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Los Angeles gives up on homework
Los Angeles Times ^ | June 27, 2011 | Howard Blume

Posted on 06/27/2011 8:13:40 AM PDT by van_erwin

Vanessa Perez was a homework scofflaw. The Marshall High School senior didn't finish all of it — largely because she worked 24 hours a week at a Subway sandwich shop.

Alvaro Ramirez, a junior at the Santee Education Complex, doesn't have his own room and his mother baby-sits young children at night. "They're always there and they're always loud," he said, explaining his challenges with homework.

The nation's second-largest school system has decided to give students like these a break. A new policy decrees that homework can count for only 10% of a student's grade.

Critics — mostly teachers — worry that the policy will encourage students to slack off assigned work and even reward those who already disregard assignments. And they say it could penalize hardworking students who receive higher marks for effort.

Some educators also object to a one-size-fits-all mandate they said could hamstring teaching or homogenize it. They say, too, that students who do their homework perform significantly better than those who don't — a view supported by research.

But Los Angeles Unified is pressing forward, joining a growing list of school districts across the country that are taking on homework — including Fontana and Pleasanton, N.J. In many districts, limits are being placed on the amount of homework so students can spend more time with their families or pursue extracurricular activities like sports or hobbies. The competition to get into top colleges has left students anxious and exhausted, with little free time, parents complain.

In Davis, a policy that took effect this year specifies homework maximums, with some exceptions for advanced courses. And it prohibits assigning homework over weekends and holidays while also addressing the quality of the assignments.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: 6hoursareenough; education; homework; lausd; learning; slackers; surrender; teaching
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To: van_erwin

“In many districts, limits are being placed on the amount of homework so students can spend more time with their families or pursue extracurricular activities like sports or hobbies. “

Activites such as flash mobbing, hobbies like video games, street basketball?

LA gives up on education.
LA gives up on students being able to get any job.


21 posted on 06/27/2011 8:44:45 AM PDT by FreedomGuru
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To: van_erwin

In the early ‘70s I worked three hours (3 - 6) every afternoon after school, and another 16 on Saturday and Sunday at a Sunoco service station. Somehow, I got all my homework done in a house full of noisy siblings. (No, I didn’t have my own room, lol.)


22 posted on 06/27/2011 8:45:13 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: van_erwin
Vanessa Perez was a homework scofflaw. The Marshall High School senior didn't finish all of it — largely because she worked 24 hours a week at a Subway sandwich shop. Alvaro Ramirez, a junior at the Santee Education Complex, doesn't have his own room and his mother baby-sits young children at night. "They're always there and they're always loud," he said, explaining his challenges with homework.

Why is the LA Times only picking on Hispanics? Can't they find some Asian examples?

23 posted on 06/27/2011 8:46:54 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: van_erwin

When I was in high school,we had study halls, and this ensured that we all did a minimum amount of homework per day. Today, they load-up students’ time with too many junk courses to allow for study halls.


24 posted on 06/27/2011 8:49:32 AM PDT by Socon-Econ (Socon-Econ)
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To: So Cal Rocket
"How long before the grades will be based on:

Homework - 5%

Classwork - 5%

Tests - 5%

How well the students feel about themselves - 85%"

You need a couple of additional categories: Marching against The Man (Wisconsin) and Marching for La Raza (California).

25 posted on 06/27/2011 8:51:09 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: van_erwin

Where was this rule when I was in school. Homework and I never got along, but I aced all my tests. The combination of nearly zero homework done and A on all my tests squeaked me through school, with this rule I’d have gotten Bs.


26 posted on 06/27/2011 8:55:00 AM PDT by discostu (Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn)
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To: Sprite518
“Vanessa Perez was a homework scofflaw. The Marshall High School senior didn’t finish all of it — largely because she worked 24 hours a week at a Subway sandwich shop. “

24 hours a day, and they might have a point.

27 posted on 06/27/2011 8:58:44 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Until Obama, has there ever been, in history, a Traitorous Ruler?)
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To: van_erwin

But how will they be prepared for the challenges of all the green jobs that are being “created”?


28 posted on 06/27/2011 9:01:19 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal The 16th Amendment!)
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To: discostu

I was the same as you. I despised having to do busy work once I already knew the material. Aced all the tests, refused to do homework. Had a 2.8 graduating High School because of it. With this rule, I would have had at least a 3.5.


29 posted on 06/27/2011 9:01:19 AM PDT by Anitius Severinus Boethius
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To: Vigilanteman
I needed a chemistry class for my entrance requirements to UCSD. I had to ditch the band 9 weeks into the first semester to get into the chemistry class. My dad counseled me to go through the book cover to cover to make sure I was caught up. I finished the book cover to cover including all the exercises at the end of each chapter in 3 weeks. The teacher didn't touch 10% of the material all year. I was a sophomore in a classroom of juniors and seniors. Easy A. That effort made my college chemistry classes a breeze. It's really not about the quality of the teachers. It's the effort you exert as an individual. If you're not making the effort, the best teacher on earth won't make any difference.

My middle son had incompetent teachers. He studied the material, conducted evening review sessions for his fellow students who cared enough to study and substituted for the seat warmer paid by the school district when that "teacher" was totally incapable of conducting the class. I reviewed his compositions for English classes after the "teacher" had "graded" the work. Inexcusable. Spelling errors and grammatical errors were not flagged. I held his feet to the fire. It made a difference.

The Vietnamese kids seemed to do much better than their peers at school. Why? Their parents required them to sit down at the kitchen table and complete their homework before they could "play" after school. My parents had the same rule, but didn't supervise the effort. The honor system was good enough for me.

30 posted on 06/27/2011 9:01:28 AM PDT by Myrddin
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To: van_erwin
I've always found it laughable that ANY portion of a grade would result from whether homework was done.

Grades in High School and College should be the result of test scores alone.

31 posted on 06/27/2011 9:02:17 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Sprite518

I was just like her as a teenager. Of course, I was taught more working for McDonald’s and Subway than at school. Most of my homework was mind numbing and repetitive. on the other hand, I was an assistant manager by the time I was 18. Most homework serves little to no purpose besides repetition. If a student can pass a test on the subject, that is the true measure of their knowledge of the subject.


32 posted on 06/27/2011 9:02:38 AM PDT by Angry_White_Man_Syndrome
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To: Vigilanteman

Education or learning? I always did most of my learning by reading, just not usually text books. Most of the “school” stuff I learned was just from in class. Homework always felt boring and repetitive to me, I’d already learned it and didn’t feel a need to keep writing it down, and the more A’s I got on tests the less interested I was in homework.

I think what really killed me was when my Jr High English class entered the mythology section of the course. Not even sure why we were learning Greek mythology in English class but I’d just finished obsessing on mythology, having read pretty much every single book on it our public library had, including the book that was handed out to us. That lead to a month long nap, and my figuring out that I could learn on my own. After that for me school became about proof not about learning.


33 posted on 06/27/2011 9:03:44 AM PDT by discostu (Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn)
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To: So Cal Rocket

I thought ‘showing up was 90% of life’. I guess, in LAUSD, it’s even more than that.


34 posted on 06/27/2011 9:04:05 AM PDT by Ro_Thunder (I sure hope there is a New Morning in America soon. All this hope and change is leaving me depressed)
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To: van_erwin

“Some educators also object to a one-size-fits-all mandate they said could hamstring teaching or homogenize it.”

Yet the praise the same approach to health care and net income.....


35 posted on 06/27/2011 9:05:13 AM PDT by CSM (Keeper of the "Dave Ramsey Fan" ping list. FReepmail me if you want your beeber stuned.)
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

Not that I don’t acknowledge the usefulness of homework in the learning process. When I didn’t understand stuff in class I would do the homework, it was having to do the homework when I actually got it in class that irritated me. I was never interested in chasing points, I had books to read.


36 posted on 06/27/2011 9:11:38 AM PDT by discostu (Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn)
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To: van_erwin

Personally, I have little regard for homework; it’s almost always mindless busy work that turns kids off to learning.


37 posted on 06/27/2011 9:11:57 AM PDT by americanophile ("this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin, is a rotting corpse which poisons our lives" - Ataturk)
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To: freeangel

I remember a woman caller to Dr. Laura saying how she told her boss that she had ADHD and if he can forget about her meeting a project deadline.


38 posted on 06/27/2011 9:12:46 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: Vigilanteman

Best teacher I ever had was a stats professor in college. We had our first test covering the first two chapters of the course materials on the third day of class.

He stood up in front of the class and said anyone with less than %70 on that test should just go drop his class and stop wasting his time.

I was sick when I took the test and scored a 49. He made me mad. I said to myself I’ll show that SOB. I dug down like I had never had to dig before. School had always been easy for me. I passed that class with an A. I never missed more than 2 point on any other exam or assignment.

The funny thing was about halfway through the class I realized what a great teacher he was and his motivation for saying what he said that day. It turned in to one of the best classes I had and it was a fun challenge as well.

To this day I remember my stats well!


39 posted on 06/27/2011 9:17:47 AM PDT by Syntyr (Happiness is two at low eight!)
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius
I squeaked by HS with a 2.2 GPA due to my hate for homework and English. However, I went on to graduate college with a 3.89 while working full time supporting my wife and daughter. Thankfully, most Engineering Professors counted homework for little or nothing toward your grade. Even the homework given was not repetitive. Some of the problems took an hour plus to work but they were not a waste of time.
40 posted on 06/27/2011 9:19:10 AM PDT by Angry_White_Man_Syndrome
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