I was reading with interest on an article from Guardian here on the topic of homework. It seems that homework was officially banned in French primary schools since 1956 but many teachers ignore this ban. Why the ban? The reasons were simple. The French parents think that homework is useless, tiring and reinforces inequalities between children.
Why is it useless? If the child hasn't succeeded in doing the exercise at school, how are they going to succeed at home?
Why is it tiring? After spending many hours in school, older children apparently often spend up to an hour each evening doing homework, and longer in the weekends. So it seems that school work becomes everything to a child and they have little time for other activities. Wait a minute. That sounds like working life too. Oh well.
Why it reinforces inequalities between children? Not all families have the time or the necessary knowledge to help their offspring. In fact, it seems like they are asking parents to do the work that should be done in schools during lessons. That is why some parents liken this to pushing away the responsibility of teaching to the parents.
On a side note, does homework reinforces elitism? Only those people with the money for expensive tuition can do well in school? Well, it does seem to look this way now.
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