanding kind of challenging that school is supposed to be. Don't get me wrong I also had some great, challenging-in-the-right-way classes, too, and I learned a lot in those classes, which only served to highlight the short-comings of the mediocre, busy-work classes. It's not the amount of homework - it's the CONTENT and QUALITY of assignments that need to be improved (not just of homework but also in-class work).

Anyway, there's my 2 cents. I hope all of that was reasonably coherent.

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JBizz

Jul 11, 2012 12:44AM

More homework is a horrible idea, in my opinion. If the content isn't more challenging, then all it is going to do is waste more of the student's time with something that isn't benefiting them. Instead, expect more from kids. Make the learning curve steeper, so there's actually incentive to work hard, pay attention, and hopefully get something out of school.

I remember back when I was in grade school. Around the 4th grade, I stopped being diligent about homework, so my grades suffered. My tests were always in the high 90% range, but my grades didn't reflect it, because I didn't do the homework, because it wasn't involving, and I simply didn't need it. I learned it in the classroom, practiced it in the classroom, and had been exposed to the same information repeatedly. It was ridiculously easy. (I actually had one teacher call my parents in for a conference and recommend that I don't get homework assignments, since I so clearly didn't need them)
That pattern of 'no homework but high test scores' followed me all the way to college. I often got low B's and C's, even though my in-class efforts clearly showed that I had a firm grasp of the content. Had there been reason to really apply myself, I would have gladly done so, and my grades would have reflected that.

However, in college, there's relatively little homework. The responsibility of learning and understanding the content is up to the student. Because of that abrupt shift from 'doing it all in class' to 'lecture the entire time, then go back to learn it at home', I struggled through my first semester. I was able to remedy it in subsequent semesters, but I feel that it wouldn't have been such an overwhelming transition if education remained challenging and engaging throughout each student's school experience.

My idea of a solution would be to split classes into smaller sizes, based on level of ability. That way, each group can be challenged at their own level, without completely overwhelming those that aren't as proficient at the topic. It definitely isn't a perfect solution, but it's certainly a lot better than "more homework".

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Kai.anne

Jul 11, 2012 6:08AM

I just came out of a very competitive and certainly challenging charter school. I can tell you that homework is not the answer. The answer is having teachers passionate about what they do and a government who lays off the standards. The more we standardize our education, the less engaging it is, and the more teachers are stuck worrying more about how to incorporate anything than how to challenge their students.

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New Report: Kids Say School is Too Easy

But don’t worry, kids, this report will ensure you get much more homework

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