KIPS BAY — A public elementary school is abolishing traditional homework assignments and telling kids to play instead — outraging parents who say they may pull their kids out of the school.

 

Teachers at P.S. 116 on East 33rd Street have stopped assigning take-home math worksheets and essays, and are instead encouraging students to read books and spend time with their family, according to a letter the school’s principal, Jane Hsu, sent to parents last month.

 

“The topic of homework has received a lot of attention lately, and the negative effects of homework have been well established,” Hsu wrote in her letter, which was sent home with students.

 

“They include: children’s frustration and exhaustion, lack of time for other activities and family time and, sadly for many, loss of interest in learning.”

 

Hsu explained that the school spent more than a year "analyzing studies focused on the effects of traditional homework" and decided that it was more important for the Pre-K through fifth grade students to do activities that “have been proven to have a positive impact on student academic performance and social/emotional development” such as reading at their own pace and playing.

 

 

 

Elementary School Dumps Homework and Tells Kids to Play Instead - Kips Bay - DNAinfo.com New York

I'm not sure ALL homework should be done away with, but I have talked to many many parents who tell me homework has gotten outrageous. I have had some parents tell me of kids coming home almost every night with 4-5 hours of home work assignments. That's crazy.

I'll have to think about this one. My knee jerk reaction is I'm against it but once I thought about it I can see where it might be valuable. Kids are thrown into the mix so early now and are learning things in pre school that we used to learn in first grade. It may be that by giving them a little bit of a break in those first few school years they will turn out to be more well rounded people later.

There are about as many opinions on homework as there are people. The number one thing kids can do at home is READ! 30-45 minutes for elementary, 45-75 minutes for middle schoolers and about 90 minutes for high schoolers.

 

Diversify the reading materials with a 50/50 informational and literary genres and they will learn vocabulary, concepts and content. If the school doesn't mandate then a parent can.

We had NO problem with homework in my day. We all made fiends with a "brainiac", got to school early and copied off his paper. How hard could it be?

I agree that kids need to read more every single day.

i also can't stress enough that math can only be mastered with practice, practice, and more practice. I WANT to see my kids have 5-10 math problems to do for homework everyday.

 

There is this thing looming called the ACT. It's pretty important. And it's not going away.

KIPS BAY — A public elementary school is abolishing traditional homework assignments and telling kids to play instead — outraging parents who say they may pull their kids out of the school.

 

Teachers at P.S. 116 on East 33rd Street have stopped assigning take-home math worksheets and essays, and are instead encouraging students to read books and spend time with their family, according to a letter the school’s principal, Jane Hsu, sent to parents last month.

 

“The topic of homework has received a lot of attention lately, and the negative effects of homework have been well established,” Hsu wrote in her letter, which was sent home with students.

 

“They include: children’s frustration and exhaustion, lack of time for other activities and family time and, sadly for many, loss of interest in learning.”

 

Hsu explained that the school spent more than a year "analyzing studies focused on the effects of traditional homework" and decided that it was more important for the Pre-K through fifth grade students to do activities that “have been proven to have a positive impact on student academic performance and social/emotional development” such as reading at their own pace and playing.

 

 

 

Elementary School Dumps Homework and Tells Kids to Play Instead - Kips Bay - DNAinfo.com New York

 

YESSSS!!!

There are about as many opinions on homework as there are people. The number one thing kids can do at home is READ! 30-45 minutes for elementary, 45-75 minutes for middle schoolers and about 90 minutes for high schoolers.

 

Diversify the reading materials with a 50/50 informational and literary genres and they will learn vocabulary, concepts and content. If the school doesn't mandate then a parent can.

 

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again.

 

Growing up I had a little bronze statue that served as a doorstop of a little boy sitting and reading a book. On it was inscribed, "The child who reads is the child who leads".

My kids are in elem school and have about 30 min of homework a night.

I think a little bit of homework is good. It teaches kids how to manage their time.

It's funny, I hear all these horror stories about hours and hours of homework that kids are forced to do. But I've got three kids, all are/have taken honors AP courses, and I rarely see them do homework. All have scored well on the ACT (27, 26, for my two oldest, and a 24 for my freshman). I'm not here to spout on and on about my kids, or how great their school is (they go to/went to Scott which doesn't have the best reputation). But I've never encountered these homework issues, and Ive never seen a situation where they have 4-5 hours of work to do. I know they use a lot of their free time at school to get stuff done, and my oldest son occasionally gets up early to work on AP calculus. But for the most part they've got plenty of free time, and have never been overwhelmed. I guess my point is perhaps some of the kids who are burdened so much with homework could maybe be pursuing the wrong classes, or are enrolled in the wrong track. I understand there are basics and requirements that must be met, but I've said many times, that college isn't for everyone, and that perhaps, parents should be more focused on what is right for their child and not forcing them down the college route. I think that may be the root of some of the homework problems we hear so much about.

^Good points, @rjs4470.

 

Here is another thought on the amount of time to complete the homework---phones. Phones can be a huge time waster and distraction. Phones can easily extend 20 minutes of math computations into an hour plus.