# Not doing your homework a misdemeanor?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [December 13, 2002, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626 "2002-12-13T22:30:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/21 "2002-12-14T17:59:49Z")
Jacksen9 wrote:
> [@](#):
>
> You may be shocked by the lack of parental involvement in matters relating to school.
Why would anyone be shocked? Some people put more thought into buying a car than they put into having a child.
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### Author:  [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/22 "2002-12-14T23:13:40Z")
I suggest that we scrap welfare for high school dropouts and let them either eat or starve according to the vagaries of fate.
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [December 14, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/23 "2002-12-14T23:45:40Z")
> [@](#):
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> Shool hours are way too short. This was my day in school five and a half days a week (Sat pm off):
>
> 9:00am 1:30 pm 4hrs class with 30 min break
> 1:30 - 2:30 1 hr for lunch
> 2:30 - 3:30 1 hr playground time
> 3:30 - 5:30 2 hrs class
>
> At that point you were free to go home with the understanding that you had a couple of hours of homework. Kids left home about 8 am and got back home about 6:30 pm which sounds reasonable to me. What is not reasonable is that kids get home much earlier than the parents and then waste their time at home until the parents arrive.
Hmm, that works out to about 5 1/2 hours of class, which is _less_ time than I spent in class from seventh grade onward. (7-hour school day, 1/2 hour for lunch, no other free time during the day.) We got out in mid-afternoon, but that was because school started at 7:30 in the morning. I don’t think the length of the school day is the problem.
I’d also take issue with the idea that any time not spent in school or doing homework is “wasted.” Kids need time to be kids.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/24 "2002-12-15T00:28:59Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by SandyHook \*
> \*\*Not doing your homework is actually a felony. Only there’s no arrest or trial. You just pay for it the rest of your life through reduced expectations.
>
> Not so long ago a good income with no education wasn’t that hard to come by. You could always get a good job at the steel mill/auto plant/GE factory/etc. But those days are largely gone now.
>
> Mr2001 wrote:
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> Yeah, kinda like real life. Try telling your boss that it’s busy work and you shouldn’t have to do it. Don’t be surprised if they agree and send you on down the road kicking tin cans and talking to yourself.
>
> Doing what your job requires (and if you’re in school that’s your job) is how life is. Get used to it. \*\*
OK, whatever you say Frank Grimes…
* * *
I find this situation absolutely ridiculous. What kind of message is the government sending by punishing parents that do not punish their kids?
**"Hey adults, WE ARE YOUR PARENTS"**
Alot of people that say they didn’t do homework but I **did not** do homework. I didn’t even do the little color by numbers things we were supposed to take home and do in kindergarten. Honest to god, I might’ve done 5 homework assignments in 13 years of grade school and that is no joke and no exaggeration. Should my parents have been punished for this? I guarantee you I got a better education than 99% of my peers, and it’s a documented fact that I had higher test scores than _over_ 99% of my peers.
I’m not trying to brag here, I’m just trying to make the point that homework doesn’t mean _anything_ and enforcing it in our courts is a ridiculous and downright scary extension of the law.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/25 "2002-12-15T00:38:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine \*
> \*\*Hmm, that works out to about 5 1/2 hours of class, which is _less_ time than I spent in class from seventh grade onward. (7-hour school day, 1/2 hour for lunch, no other free time during the day.) We got out in mid-afternoon, but that was because school started at 7:30 in the morning. I don’t think the length of the school day is the problem.
>
> I’d also take issue with the idea that any time not spent in school or doing homework is “wasted.” Kids need time to be kids. \*\*
\*\*Fretful Porpentine \*\*, if you do the math right that’s 6 hrs of classroom time and 2 hrs of homework. That was 44 hrs a week of work. And I agree kids need time to be kids. We had playground time and out of school time. But it is not good for kids to get home hours before their parents and just wait there unsupervised. Not good.
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### Author:  [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/26 "2002-12-15T00:53:15Z")
What’s the matter? You don’t trust kids to be left to themselves anymore? That’s the way it was, back in the day.
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### Author:  [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/27 "2002-12-15T02:05:49Z")
I second Blackeyes. The purpouse of public school is to provide an education to any who wants one. It’s not to babysit kids, or keep people who don’t want an education busy.
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### Author:  [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/28 "2002-12-15T02:52:50Z")
One hopes Jacksen9 is not a teacher.
“We have 25% or more of our students failing one or more class.”
“Ponchas Pilate”
“Stategy”
Particularly not an English teacher.
SPELLCHECK would have caught two of these mistakes; PROOFREADING would have caught all three–assuming that the proofreader is capable of recognizing what’s wrong.
I believe it’s really important for kids to do homework, because many things are best learned through repetition (I’m learning to play the guitar at age 53; the only way to get better is practice).
But I’ve seen assignments handed out by the current crop of education professionals in which the answers were just plain wrong. Arithmetic with wrong answers; spelling tests with misspelled words; geography lesssons which misidentified countries (Spain is on the Iberian peninsula; France is across the English Channel from England.)
Sheesh!
It almost makes you sympathize with kids who don’t want to do their homework…at least the History Channel knows how to find the Normandy coastline.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/29 "2002-12-15T04:15:33Z")
One must ask, how _legal_ is this?
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### Author:  [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/30 "2002-12-15T11:53:20Z")
AuntPam - yes I am a teacher. I am not perfect nor do I pretend to be. Thanks for pointing out my mistakes. I do not have the exact number of students that are failing. It is around 25%, it couls be slightly higher. Many of these students are failing more than one class. I think, but I am not sure, that around 10% of the failing students are failing two classes.
I mispelled Pontious Pilate. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
I made a typing error and typed stategy, instead of strategy. Good grief. When it rains, it pours.
Would you care to comment on some of the ideas that I shared or do you get more joy from pointing out my errors? It seems that your post implies that educators are the problem. I agree that we must take some responsibility. I would be interested in reading you comments regarding some of the interventions our school is using.
I am committed to my profession. I care about kids. I work very hard at what I do. I am proud to be a teacher. I think life is more enjoyable when you are not an asshole. Why don’t you try it?
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/31 "2002-12-15T13:54:42Z")
“Ponchas Pilate”? I thought his last name was Villa. “Ponchas Villa”?
jacksen9, sorry but you are out of line. First of all we do not call each other assholes in this forum. No matter what. Secondly you were corrected for mistakes that you made, which is only fitting in a board dedicated to gaining knowledge. And thirdly, the thread is about the sorry state of education these days so it is doubly fitting that you be corrected. You further admit you are a teacher and, while nobody demands perfection, I would expecyt a teacher to strive for greater knowledge and be more careful about making those mistakes.
While this is absolutely anecdotal I have to say I have met teachers who were totally unfit to teach their subjects. Some years ago I briefly dated a teacher of Spanish who was totally unable to speak any Spanish whatsoever. Apalling.
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### Author:  [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/32 "2002-12-15T15:22:36Z")
Sorry for being out of line. I made several unforgivable mistakes in my post. Thanks for pointing them out to me, again. I see a few typos from other folks in this thread. I suppose I should appreciate being held to a higher standard. Still waiting for comments about the strategies we use.
I didn’t realize I needed to “admit” to being a teacher. I am just a regular person. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed. There are many things I have little knowledge of. I am not an especially good writer. I am not that well read. I have never seen _My Fair Lady_ and I don’t remember much if anything about Pontius Pilate.
I thought this was an interesting way of talking about the culture of the high school. Do you accept failure thinking the weakest get what is deserved? Do you teach and wash your hands of the result? Do you insist that students learn and pester them to the point where they become so miserable with Saturday School, tutorials, guided study, etc that they make the effort needed.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/33 "2002-12-15T16:32:54Z")
I don’t have kids of my own so the discussion is a bit removed from my direct experience but I do believe kids sometimes need to be pressured into learning. The idea that learning should be fun and only fun is just cheating them. Sometimes thing take hard work. That’s life and the sooner they learn it, the sooner they’ll be capable of making progress. If you make them think life is only fun and doing whatever you feel like, then you are cheating them.
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### Author:  [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/34 "2002-12-16T00:29:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SandyHook \*
> **Yeah, kinda like real life. Try telling your boss that it’s busy work and you shouldn’t have to do it. Don’t be surprised if they agree and send you on down the road kicking tin cans and talking to yourself.**
I don’t know where you work, but **my** boss doesn’t give me work to do just to keep me off the street. Everything we do at work is related to making a product or providing a service that we can sell for money.
Now, if I go in tomorrow and the boss hands me a word search or a map of the United States to color, you bet I’ll tell him it’s busy work.
> [@](#):
>
> **Doing what your job requires (and if you’re in school that’s your job) is how life is. Get used to it.**
School is not a job. You apply for jobs, you get paid for doing them, and your work has a value in and of itself. If you don’t like your job or your coworkers, you can leave. Your boss is motivated by productivity, not test scores or keeping employees busy.
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### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-doing-your-homework-a-misdemeanor/142626/35 "2002-12-16T00:44:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Now, if I go in tomorrow and the boss hands me a word search or a map of the United States to color, you bet I’ll tell him it’s busy work.
I would promise him he’ll have the best damn map on his fridge of _any_ boss around. Yessir.
I mean, who wouldn’t mind coloring a map for work?
“Johnson! Get this map colored and on my desk before the end of the day!”
“But sir, only 8 hours?”
“NOW!”
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