Burden of homework |
| IT WAS good to see someone finally | | and paying attention to the world around |
| standing up for children (Suzanne Moore, | | you are nearly impossible with a GCSE |
| 22 April). | | workload. |
| My own education was filled with the | | I don’t want to go out and do drugs or |
| ethic that you did your learning out of the | | rob people, I merely want enough time to |
| classroom. | | be able to be myself. After a six-hour school |
| What would I have done if I had been | | day I am already tired enough, but with two |
| from a household where there was nowhere | | and a half hours of homework the fatigue |
| in the house to read a book in peace? What | | floods my brain. Work, work, work! |
| if I had been one of the less fortunate who | | Homework! Is this a country or a company? |
| shared a room with several siblings? What if | | DAN McKEE |
| I had not had parents who could aid and | | (aged 16) |
| advise? | | Balsall Common,West Midlands |
| The line that children should be doing | | |
| more homework is not only a cheap fix to | | QUITE APART from it being a shame if |
| the problems the education service faces, | | children were not to have time to sit and |
| but it is also élitist. Children should not | | stare, that “idle” time is also developing a |
| have to rely on affluent parents, a quiet | | vital skill. Learning anything requires the |
| household and a small family to have a | | ability to reflect; it is what distinguishes |
| good education. | | learning by rote from true understanding. |
| R WHITTLE | | Whether your child is trying to work out the |
| London SW1 | | latest twist in a soap opera plot, deciding if |
| | the answer to everything is really 42 or |
| I FOUND Suzanne Moore’s article a breath | | working out why cold water is colder than |
| of fresh air. I play guitar and write songs in | | hot doesn’t really matter.What is important |
| a band, a creative pastime if ever there was | | is that they are thinking, analysing, |
| one, but homework seemingly robs me of | | developing the skill of reflection and |
| my free time and gives me no chance to | | therefore of learning itself. |
| play. I am also interested in politics and | | MELISSA HAWKER |
| philosophy, but simple things like thinking | | Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire |
| | | |
| | | 'The Independent', April 28, 1998 |
