On Homework: Busy Work

Ben Wildavsky:

Perhaps homework really is out of control in certain (generally affluent) schools and districts. But that would be a far narrower problem than the national epidemic these authors describe. Their books are best understood as part of a broader ideological struggle over the direction of American education. From his approving invocation of Noam Chomsky to his denunciation of testing and other accountability-based reforms, it's clear that Kohn sees homework as just one more instrument of social control. Even the valid points he makes (for instance, that the correlation between homework and academic achievement in some grades doesn't necessarily imply causation) are undercut by his tendentious approach. There's no small irony in a professional provocateur like Kohn accusing respected researchers of being "polemicists" who cherry-pick studies to buttress their preexisting views. Bennett and Kalish, though less overtly political, are just as apt to cast children in the role of an oppressed class.

It's a shame these volumes aren't more credible. Averages notwithstanding, some kids certainly do get buried in assignments of dubious worth -- and in those cases Bennett and Kalish's lobbying tips could prove useful. Similarly, Kohn's insistence that schools justify both the quantity and quality of the work they're assigning is perfectly reasonable. But in the absence of more persuasive evidence that American kids are plagued by excessive, rather than insufficient, academic rigor -- homework included -- parents and policymakers should look elsewhere for a nuanced and reliable guide to this eminently worthy subject. ·

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 11, 2006 5:56 PM
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