lady, sit down, shut up and stop whining about your kid!

The BBQ Pit
1

i was reading the paper the other day, when i ran across a story about a board of education meeting at which a mother was complaining about the amount of homework her son brings home in elementary school. this stupid stupid woman actually said that all children excel in different areas, some are good at art while others are good writers. she asked the boe why kids are not just assigned homework in the subjects in which they excel.

is she freaking kidding me?? is it me, or is the point of school, especially elementary school, to learn a little about everything so you can function in society with at least a vague understanding of how things work?

this was the same woman who complained that her son’s backpack was too heavy. why not tell the little bastard to leave his walkman, gameboy, and pokeman shit at home?

when did this ridiculous overprotecting of kids begin anyway? i have wonderful parents, who if the need ever arose, would make a stink in public on my behalf, but my mom never cried that i had too much homework. what happened in the world that all of a sudden such importance was placed on kids. don’t misunderstand, i’m not saying ignore your children or lock them in the basement, but jesus christ, leave them alone for two minutes. kids are just too damn soft because mommy and daddy coddle them to death. if, and when, these kids are finally permitted to leave the nest, the big, bad world will eat them alive.

2

I agree with the op wholeheartedly. While a child obviously needs some guidance and supervision, its been getting really out of hand lately. The irony is that in trying to protect them, they actually screw them up more. As for an explanation as to when society began to adopt this inane behavior, I am at a loss.

3

I agree with you bibliophile. I am afraid that we are WAY too soft on kids these days. However, I think quite a few members of this board will disagree.

4

Heres a thread thats right up your alley Bibliophile.

Now let me run and get my fire retardant clothes. :smiley:

5

Can you really blame the kids if they can get away with it? It’s more the parents IMHO. I’m probably as guilty as the next person in wanting my son to have a better life than I did growing up so I over-compensated and gave him too much. Course now that he’s out on his own the real world has hit home for him. We really don’t prepare them for the real world.

6

Let’s see…

Complaining that kids should only get homework in their best subjects is silly. There are certain things everyone needs to know or to be able to do, no matter whether they have a natural talent for it or not.

But before I comment on her other two complaints, I’d want to know more details. How old is he and how much homework is he getting? Some schools have taken to showing that they’re serious about education by piling the kids with busy work. One of my nephews, for instance, is in third grade. He routinely brings home “worksheets” that mostly involve coloring. If he was supposed to read something, or do arithmetic problems, it would make sense, but coloring? Does spending a half-hour coloring pictures of rabbits really help him understand arithmetic?

Some schools also basically set things up so that kids are carrying every textbook home and back again every day - and more. I’ve seen the supply lists my friends are supposed to supply for their kids; we’re talking about separate binders for math, language arts, social studies, and science, and the kids are supposed to take the binder and textbook home every night they have homework in that class, which is pretty much every night. Four thick textbooks and four binders is a lot to expect a fifth grader to carry, along with his lunch, gym clothes, and maybe a raincoat or something similar, even if he doesn’t have a single personal item in there.

I’m not saying this mother isn’t a complete idiot - I don’t know enough about her or her specific complaints to say. But just because she isn’t willing to agree with everything the school says and does, does not mean she’s overprotecting her precious little Tyler.

7

Besides, wouldn’t it make MORE sense to give them homework in the areas they AREN’T excelling in, then they can practice and learn more?

8

Now, there’s constructive criticism for you. Schools now don’t allow Elementary schools up to some middle schools to have CD players, games, or cards at school. They are confiscated and given back at the end of the year, because they disrupt the learning environment.
I’m sure I won’t be the only one in here who will tell you that capitalization is your friend, and as Jester so nicely put it, “Won’t make you look like an ignorant assfuck after all.”
Anyway.

My sister is in the fourth grade, and she has a backpack that is heavier than mine. She has a separate textbook for each subject, Math, Social Studies, Language, and Science, and they are as large as my high school text books are. Elementary school kids have no lockers normally, and have to carry this home every day. She doesn’t get busy work that involves coloring, she getss busy work that involves math. She gets work in every subject every night, so if she doesn’t finish it in class, that’s 20 pounds of books or MORE that she has to carry, on her tiny 9-year-old frame. Kids aren’t being treated too softly, they’re getting more work than was handed out every day 10 years ago. I agree that the argument that the kids should get homework in subjects that they excel in is ridiculous, but then you go on to say that the reason this kid’s backpack was too heavy is because he brings too much personal stuff to school. Give me a break. I’m sure if you had any first hand experience with a child who is currently in grade school and got to look at how much work they get, you might understand more about the other part of her argument.
BTW, do you have a link for the story?

9

Got to put a plug in for the OP.

This is SCHOOL. They’re supposed to WORK. If you honestly think I’m going to cry because the kid has a heavy backpack…oh, for crissake! I highly doubt EVERY child has to carry EVERY book home EVERY night. In fact, at my youngest stepson’s school, there are books they can’t even take home – and believe me, we have not been happy about that because there’s stuff he needs to work on.

True, many schools do confiscate things – but if you honestly think they get everything, you’re nuts. Kids aren’t stupid; they’re not going to hoss out the Gameboy or the CD’s or Walkman or what have you if they think they’re going to get caught. Yes, some will. Many won’t.

As a former teacher, I don’t agree with busywork, but I have no sympathy for any parent who doesn’t think that schoolwork and learning should come before anything else Little Johnny has to do – including and especially computer time, TV time, cartoon time, extracurricular activity time, or what have you. That’s what they’re there for.

BTW, the OP reminds me of a discussion that occurred during a parent meeting they had at my eldest stepson’s high school for his AP History class. They passed out the syllabi and the expected course load (giving us plenty of warning) and explained how the class was going to work, a courtesy I appreciated. Lo and behold, can you believe some dickweed father stands up and starts bitching about how overloaded his little cheerleader daughter, Steffy, was going to be?

Waaaah. If she can’t cut the mustard on the courses, then don’t enroll the kid for the course, dumbass. Make precious little Steffy cut out her friggin’ cheerleading. But don’t expect the course to get dumbed down for MY stepson, who’s intelligent and motivated enough to actually do well in the course. I mean, it IS for college credit for crissake. I want him to learn. He wants to learn. If Steffy finds that incompatible with her wish to wiggle her ass in front of a crowd of football fans, then tough shit for Steffy.

If it weren’t for the fact that an ignorant populace is a tyrannical government’s best friend, I’d sincerely wish that we could cut out compulsory education and make education be a privilege again. Maybe that’d make some parents haul their heads out of their asses.

But with my luck, everyone’d just go on welfare and make it harder for the rest of us.

10

I hope y’all don’t mind if I just dash in, yell “Why not just get a second set of books for home?” and then dash out again…

11

Where’s the second set of books supposed to come from? In my experience, schools tend to have about as many textbooks as they need for the number of students they have. They definitely don’t have twice as many, so that each student can have a copy for home and a copy for school. The price would be prohibitive, especially considering the financial straits that many school districts are in these days.

Incidentally, I know that some school districts, in light of post-Columbine security concerns, have either eliminated lockers or have extremely restricted access to lockers (i.e., you can only go to your locker before and after school – not between classes). A few of the schools in the area I grew up went to a system like that. The result is that yes, you wind up lugging around every single one of your textbooks all day long and yes, it is quite heavy.

The homework issue…eh. Need more information. If it’s mindless busywork, I’m with the mom, although the idea that you should only do homework in areas you like is asinine, to say the least. If it’s your standard amount of homework that most kids get these days, I have no sympathy. Everyone gets homework. It’s part of school.

And regarding the OP, yeah, I was under the impression that one of the things kids these days were being taught in school was how to use proper punctuation. (Yes, I know, grammar/spelling flames are lame, but come on – posting a rant about the state of education today and forgetting to use capitalization? Give me a break.)

12

Second set of books is definitely near impossible. Class sets work if you’re lucky at my high school. With 2000 students? No way. Where would the money come from?

13

OK, first of all I apologize for my lack of capitalization, I’ll admit it, I was just being lazy.

I want to make it clear that I do not blame this woman’s son for her behavior. I would be as ridiculous as she is if I held a child responsible for the actions of his parent.

Unforuntately, I don’t have much additional information for those of you who have been asking, nor can I provide a link. This story was printed in a small local paper which only posts the front page stories online, and this one was on an inside page. All I can tell you is that this was an elementary school, and IIRC the child in question was in the fifth or sixth grade.

I agree that a second set of books is not possible. Taxpayers scream when they have to foot the bill for construction projects at schools just to bring the buildings up to code, I can’t see them agreeing to pay for an additional set of books so Johnny won’t have to wear out his backpack. However, I have recently noticed what may be a solution to the backpack issue. Lately I’ve seen a lot of kids with bookbags on wheels, similar to the small suitcases adults often use. Seems like a logical solution to me.

14

Um, Max? Providing some students with a second set of textbooks at home is a strategy used by many teachers for those students who are disorganized, “forgetful,” or plain ol’ devious i.e., “Oops! Sorry, Mom! I can’t do my Math homework cuz I forgot my book at school.” (Of course, this isn’t a plausible option for all kids, but for those who need it, providing a second set of books is a great idea.)

Back to the OP: Homework should reinforce the lessons learned at school. “Busy work” should never be assigned as homework. Oh, and the “rule of thumb” that some teachers use for the time spent on homework is “10 minutes per grade level.” My second graders, for instance, should spend no more than twenty minutes on homework. I ask the parents to immediately contact me if time spent on homework becomes a problem.

The reference to confiscated items made me chuckle. :smiley: When my students have been warned, but continue to be distracted by whatever li’l gadgets they bring from home, I confiscate the contraband and place it in the June Box. And yes, I return the contraband in June; I’m not that mean.

15

Lesse…10 minutes times 7 classes times grade 11 equals 770 minutes. That’s 12 hours and 50 minutes! Jebus!

There are classes where we don’t use the book every day. I just leave those books at home and pray that we don’t ever need them in class. In the past, though, my backpacks have been so heavy that they’ve ripped at the seams–in seventh grade alone I went through three backpacks. I also have to lug a violin back and forth to school, so that makes my load that much heavier. I’m not going to complain about too much homework, though. Just those damn heavy books.

16

Okie Dokie… Silly me…
Lesse…10 minutes times 7 classes times grade 2 equals 140 minutes. Um… 60 plus 60 equals 120… um… lemme see here… so my second graders have about 2 hours and 20 minutes of homework every night. Yep… that seems about right.

Gosh, I’m such a ditz! Thanks for setting me straight!

17

Won’t sombody please think of the children???

Or did someone already say that?

18

flodnak, I am completely mistified by the separate binders thing. A separate looseleaf binder for each class? What possible point could there be in that? Why not one binder with dividers? If a binder gets too full to hold more pages, you simply take the earlier pages out and file them at home. You surely don’t need to carry the whole year’s worth of binder content back and forth with you every day.

But it seems unlikely to me that a normal looseleaf binder would get too full to hold more pages, even if used for all of one’s classes. A standard binder holds a lot of pages.

When I was in school, the normal thing was to have a small spiril bound notebook (about 3x5 inches) in which to write down assignments, plus a looseleaf binder holding standard, lined paper. The latter’s sole use was for taking notes. Are binders now being used for other purposes?

19

My teachers require separate divisions for each class. For instance, in English we need a section each for journals, class notes, homework, archives, essays, AP help, and reading notes (different than class notes). My teacher takes a grade on the binder from time to time, so one must have all of these components. I agree, though, it’s ridiculous.

20

The twins had homework in elementary school, it averages 45 minutes worth every day and i believe it started in 2nd grade. Nina had a lot of trouble with hers, and eventually she was spending four hours on bad days doing this work. I know she was having trouble with math, and english.
My cousin K was being given homework in 1st grade, math worksheets and science stuff, she also had a list of 25 spelling words to study every week. I do not recall how much time she usually spent on it.