"Sorele, please help tidy the room!"
"But Mommy, I haven't finished my homework!"
*
"Hello, Ima. Could I have something to eat now? I want to go
play."
"Hello, Chaim. There's a snack for you on the table, but you
must do your homework before you go outside."
"But Ima, by the time I'm finished, it will be dark and there
won't be any time to play."
"Sorry, Chaim. You know that if you leave the homework till
later, it doesn't get done properly."
*
"Mommy, Mommy! Can you help me with this homework? I don't
understand what I have to do."
"Oy, Miri, I have to prepare supper and Moishy smells like
anything and I have to put the laundry into the dryer."
Miri bursts into tears. "But Mommy, if I don't do my
homework, I'll get into such trouble!"
*
"Mrs. Cohen, your son is suffering from excessive fatigue. He
desperately needs more sleep."
"I know, but what can I do? He gets home from cheider
at 7:00 and has to eat something and then he has to do his
homework. Then he needs to relax and play a bit and then he
has supper. So by the time I get him to bed, it's already
10:00. He finds it difficult to fall asleep unless he reads a
little and the following morning, he has to be up at 6:30 to
catch the car pool for shacharis. What can I do?"
*
Homework seems to be a time-honored tradition, but until
recently, it was only given to children in secondary
education schools, from about 11 years and above, and before
W.W.II in Europe, homework was never given in
chadorim.
Teachers give homework to supplement their lessons. The
assignments might be to review the lessons, to practice
skills given during lessons or to learn new material which
could not be covered in the lessons. Schools and parents
encourage homework because it helps keep children occupied
and off the streets. The obligation to do homework and home
projects also helps a child develop responsibility and the
ability to work by himself and use his initiative.
However, we need to be aware of some aspects of giving
homework which might be counter-productive. This article is
intended to be like the little insert which comes with
medicines -- to inform the consumer of possible counter-
indications which he needs to be aware of when taking the
medicine.
Homework extends the child's working day. Consequently, the
child might have a working day which is longer than would be
tolerated by many adults (especially if the child has to be
in school early for shacharis). Employers recognize
nowadays that avoiding a long working day is not simply to
keep unions happy but is necessary to reduce stress, minimize
absenteeism and sickness and to increase productivity.
Usually, teachers cannot customize assignments to individual
pupils within the class. Therefore, an assignment which might
be easy for one child might be difficult and stressful for
another. And stress can be a root cause for ADD/ADHD
symptoms. Often, responsibility for overseeing the completion
of homework falls on the mother, who might already have a
full workload. This can cause excessive stress on the mother,
which will affect the entire family.
The need to do homework might take time away from playing.
This can cause several significant consequences.
Playing is vital for many aspects of a child's physical,
neurological, social and emotional development. Therefore,
reducing a child's playing time can retard his physical,
neurological, social and emotional development.
Through playing, a child releases and burns up energy. If he
is unable to burn up this excess energy, he might find it
difficult to fall alseep at night and he might be restless
and nervous the next day.
Homework might take away from a child's sleeping time. Sleep
performs several functions which are important to a child's
proper functioning in school.
Sleep refreshes the mind, enabling a person to function well
the next day. A child who goes to school after insufficient
sleep is restless and unable to concentrate on his lessons.
During sleep, the brain organizes and consolidates
information and skills which have been learned during the
day. Therefore, if someone does not get sufficient sleep, it
will impair his ability to remember and utilize what he
learned the previous day. Additionally, recent research has
shown that if a person does not get sufficient sleep, he
forgets what he learned two days previously.
The need to do homework might prevent a child from doing his
share of housework chores. This might give the child the
message that schoolwork has priority over helping parents and
doing chessed.
Furthermore, his parents might really need his help and his
inability to help might increase tension in the house. It
might also prevent him from learning home and chessed
skills which contribute to sholom bayis when he gets
married and sets up his own home.
Therefore, indirectly: homework can extend the child's
working day, thereby increasing stress, absenteeism and
sickness, and decreasing productivity; cause ADD/ADHD
symptoms; excessive stress in the family; take time away from
playing and thereby retard his physical, neurological, social
and emotional development; prevent him from burning up excess
energy, making it difficult for him to fall alseep at night
and thereby making him restless and nervous the next day and
unable to concentrate on his lessons; impair his ability to
remember and utilize what he learned the previous day as well
as causing him to forget what he learned two days previously.
It can give the child the message that schoolwork has
priority over helping parents and doing chessed and
increase tension in the house. It might prevent him from
learning household and chessed skills which contribute
to sholom bayis when he gets married and sets up
his/her own home.
I do not know if gedolei Yisroel were consulted when
homework was first introduced into our schools, but assuming
that it does have their approval, we need to ensure that it
does not undermine the very purpose for which the homework
was given and for which the school was established.
