Homework

[TheTerminator2004]

I'm lucky, college for me starts at 9:25, heheh :P

 

Which is, IMO, the optimal time for school to start. That, or 9:00, like in a real workplace, so they get used to it. :)

[Abramul]

A point that should be made is that homework need not be tedious, and quite possibly could be fun.

[TheTerminator2004]

I did touch on that in a previous post (here), but I think I focused more on the fact that it helped me learn than on the fact it was fun. Which, thinking about it, could well have been the reason it helped me- you always learn more when you're having fun than when you're not.

[ResidentWeevil2077]

That's absolutely true Schwarzenegger (get it, "The_Terminator"... "Ahnold"... "Terminator"... ah forget it :dry: ) Anyway, it seems that I only ever learn if I can actually touch something (tactile, as opposed to auditory or visual, although I also learn by listening or seeing), so I learn more if it's also fun to learn ("fun" is an "f-word" that teachers seem to despise more than the original F-word :rolleyes: )

[mat1]

Just to be a complete arse and go against the general theme of the topic - homework is vital and important - because of the way our memory works.

 

Homework is essentially a tool to ensure that we mentally review the work we did during the day to assist in transferring this from our short to long term memories -eg hard wiring it

 

Unfortunately most of the people who say things like "homework didn't help me" or "see I got good marks and I didn't study" tend to have high IQ so this process of shifting things from short to long term memory is easier, but when lower IQ's try it they fail. And lower IQ's tend to do less homework due to a lifetime of this type of reinforcement - hence drop out and get poo jobs.

 

Ninja Lord's comment about maths is great because maths is not an intuitive subject that can be reasoned via comprehension (ie language syntax), and requires practise to learn the process and procedures to solve a problem - thats why homework helped so much.

 

As for all those essays Rob mentioned (awesome new sig by the way) the subject matter of those was absolutely irrelevant - the point was to learn correct punctuation, sentence structure and syntax. Thats why you can't remember the topic. A somewhat abstract example is - I cannot remember where i used to ride as a kid but I remember how to ride - it was the action an formula (syntax and structure) that you remembered not the location (topic)

 

Welll I'm sure I'm going to cop it for that! :confused:

[HellKnightX88]

I agree with mat1.

I have an IQ of 140 and I rarely study for math or programing since it's something I like and I have an easier time understanding and retaining the teacher's explanations. History on the other hand I never really liked and thus I got bored during class and had to dedicate more time studying for the exams (luckily I'm at Uni now and I don't attend history classes anymore :D).

[ninja_lord666]

That's why I said homework should be given, but not be graded. Surely those with low IQs know enough to do the homework, or at least have parents that do. For example, in my chemistry class, there's this one girl who is completely lost, she doesn't know how to do anything, but she doesn't let that get her down. She may not be too bright, but she even stays after school to help her with chemistry.

[TheTerminator2004]

Of course, then we have the problem of parents not caring about making their kids do well, and thus not making them do their homework. Perhaps some kind of test at the beginning of the year, and the amount of homework each pupil gets depends on their score on that test (subject to change, obviously)? I can think of a number of reasons why that wouldn't work, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there anyway, to see what people think. :)

[ResidentWeevil2077]

@ mat1: BTW, thank you for the compliment about my sig (it's courtesy of Septim741, you can read this tread if you want one, I'm sure Septim can create something for you ;) ). Anyway, back on track, I can see the relevancy of homework as a tool for those who are having a helluva time trying to understand and make sense of whatever it is they are trying to learn at the time. And I agree that with ninja that it should be given (depending on whether how well one student is doing throughout the year), and should NOT be subject to grading.

 

@ Terminator: There's simply no way that could be feasible, and unless one wants to live in a dictatorship (IE communism, fascism), then there's simply no way parents can be forced to make their kids do well in school. Given the choice between two evils, it's always better to take the lesser of the two. In this case, it's better to let a few flunkies who don't care enough about their future go about their business, than to force them to do good in school against their will... Unless, EVERYONE doesn't care to go to school and get educated, then you'd have a whole other demon on your hands :ohmy:

[TheTerminator2004]

Well, actually many schools already set tests when you start school anyway, to see how clever you are, and whether you should go in top or bottom set, etc, so it wouldn't be that much different to simply use those results to decide whether you get homework or not.