IMHO I don't disagree with homework. However in an education system that allows salaried teachers to reduce school hours without lowering their pay, and increase homework as a substitute is failing grossly. A child doing a 32 hour school week, should not be doing any more than 8 hours of homework per week. Anything over 44 hours for an adult (here in Canada at least) is considered overtime and cannot be forced upon an adult of legal age, so how in hell can it be forced on a minor without even parental consent?

I was regularly assigned over 16 hours of homework (2 hours a night, 6 hours over the weekend) after attending a 34 hour school week. That was 6 hours of mandatory work that I didn't consent to, and that was after several of my teachers stopped giving me homework (I understood math and science problems virtually in one go, by end of class I could be given a random equation made up on the spot by the teacher and get it right, so they quit giving me homework to save their own time).

It wasn't just the school year that was the problem. Once summer hit we'd be assigned 16-20 hour projects by virtually every teacher. Even on a full 12-month 44 hour per week standard, we were still doing far more work than an adult can legally be expected to do by an employer.

The local catholic school board to me, likely where any children I have will be attending (and where my wife and many of our friends attended) sets a maximum of 1 hour for all primary school children. Why this woman's children were receiving 4 hours a night is absurd and reeks of lazy and incompetent teaching. Sadly from my own experiences, I don't doubt it's true.