Why don't schools simulate a typical 9 to 5 work week for students and remove homework entirely?
I know this is typical for the US so this is more for US people to respond to. I wouldn't say that it is the best system for work, just wondering about the disconnect.
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I don't think school should emulate work.
Learning (well) isn't easy, attention spans are limited and after some time you get rapidly diminishing results.
I personally like the sound of inverting the structure we use for learning, meaning assigning the "theory" as homework and using class time to discuss or apply it afterwards.
At least that has the benefit of letting every student manage their time, spending more time on harder (for them) subjects.
attention spans are limited and after some time you get rapidly diminishing results
Same is true in work, and why work weeks should be limited to 40 hours max. Americans work too much, and this is based on what Harvard says after studying it.
I personally like the sound of inverting the structure we use for learning, meaning assigning the “theory” as homework and using class time to discuss or apply it afterwards.
I like the idea, too. It has not been shown to have a meaningful positive effect up to now, as far as I know.
So what do you do when the kids don't learn the theory for homework and so can't do any of the work in class?
That's where the discussion comes in. With an instructor to moderate and a class working together who will overall have grasped it. Those who didn't pick it up reading learn by doing.
But personally, I don't like the idea of kids doing schoolwork outside school hours. I went to a trade-school college and we would do trimesters with 9 weeks for a single class. Spent the whole day just in that class, six hours. First half learning theory then putting it into practice in the second half. By nine weeks, you'd know that subject pretty well. But that was complicated stuff, and honestly, probably didn't even require 9 weeks. But it's a good starting model. Fully immerse kids in a subject for weeks where they don't have to mix in other subjects to muddy their forming brains. Homework won't be needed and they'll have a much better grasp on the subject at the end. You could do 6 classes for 6 weeks each a school year.
And I feel like early education kind of already does this. They typically will focus on a subject for weeks instead of trying to fit in 5 a day. It's just the upper levels we've decided to shuffle kids around multiple times a day.
I like your enthusiasm and your heart is in the right place but it doesn't translate on a practical level. I'm a teacher and an independant school in my town tried this, unfortunately didn't work.