Should home Internet access be an issue?

Understand the real-life costs of homework. Teachers seem to forget that time spent on homework is not as simple as they may assume. If parents get home at 6 with their kids, and homework requires a half-hour of whining, hand-holding, cajoling and general disruption to the family peace, that seemingly quick and easy 20 minutes of homework in a third-grader’s folder or an hour in a seventh-grader’s backpack robs the entire family of time together, dinner in a relaxed setting and a calm bedtime. Lahey, 3 things parents wish teachers knew.

I hated homework. In high school and college both. In fact, the only reason I majored in English was because reading literature did not feel like homework. It was something I would do anyway. 

So I'm happy to see there is something of a movement afoot to question/limit/improve homework in the K-12 schools. Alfie Kohn popularized this conversation with his book The Homework Myth (and subsequent articles) back in 2006- 2007. It's now making its way into real schools.

As a tech director I have a professional interest in this topic since all our 7th and 8th graders will be using iPads in a 1:1 project next year, an increasing number of teachers are using Moodle to provide course materials, and our computer resources are now largely cloud-based, not machine resident (think GAFE). All these things make doing homework problematic for the kids who do not have home Internet access, even when the school provides a device.

There is no simple or inexpensive way that I've found to provide Internet access to the 5-15% (depending on building) of the kids in our district. Districts are:

• providind wifi on buses
• extending school hours
• working with telcos to provide discounted Internet connectivity for families qualifying for FRP lunches
• leasing 3G/4G "hotspots" from cell phone providers and letting kids check them out
• putting district-provided WAPs in apartment buildngs with high concentrations for students without access
• working with public libraries to provide extended hours/adequate wifi access

None of these are perfect, many are costly, and none will completely close the access gap. 

So here's my question, if homework is as useless, even destructive, as Kohn suggests, just how much time. money, and effort should schools be spending on providing home Internet access to the small percentage of kids who don't have it? Should we instead be asking if homework is necessary at all - including that which requires the Internet?

Just asking ... 

Comments

[Jim Randolph]

Hear, hear!

[Kenn Gorman]

That, in my opinion, is a tough question...I personally would like to only give homework to those students who actually need it, not just a random assignment. This requires a much more detail view and assessment of each student which we all know takes time.

Having just taught three middle school history classes (for only the second semester) it was nearly impossible to convince the students and parents that a no homework night was possible.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Kenn,

Just too clarify, you got pushback from parents and students when you DIDN'T give homework?

Doug