Re:Calgary couple fight their children's school to stop home...
by pyre on Thursday November 19, 2009 @01:27AM
(#949846)
> But when Amanda Cockshutt's middle child, Malcolm, was asked by his Grade 7 English teacher to write five pages a week on his feelings about a book, the biochemistry professor told the school bluntly: “He is not doing that.”
> The teacher tried to justify the assignment, but the clincher for her, she says, was that other than a cheering word of praise, the teacher wasn't even correcting the mistakes
> When she was told she would have to teach her son cursive writing because there was no time at school, she never opened the book.
I know some people will chime in to say that kids have it 'too easy,' but it looks like in some cases here the kids are getting 'busy work.' If the teacher isn't even grading the work, then what is the point? If the teacher is giving the kids more work then he/she could possibly grade, then there is a disconnect somewhere that is to the children's detriment. If a kid is supposed to be writing 5 pages per week, and none of it is getting corrections from the teacher, then what is the child learning? I know that homework is supposed to be 'practice' in a lot of cases, but without corrections there's no point.
> The teacher tried to justify the assignment, but the clincher for her, she says, was that other than a cheering word of praise, the teacher wasn't even correcting the mistakes
> When she was told she would have to teach her son cursive writing because there was no time at school, she never opened the book.
I know some people will chime in to say that kids have it 'too easy,' but it looks like in some cases here the kids are getting 'busy work.' If the teacher isn't even grading the work, then what is the point? If the teacher is giving the kids more work then he/she could possibly grade, then there is a disconnect somewhere that is to the children's detriment. If a kid is supposed to be writing 5 pages per week, and none of it is getting corrections from the teacher, then what is the child learning? I know that homework is supposed to be 'practice' in a lot of cases, but without corrections there's no point.