Whose Homework Is It Anyway?

By: Carol Maxym, Ph.D.

For ever so many years I have been telling any parent I could get to listen to me to leave their children’s schoolwork to the children.  When I made such a comment, many years ago during an interview with a national newspaper (and I would tell you which paper if I could remember but I cannot), I can well remember the journalist’s eyes nearly popping out of her head.  If I remember correctly the story was quite controversial for the usual nanosecond of controversy that contradicts conventional wisdom.  

So how chuffed was I to see the article in the New York Times by Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris!  Vindicated!  Research substantiates the point that more involvement with your child’s school, school work, homework, and teachers is not only not productive, it is more often negative than positive! 

Here’s the link to the story:  http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2014/04/12/parental-involvement-is-overrated/?h=CAQEeKxe5&enc=AZO2epYKRmpHbAAgEc5nttcXiWk7faH7xymQ2thfmYrDGbvm6If6g2mJZWoEbCNaXQ5d_u6rMymrdSPHrJ6q775wv5DR4snUbagAfJvugkKQar0cLFnyNzV3CAhY0sggm99Qat69JwEl-h

I would add just a few thoughts to what Robinson and Harris have demonstrated with their research.  When they write about talking to your children about the value of education, I think what they are also saying is that raising your expectations for your child is likely to be helpful. Letting kids know that what they are doing is useful, purposeful, important for their future and that you expect them to work hard…that’s what they need to hear from you--not all sorts of superlative-lane praise.  Clear, concise statements that education matters will serve you and your children well. 

Intruding into the minutiae of what they are doing every day is not going to be helpful—it’s is more likely to be detrimental.  Common sense tells you that—now it’s substantiated by research.  When kids have ownership (skin in the game) of their education, they are more likely to care about it.

Why?  Because when you are checking to see what the homework assignments are, if your child has completed them, completed them to your satisfaction, etc., etc., you are simultaneously taking away your child’s ownership of his or her education.  Education becomes another way of pleasing you, annoying you, fighting with you, controlling you.

When my daughter was in 6^th grade, I had quite the fight with the school because I refused to monitor her homework.  I refused to read her homework assignments. She always loved school, so there was certainly and definitely no purpose in my intrusion, but the teachers were offended that I wouldn’t…well, intrude in my daughter’s education.  I remember one of them (whom I later found out didn’t even have a Bachelor’s Degree….h’mmmm) saying to me, “But you seem like such a concerned and loving mother.”  My answer then as it would be now:  “Yes.  And that is why I am not intervening or interfering in my daughter’s education.  This is HER education.  I have had mine.”

I’ll add a plea to schools and teachers:  Stop giving homework to little kids because there isn’t a shred of evidence that demonstrates that kids who start homework earlier turn out to be smarter, better educated, or better students.  Give homework ONLY when it clearly serves an academic purpose.  And a plea to parents:  Ask your school to leave off the homework until it can benefit your child’s actual academic progress.  Homework is NOT for creating parent-child time together.

P.S.  There is no correlation between when kids learn to read and their intelligence or how they will do in school.  We’ll talk more about that in the next few days.