Rating: 
Summary: A Good Cause But a Bit Long-winded
Review: This book concerns an important family issue which needs to be dealt with. The authors feel that excessive amounts of homework are overstressing our children and depriving them of family time as well as other out-of-school learning experiences. The authors defend their case well but go a bit overboard. Like most things homework has its purpose, its just being overdone at this point in time. This study drones on about the evils of homework to the point where it becomes counterproductive, undermining the credibility of the authors argument. It would be better received if it were focused on limiting homework rather than ending it.
Rating: 
Summary: Might be the first shot fired in a necessary revolution !
Review: This book might turn out to be the "shot heard round the (educational) world." After all, right up there with Harry Potter's "he-who-must-not-be-named", is that-which-should-not-be-mentioned: HOMEWORK! This is a book for parents, for teachers and for school authorities who think its time we started talking about the darker side of homework.I write this review as a father of four and as a teacher of, roughly, 125 youngsters each year. Under the former hat I've always found that my kids manage their homework load and doubtless "do better" in school because of the time they put into it. But wearing the latter hat I would have to absolutely agree that the authors, one a teacher of 12 years, have initiated an important and necessary discussion that needs to take place in America's homes, schools and legislatures. Every teacher I know understands that anywhere from one-fifth to one-third of the students we spend our days with do not have both pieces of the homework compound word. The schools provide the "work", the kids are supposed to provide the "home." But, at Kralovec and Buell make clear, so often "home" is, a sad and challenging combination of "dad's place Monday, mom's place Tuesday", or "mindin' my niece", or (in my rural district) a corner in a 60-by-12 trailer shared with five others and two televisions, or dodging bottles, or just trying to figure out what to do with so many sad or angry people in your life. We KNOW that if we took some metric like annual family income, or square-footage of home, or some measure of "intact" families and lined them up top-to-bottom next to grades or averages we'd find a pretty close correlation. A large body of research supports this fact. Would I say to my class, "Tonight I want you all to log on to the Internet on a high-speed cable link (this site has lots of great Java applets) and complete this online project. Email me your results. This assignment will count as 10% of your grade"? Of course not! I know that more than half of them don't have the technology at home. Could I say "tonight's assignment is to interview both parents to get their opinions about Vermeer. Only one interview means half credit"? Of course not! I know that more than half don't have two parents to interview! Should I, on a daily basis, remind those children of what's missing in their lives? Teachers in some schools notice that when they count homework as a substantial part of the children's grade, and some do, their "bell curve" turns into "camels humps" - almost half D's and F's on the "restriction list" and almost half A's and B's as "students of distinction." Should we just develop a list of "home risk" factors and save all the lies, half-truths, recriminations and heartache by giving students with two $6-an-hour working parents C's and those living with alcoholics D's ? That's too often how it works out. And that's just the rough stuff. The book does a fine job of extending the argument. After all, the adults in those non-homes are rarely together enough or self-confident enough to stand up to the educational establishment. Something will only change if the functional "homes" are being impacted by homework. They are. Kralovec and Buell frankly and compellingly point out the more subtle, negative effects of homework on more intact households: the inevitable disruption and lessening of family time, the shouldering-aside of other activities, other "learning" available in churches, clubs, neighborhood, even the elimination of play or simple, "down" time that most quite functional adults need and grab when they "veg out" with television after an exhausting day. The book is convincing in moving beyond anecdote to highlight the simple, startling duals fact that there is startlingly little educational research on the effects or efficacy of homework and that what research there is provides a very inconclusive base of results. There is no compelling proof that homework increases true student achievement, especially before high school. Imagine that. Moving from the kitchen table and the research, the third chapter in the book uncovers some surprising history for those of us younger than 70 or so. The history of homework is not at all one of wide acceptance. From the turn of the prior century to about the late 1930's there was a vigorous debate in the parenting press and even medical circles proposing the negatives of homework. It helps to realize that one is not really calling for revolution - only return to an older truth. It is at this point that the book steps up and shows that it is about more than just dumping some bales of tea in the harbor. This is not just a PTA-chat book. Kralovec and Buell take some time to discuss and analyze the "political economy" of schooling. They describe how so much of the homework "ethic" which, more than fact or history, drives the push for achievement and rigor through homework, derives from broader and deeper cultural and economic themes. The links to these matters and such large issues as global economies and competitiveness is not typical PTA material but, nevertheless, at the core of this discussion. It is here that some teachers and parents might start to detach from the book - especially if they are looking for simpler truths. I'd hope most would not because these elements truly do underlie any discussion of work or schools or their conjunction. Stick with it, though, because the book concludes with a nicely practical suite of suggestions for changing things; starting where all big changes start - with conversations between friends and colleagues. I believe they are fundamentally correct in suggesting that those of us who start such discussions will discover many, many folks who also think something needs to be done about homework. We just thought we were alone in that belief. Not so.
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