Take-home assignment: Your thoughts on homework

Doing homework
Autumn Watson does her homework in her dining room in Centreville, Maryland after class at Centreville Elementary on April 30, 2013.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Class: Daily Circuit
Instructor: Ms. Miller
Assignment: Multiple choice worksheet.

Circle the answer that best describes your experience or perspective.

1. Homework is:
a) A good way to teach material not covered in class.
b) Only good for reviewing material covered in class.
c) Even when not educational, useful in teaching kids study habits and the value of delayed gratification.

2. Parents should:
a) Help their kids with homework.
b) Leave their kids to do it themselves.
c) Observe kids to make sure they are doing their homework.
d) Send a note to the teacher when their kids don't understand the assignment.
e) Turn off the television.

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3. Homework should take:
a) Ten minutes per grade level.
b) Up to an hour per class.
c) Thirty minutes per night.

4. The danger of homework is that it:
a) Makes the achievement gap worse.
b) Punishes kids from struggling families.
c) Takes away from quality family time.
d) Teaches kids to hate school.

5. To help manage the homework load, schools should:
a) Get teachers to coordinate assignments, so that kids don't have seven or eight hours' worth of work on a single night.
b) Explore alternatives like the flipped classroom, in which teachers help students with assignments during the day and students listen to lectures via podcast by night.
c) Offer a daytime study environment for students who don't have one at home.

6. Parents who become deeply involved in their kids' homework:
a) Play an important supportive role.
b) Model good problem-solving skills.
c) Demonstrate the value of resilience in the face of frustration and difficulty.
d) Become exhausted, complain that the workload "is killing me."
e) Advocate for their children and let teachers know when the workload is too much.

(Answer code: Depending on which of the voices on Thursday's show you found persuasive, all of the above.)