[geeks] Education

[Gregory Leblanc]

On Thu, 2005-09-29 at 14:00 -0400, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> Me either, and I think that a lot of schools really do give too much
> homework.  They seem to think that throwing homework at the students
> makes them smarter, which is complete bullshit.
> 
> The majority of homework I had to do, and what I've seen recently, is
> mostly mindless, repetitive, busy work.  It's design to create assembly
> line mentality and compliant behavior rather than teach anything.
> 
> Better instruction in the classroom would eliminate the need for most
> homework, and would give the student a chance to create their own
> homework as they learn what they need extra study on.

What?  I'm back at school after having worked in IT for several years,
studying engineering.  No matter how good the classroom instruction is,
it cannot be taught at a pace that will fit everyone in the class.  So,
if they're covering it at a pace that suits me, some folks are going to
get left behind.  If the class is taught to the middle, some folks are
still going to get left behind, and some folks are going to get bored.
OK, so what's that got to do with homework, right?  Well, if the class
is being taught at your speed, you still need to do the homework in
order to make sure that you actually absorbed the material from lecture.
If the class is going too fast, you have to read the book and try to
pick up what you missed, then do the homework to really find out what
you didn't get, and get help picking up the rest of it.  If the class is
too slow, well, I've been known to do homework during lecture, so that I
can explain it to the folks who didn't get it during class.

> Burying students with homework is NOT education.

Agreed.  However, eliminating homework doesn't serve students either.
Almost nothing can be learned well without practice.  
	Greg