The stacks of photocopied worksheets given especially in the early grades are useless in my opinion. We found that with some teachers, there would be no argument considered even when the book answer was blatantly wrong or another answer was equally plausible. These were often so simplistic, that my son believed there must be a catch. He would spend way to long a period on them either looking for a deeper meaning or by becoming easily distracted.
I really haven�t seen this level of busy work since 5th grade though (with the exception of one of my daughter�s classes this year where the teacher does rely on the multiple choice book tests).
The schools my kids currently attend report an anticipated 2-2.5 hours of homework per night. This includes study time, research for reports and presentations, writing papers, translations and working problem sets. I think this level of expectation and preparation allows the class to progress further each semester than it would otherwise.
Last edited by delbows; 11/19/09 09:44 AM.
