I admit I'm way too far away from the algebra assignment as a student and not there yet as a parent, so I couldn't judge that at all.
But wasn't it that, plus 79 pages of reading and the pull quotes, plus studying multiple irregular Spanish verbs, plus Earth science reading? (Might be remembering wrong.)
So we're saying if you can't do that in...what do we think is reasonable? I think an hour, hour and a half is reasonable for 8th grade, even pushing it--you're not college prep material?
15 minutes for math, 20 minutes to study Spanish, 60 minutes for 79 pages of reading and pull quotes, 20-30 minutes for the science...hmm. (Or do we think this should be less? How much less? How lightning-fast are these kids required to be?)
It's also important to keep in mind that, of course, the school day IS long and arduous in mutiple ways for most kids. I don't really mean intellectually. But my DD is sort of cooked when she gets home, which is why HW tends to drag on some days. That's why the HuffPo piece is so funny.
