It may feel like homework has been around since the dawn of man, but it is starting to become archaic for other reasons. Many teachers are easing back on homework in general, and realizing that it may not be as necessary as it was made out to be.
Education Could Be Evolving
A lot of schools are starting to take stock of their teaching methods since Covid-19, and realizing that they may need to make some changes. Schools were able to pivot to digital learning quickly and with fairly few hiccups, and it suddenly gave teachers and schools ideas for other areas of learning too. They saw that schools can change without there being huge repercussions or disasters. Schooling in general has not seen many changes over the year, and it may be due for an overhaul, including homework.
Kids Need a Break
What teachers are finding is that kids need more of a break. We often forget as adults how much time a kid actually spends learning at school every day. Five days a week of anywhere from 6-8 hours for older students is a lot of learning, and cramming of information. This in turn is already a lot, then they are given hours of homework for that evening as well, and usually more homework during the weekend. At the end of the day, children are not going to truly retain all this information they are learning on a daily basis, regardless of the homework they receive too. This means that kids (and teachers, essentially) are wasting more time and resources trying to cram and retain this information, just to forget it months later most likely.
It is better for students to really nail down their learning and lessons in person, where they can ask questions and clarify what they are learning. Since they are learning in a group environment, it can help them retain information better since they can interact with the information more with their teacher more readily available to engage them and discuss.
Homework May Go Out the Window
With all this information and seeing how homework is not really a true benefit for students, teachers are taking another alternative to homework. If they are able to engage them more in the classroom and better help them understand the information in school, the less students have to do at home. This can help students from feeling overwhelmed and avoiding stretching themselves too thin across academics, sports, and other extracurricular activities.
Katie Kyzivat