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The homework wars.

Article Excerpt
THE American child, a gloomy chorus of newspapers, magazines and books tells us, is overworked. All spontaneity is being squeezed out of him by the vice-like pressures of homework, extracurricular activities, and family. "Jumping from Spanish to karate, tap dancing to tennis--with hours of homework waiting at home--the overscheduled child is as busy as a new law firm associate," reports the New York Times. The article goes on to describe a small counter-trend in which some parents are putting a stop to the frenzy and letting their children, for once in their little harried lives, simply hang out or, as one of the insurgent parents explains, enjoy an informal game of pickup.

What's this? A game of catch is news? And this is said to be sociologically significant? Something must be amiss in the state of childhood today. The common diagnosis is that too much work, too much ambition, and an absence of self-directedness are harming American children. In an influential 2001 article in the Atlantic Monthly, David Brooks, author of Bobos in Paradise, christened the overachieving American child the "Organization Kid." Reporting on the character of the generation born in the early 1980s, in which he focused on those attending some of America's most prestigious colleges, Brooks found a youth demographic of career-oriented yes-men, with nary a rebel in the bunch. Called team players and rule-followers, they are best captured by a 1997 Gallup survey Brooks cites in which 96 percent of teenagers said they got along with their parents.

In this hyperproductive, overachieving setting, a curious educational debate has broken out. The parents of the younger K-12 worker-bees are revolting against the reportedly increasing amounts of homework assigned their children. A major lightning rod for this debate has been The End of Homework, a book by Etta Kralovec and John Buell, whose argument found an appreciative audience in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, People magazine, and elsewhere. For a novel polemic against a long-established educational practice, such a widespread hearing suggests that the issue has struck a chord with many American families. Understanding the book's argument--its strengths and weaknesses--is not necessary to understanding the debate over homework, but it is helpful to understanding the overall tenor of this controversy.

The end of homework

What makes The End of Homework stand out is that it was written by academics. Etta Kralovec holds a doctorate in education from the Teachers College at Columbia University and, for over 12 years, she directed teacher education at the College of the Atlantic. John Buell, too, has spent time on the faculty at the College of the Atlantic. Now a newspaper columnist, the onetime associate editor of The Progressive has authored two books on political economy. In an afterword, the authors say The End of Homework grew out of a series of interviews with high school dropouts, many of whom cited homework as a reason they discontinued their education. This snapshot of homework's dire effect, unfortunately, requires much qualification.

Kralovec and Buell show little restraint when describing the problems brought on by the reported increase in homework. Attacking the proposition that homework inculcates good adult habits, the authors cite the historical trend in psychology away from viewing children as miniature adults, but then quickly lose perspective. "In suggesting that children need to learn to deal with adult levels of pressure, we risk doing them untold damage. By this logic, the schoolyard shootings of recent years may be likened to 'disgruntled employee' rampages."...

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