We’ll I’m just sitting here piled up with work and the thought came to my mind that maybe, just maybe, there could be some sort of law hidden somewhere that says students can only do a certain amount of homework each night or something like that. I guess i’ve always dreamed of finding that law somewhere, printing it out and then showing it to my teachers and hearing what they have to say. 
I guess there would be a difference between public and private schools (since you aren’t forced to go to a private school, but you are for public schools), but don’t you think labor laws could tie into this somehow? What is really the difference between a bunch of kids working in a factory and getting tired, overworked and stressed out, and a bunch of kids going to school and not getting enough sleep and getting stressed out from homework etc? Anyway, I just want an excuse to not do all this work i guess 
Thanks.
Do your homework. It’s good for you.
Just like vegetables.
The amount of homework my kids are forced to do is insane. They get a good 1.5 to 2 hours per night.
When I was in high school and junior high, we didn’t have much homework, and what little we did have we could get done in study hall. In fact, that is what study hall was for, catching up on your homework.
It’s absolutely crazy…if there isnt some magical law…well, shouldnt there be? Some nights I have up to 3 hours of homework. I feel a mental damage lawsuit comin on here…
I agree. It is insane. Why bother even teaching the students if they’re essentially teaching themselves at home?
In my school I’m one of the masochistic crowd that takes AP (Advanced Placement) classes that are supposed to be college courses and give you college credit. This is another one of those volunteer cases, but people always complain anyway.
And whenever I feel that all the homework is unfair…I don’t do it. No laws needed.
Hermann, when you and I were in school, there WAS such a thing as “study hall”. In several of my years of public education, I had an hour or so in class where I was not expected to do much of anything except not raise hell. Nothing was being taught. I did my homework there, and then would break out a paperback or something.
Nowadays, “study hall” is not trendy in education. It’s considered a waste of teaching time, particularly since someone has to oversee the little buggers, and more likely than not, it will be a teacher… who is getting paid teacher wages… to sit there, make everyone behave, and not teach.
Study Hall is not quite dead yet, but it’s a LOT less prevalent than it was when I was a younker. Particularly in those AP schedules that Megan is talking about.
ROTF Laughing My Freakin Ass Off…
Do your homework kid and hopefully you’ll do better than me and never really know what 12hrs (or more)of hard physical labor is really about…
Oh BTW I think there’s a slight difference between homework and being tied to a manual loom since age 5…
Suck it up. How many hours a night do you think we spend dreaming up those stupid assignments, then marking the crap you guys submit? If you really want to purge your bitterness, become a teacher!
BTW you are voluntarily going to school (providing you are over the min age to work in Virginia) and can therefore legally quit at any time.
In Washington, you are required to be in school until you complete high school, or complete the GED.
The answer to your question will probably depress you even more. The reason that it’s legal to assign so much homework is that you aren’t getting paid for it! (Since therefore it isn’t employment, and isn’t covered by child labor laws.)
I don’t think there is any way for a school to adequately prepare a student for attending a competitive four-year college without giving them several hours worth of homework per night.
Wait 'till you get to college, assuming you’re college-bound. Then you’ll be HAPPY that you know how to handle two or three or four hours worth of homework a night, because sometimes you WILL need to.
Now if you’re headed for trade school, it is a different game, I suppose.
Homework got ya down? There’s only one solution.
Tune in, turn on, drop out.
/Floyd on
We dont need no edumacashon…
/Floyd off
If you really think your homework is excessive, you might try talking to your parents and your teachers about it in a calm, mature kind of way. Analyze what type of homework you have (is it something that you were given specifically to do at home, or is it work that didn’t get finished in class, etc.) and try to find out if other students at your grade level have about the same amount of work. Look at your study habits and your workspace. Are there distractions in the room where you’re trying to study that might be taking your attention off your work? You aren’t trying to do homework in front of the TV or the computer, are you? And please tell me you’re not on the internet or even signed on to AIM while you’re studying. Try to think objectively about why your homework takes so long, and ask your teachers if the amount of time you spend is about what they expect, or if it’s taking longer than they estimated. Don’t just complain about your homework; try to find ways you can work this out to your and your teachers’ satisfaction.
[mom mode]Oh, and do your homework. Did you get all your reading done before you turned on that TV?[/mom mode]
The current trend in education is to load on the homework, for no particular reason other than that educators are just chicken littles running around with their head cut off (they keep crying the sky is falling, and run around in a completely disorganized fashion).
Somehow older students managed to learn enough to get into college without the insane amount of homework that gets assigned. I used to have about an hour or two a night; my daughter has about three. It’s not better education; it’s merely trend following.
And, you know what? In another three or four years educators will suddenly decide that having too much homework is bad for kids and will begin to reduce the amount. That’s because educators never stick to any plan for educating kids for more than five years.
I seem to remember once making the argument to my assistant principal that going to school violated my right to ‘pursue happiness’. He was spectacularly unimpressed. But amused, thank God.
So does everyone think when American school (seemingly inevitably) goes to 12 months per year we’ll see an end to homework?
Interestingly enough, my (ex) mother-in-law teaches AP Biology. She’s been increasingly frustrated over the years as the school system has struggled to hold on to its ‘exemplary’ status - and one of their methods of doing so is to reduce the requirements of a course to absolute bare-level minimums. The requirements for her AP Biology course (she says) are now lower than the requirements for REGULAR level Biology was three years ago…
Maybe your teachers are setting their own requirements (without being allowed to test on the knowledge they’re trying to pound into your head)?
On the flip side of that, I have a kindergartener… she has homework. I didn’t have homework in kindergarten! I get off of work at about 6 o’clock in the evening, I pick her up before 6:30 and we’re home by 7:00. Between 7:00 and 9:00 somehow we have to fit in dinner, bath, and about an hour’s worth of homework… and I still get the impression that I’m not ‘doing enough at home.’ It’s incredibly frustrating!
But, for the OP (as stated above) there are no laws preventing it!
Oh I hope so! Or at least if not an end, a little more of a balance…
Hmm…
A follow up question here…
When does everyone think school will expand hours to fit hte regular american schedule. Currently in my country the regular school day is 8 or 8:30 to 3 or so. When do we go to 8 - 5?