Rating: 
Summary: Authors! Authors! Sequel! Sequel!
Review: After nodding in agreement for the first six chapters, this elementary teacher waited for the big payoff: How can I get my own students to finish everything during the classroom day? The final chapter's title ("What's a Mother -- and a Neighborhood, and a Nation -- to Do?") should have warned me that I'd be disappointed. Their only example of a homework-free classroom is an experimental college-prep philosophy course. Yeah, that's real typical. I hope Kralovec and Buell make enough money on "End of Homework" to write a sequel for us working teachers. And Etta and John, next time ask your publisher to make the typeface a little bigger than 9 point!
Rating: 
Summary: Teacher, Parent and Counselor Perspective
Review: As a parent, teacher and Elementary Guidance Counselor all roles agree that homework is not a neccessity! As a parent, I see the stress and strain that homework places on my 13 and 15 year olds. I remember one instance where my son (maybe 8 at the time) came home with a ton of homework. I asked him what he did in school today and his reply was "nothing"... later at the kitchen table I discovered that this was true, cause his teacher had sent home a full days lesson plan for him to do at home. It has become ridiculous!!Between chores, homework and various sports activities, the children are downright wore out at the end of the day. As a teacher I believed it was equally important that a child PLAY and in my capacity as a teacher it as very seldom that I gave homework. As a counselor I see the stress it adds to others' families as well. Some parents have limited abilities themselves and are unable to assist with homework, and the ones that require extra assistance are often unable to get it due to lack of funds. With recent standards getting more stringent and restrictive I believe my office with see a rise in the influx of stressed children coming in. This is becoming a frightening trend. Homework is to be used as a reinforcement tool-not as a lesson plan in itself and certainly not to be used as a punishment tool. (Yes some teachers do this as well.) Until homework is once again used as a reinforcement we will continue to have a rise in stressed children.
Rating:
Summary: Teacher, Parent and Counselor Perspective
Review: As a parent, teacher and Elementary Guidance Counselor all roles agree that homework is not a neccessity! As a parent, I see the stress and strain that homework places on my 13 and 15 year olds. I remember one instance where my son (maybe 8 at the time) came home with a ton of homework. I asked him what he did in school today and his reply was "nothing"... later at the kitchen table I discovered that this was true, cause his teacher had sent home a full days lesson plan for him to do at home. It has become ridiculous!!Between chores, homework and various sports activities, the children are downright wore out at the end of the day. As a teacher I believed it was equally important that a child PLAY and in my capacity as a teacher it as very seldom that I gave homework. As a counselor I see the stress it adds to others' families as well. Some parents have limited abilities themselves and are unable to assist with homework, and the ones that require extra assistance are often unable to get it due to lack of funds. With recent standards getting more stringent and restrictive I believe my office with see a rise in the influx of stressed children coming in. This is becoming a frightening trend. Homework is to be used as a reinforcement tool-not as a lesson plan in itself and certainly not to be used as a punishment tool. (Yes some teachers do this as well.) Until homework is once again used as a reinforcement we will continue to have a rise in stressed children.
Rating: 
Summary: Another way to keep the lower class down...
Review: As a teacher of many years, I've seen a direct correlation between students who do their homework and succeed in life. I have to wonder what racial background these authors come from--one way to keep the lower class down is to convince them they don't need what is good for them. The key to successful homework is moderation--homework itself is necessary. How else are we to prepare our students for the workloads of higher education? If we do not prepare them, then we have truly done a disservice to them, they will drop out, and remain in the lower class. Look around--people who are well-off are generally well-educated and have worked hard for some portion of their lives. Homework is a way to build the kind of work ethic that will get lower class students out of the lower class. This book maintains the same attitude of the slave owners 160 years ago--don't worry about the [crud] you'll put up with in this life, and don't try to get ahead, you'll be rewarded in the after life. What a way to support the fatalism of the lower classes.
Rating:
Summary: Another way to keep the lower class down...
Review: As a teacher of many years, I've seen a direct correlation between students who do their homework and succeed in life. I have to wonder what racial background these authors come from--one way to keep the lower class down is to convince them they don't need what is good for them. The key to successful homework is moderation--homework itself is necessary. How else are we to prepare our students for the workloads of higher education? If we do not prepare them, then we have truly done a disservice to them, they will drop out, and remain in the lower class. Look around--people who are well-off are generally well-educated and have worked hard for some portion of their lives. Homework is a way to build the kind of work ethic that will get lower class students out of the lower class. This book maintains the same attitude of the slave owners 160 years ago--don't worry about the [crud] you'll put up with in this life, and don't try to get ahead, you'll be rewarded in the after life. What a way to support the fatalism of the lower classes.
Rating:
Summary: compelling and convincing
Review: As an educator for a decade and a half, I have always believed that assigning homework is an essential aspect of educating my students. It has almost come to a point where not assigning homework on a regular basis is almost unthinkable. Regardless, along comes a book that should make all eductators reexamine how homework fits into the overall education of our young people. The authors not only indicate that homework may not help students, they actually imply that it may in fact do more harm than good! This I find a bit hard to believe, but they do make a very convincing argument. Whatever your surface reaction is to this book, it would behoove all teachers to read this book with an open mind. It could transform you into a better teacher, or at least one with a greater appreciation for what students go through.
Rating:
Summary: Finally the Truth about Homework
Review: How nice to find a book that questions the value of homework. As the mother of three children, 12, 9 and 6 I have seen the damage homework can do to children's enthusiasm for learning and to my relationship with them. Children need free time to explore their own interests and to figure out who they are. Homework will not solve the too much TV and Video Game problem, but it will quell children's innate desire to explore their world and find out who they are.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth about Homework
Review: How refreshing to come across a book that questions the value of homework. As the parent of three children, 16, 13 and 10 I have seen the damage homework can do to children's enthusiasm for learning and to my relationship with them. Children need free time to explore their own interests and to figure out who they are. Homework will not solve the too much TV and Video Game problem, but it will quell children's innate desire to explore their world and find out who they are. "The End of Homework" takes a much needed critical look at the real effects of homework on learning and development and shows just how empty and unsubstantiated many of the claims from the "more homework" camp really are. Anyone with a stake in the current debate about how children use their time, the changes in the way they grow up, the shift in the balance of power away from families towards corporate institutions, and above all the role of homework in these trends should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Finally: Some rational thought on this subject!
Review: I am a parent that recently started homeschooling, in part because of homework issues. I've also had a website for several years about children who are labeled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and have heard from thousands of my readers. In our more competitive and affluent suburbs, 20% of the grade-school boys are taking medications for ADHD. One of the diagnostic criteria for ADHD is a child having trouble completing homework, or losing their assignments. This never used to be a problem with young children because they were never expected to do homework at that age. At our local public school they actually require 8 year old boys to maintain daily planners because so much homework is assigned. This is just absurd, and there is no objective basis for it whatsoever. It's a very touchy-feely issue. Teachers, and some parents, just ASSUME homework is good. There is no real logic involved. It bothers me a great deal when parents write to me and say "I think my child must be ADHD because I can't get him to do his homework - he won't sit still and then he loses it." Well, what do you expect from a 7 year old boy! Thousands, even millions, of children are being medicated partly because of this issue. The authors make a good start at arguing against homework, although there were several points I thought they missed. In any case, it is a good book for anyone interested in whether or not all that homework is actually good for the family. To illustrate how nonsensical the homework issue is, consider that my son's daily homework while he was at the public school was far below his abilities. When I asked the school to accelerate him because he was bored, I was actually told that children do not go to school to learn. And I was told that homework wasn't about children learning subject matter, rather, it was supposed to teach them how to be responsible. Just how responsible does a six year old boy need to be?
Rating:
Summary: My "Principal" Thoughts!
Review: I am an experienced elementary school principal whose children attend the school where I work. Being both a parent and a principal can make for some intrigueing situations working with teachers. I think these authors are very perceptive, write intelligently, and make numerous good points. While I may not line up with their arguments 100%, I believe they have the larger picture in good focus. I have assigned my staff this book as their "homework" from me. We will use it as a basis for a round table discussion on one of our inservice days this year. Just the title has everyone talking! I agree, by the way, with Joe Kowalski's review that the final chapter was a bit disappointing. That, unfortunately, will take some of the power and the edge off translating the authors' philosophies into concrete change within the schools.
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