A newspaper headline today read "Three cheers for freedom from homework". Really? Three cheers? As if terminating board exams was not enough, CBSE affiliated schools in Bangalore have now scraped homework too. The kids are happy. Of course. But according to the news report, even parents feel that homework leads to no real learning, as it is done by either siblings or parents.
This is absurd! Parents realise that the problem lies not in the homework but in that it is done by them, and not by the child (most of the time). So is it their burden they wish to reduce or the student's? Some say that it is a repetition of the classwork. If it is, then the solution is not to scrape homework completely, the quality of homework given should be enhanced. For instance - give the student something to think about after class, something to develop new ideas, something that helps apply the knowledge learnt in class.
How relaxed do we want our kids to be, anyway? If school is so relaxed, how will they survive in college and life beyond?
i think these guys are trying to imitate Us schooling system which to be honest not the best in the world, nor is it suitable for indian mindset.
ReplyDeleteI feel that US secondary education promotes innovative thinking at the cost of traditional learning whereas in our country innovation is not as rewarding as traditional conventional knowledge.
So i find little value in this proposition
Hey anonymous :)
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if they are trying to emulate the U.S schooling system, because in the U.S, homework is still given. Education of any level - primary, secondary or tertiary should promote innovative thinking. Traditional learning does not necessarily have to be good...we should be open to better methods of teaching, if there are any. And for that, we need to change the Indian mindset.