General Knowledge

The Growing Movement Against School Homework: A Major Mistake!

At a time when school achievement is declining rapidly, and America’s schoolchildren are demonstrating less and less general knowledge of all areas of learning at all grade levels, a movement is on to cut back, and in many cases, end school homework, and that is a major mistake!

Of course, children do not like homework, anymore than most people love going to work daily. But that is not the point to be considered!

Homework assists learning, and with the school day and year as short as it is, and so much time wasted in school as it is, homework becomes even more important to teach work habits, and to promote basic skills and acquisition of general knowledge.

It is all good and fine that parents assist children in sports, music, and other social activities outside of school.

It is also good that children should have some time for themselves and to do what they want in their spare time.

But in order to promote deeper thought and analysis skills, a substantial commitment to homework, but challenging work that requires real involvement in use of computer research, is essential.

Children must learn that computers and technology are not just for social media and playing video games, but also for real acquisition of general knowledge in all areas of the curriculum to create a work ethic for adulthood!

The Education Problem NOT Being Addressed: The Reality Of Life

The education system in the United States is in crisis for many reasons, including funding shortages, recruitment and retention of teachers, and performance levels of students.

But one issue is often ignored, and that is due to standardized testing, which only monitors basic English and Math levels, rather than a broad based education.

Students at all levels from elementary through middle through high school, and into the college and university level, lack a general knowledge base.

When they are encouraged to read, they usually engage in fiction reading, which is fine and good, but inadequate training for life.

What is short changed is learning about the world around them in reality, rather than fantasy. They already gain enough fantasy from video games, and while reading fiction is important, it is not enough to deal with the realities of life.

Students need to develop language and communication skills, which require the learning of factual knowledge about science, history, public affairs, and the arts. They emerge as adults with basically a blank slate of awareness, and poor language and communications skills.

To make things worse, students spend inordinate amounts of time online on social media sites, which isolates them further from reality and in mastering important skills to succeed in life and at work and in relationships with other human beings.

So emphasis on nonfiction reading is essential in order to prepare students for the world they will live in!