Product Description

In this, the sequel to his critically acclaimed and controversial "The End of Homework", John Buell extends his case against homework. Arguing that homework robs children and parents of unstructured time for play and intellectual and emotional development, "Closing the Book on Homework" offers a convincing case for why homework is an outgrowth of broader cultural anxieties about the sanctity of work itself. After the publication of Buell's previous book, many professional educators portrayed reducing homework as a dangerous idea, while at the same time parents and teachers increasingly raised doubts as to its continued usefulness in education. According to John Buell, the importance of play is culturally underappreciated. Not only grade schoolers, but high school students and adult workers deserve time for the kind of leisure that fosters creativity and sustains a life long interest in learning.Homework is assigned for many reasons, many having little to do with learning, including an accepted, if unchallenged, belief that it fosters good work habits for children's futures. As John Buell argues convincingly, homework does more to obstruct the growth of children's minds, and consumes the time of parents and children who may otherwise develop relationships that foster true growth and learning. A unique book that is sure to fuel the growing debate on school reform, "Closing the Book on Homework" offers a roadmap for learning that will benefit the wellbeing of children, parents, and teachers alike. John Buell on homework: Homework does not convey the academic benefits its proponents promise.As currently constituted, [it] is a largely ineffective and overly burdensome practice. It not only creates especially serious barriers for poor families but also unnecessarily limits other forms of personal development and leisure time that are essential even to education and working life themselves. Families asked to monitor and assist in homework are increasingly burdened by the demands of their own jobs. Homework is closely connected to and rationalized by all the demands on family time, and the time has come to examine those demands I resent homework intensification not because I am lazy or want to spare children all challenges and difficulties but because I want to instill the character and self-discipline I admire. I want children to have gradually expanding opportunities both to manage and be responsible for free time. Scholarly studies of homework's ability to deliver in even such short-term and narrow areas as test scores and grades yield at best uneven results.Many studies of homework show no correlation-or even indicate an inverse relationship-between homework and a student's performance Young children reach a saturation point [for absorbing new information] far more quickly than adults...fatigue and an inability to sustain concentration is likely to be a substantial factor in learning. All claims that homework critiques involve a war against the poor systematically disregard important evidence. Some students who are doing their homework conscientiously will nevertheless test poorly simply because test-taking is not their forte.It is hard to recognize from homework where a child is having difficulty; it is even harder to find just why. The claim that homework evokes long-term discipline [is] largely unsupported by extensive empirical work, but there is reason to believe that many other extracurricular factors in the life of a child and young adult contribute substantially to this virtue. Author note: John Buell is a columnist for the "Bangor Daily News", and co-author (with Etta Kralovec) of "The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #178563 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Review
"Sure to fuel the growing debate on school reform, Closing the Book on Homework offers a roadmap for learning that will benefit the wellbeing of children, parents, and teachers alike." Adolescence "Readers new to Buell's argument will find much in this book to think about and, possibly, to act upon." Kappa Delta Pi Record "John Buell makes a cogent case for homework reform. The strength of this new book is its placing of the 'homework wars' in historical and cultural context. By showing how current concerns about homework are part of a larger debate about the place of work in modern life, Buell is able to suggest broader remedies and policies that apply to a variety of modern problems and concern--such as overwork that constrain family and community life in a multitude of ways. Buell offers a compelling argument, and his voice needs to be heard." --Benjamin Hunnicutt, Professor, the University of Iowa, and author of Work Without End "John Buell's Closing the Book on Homework is a unique and timely contribution to the torrid debate and about whether the heavy burdens of homework and standardized tests actually improve education. What marks this book from the others is that, in addition to thorough reviews and refutations, Buell places education and homework in the contexts of the global economy, the fiscal crisis of the states, and the emergence of the rote styles of learning as the dominant educational technology. Teachers, researchers, parents, indeed everyone concerned with the fate of our kids cannot afford to miss this powerful book." --Stanley Aronowitz

From the Publisher
A ringing indictment of homework and what can replace it

About the Author
John Buell is a columnist for the Bangor Daily News, and co-author (with Etta Kralovec) of The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning.

Customer Reviews

Interesting, but not quite convincing
The author primarily convinces us that homework is a tool supported by global corporations to serve as a predecessor to the arduous fifty to sixty hour work weeks expected in many professional careers. Homework is often viewed by school-aged children as a burden due to its usual stipulations of longer hours away from their friends and familial responsibilities. It can promote difficult situations within one's home, and ultimately sever family ties. For example: a child is forced by his or her parents to work on additional assignments after school, that child sometimes becomes rebellious or obnoxious in the attempt to resist the work because it is not generally seen by youngsters as a means to an end. Parents and schools are allegedly a part of an `unspoken conspiracy" to simply inflict unnecessary challenges and inconvenience on its children; rather than enrich them in academic pursuits.
John Buell's assertions substantiate the argument that homework allows organized mega-businesses such as Microsoft, IBM and Coke to acclimate future workers and even future consumers whom fit into the adult world whose mantra is "Hard Work Pays off." Does it really? Will all those extra hours of worksheets and repetitive readings adding to my wealth of knowledge or a time/space filler to minimize the number of hours spent with one's family during the week. Each product for sale is potential bait for the naïve student to develop loyalty to brand names in addition to learning the technology and programming necessary to operate the item.
Although inundation of advertisements and great deals influence the desire for high-performing gadgets and gizmos, increased dependence on technology promotes people to second guess their innate gifts and abilities and start to depend heavily on calculators and other instruments to perform simple mathematic equations. Buell also suggests that documented studies have proven that after a specific percentage of review, a child's ability to retain information is not that impressive. The distinct declaration deviates from the commonly used analogy of "children" and "sponges." This analogy demonstrates that the minds of children have an unlimited capacity for knowledge, just as a sponge retains a substantial amount of water.
This book raises good concerns about the effects of too much homework and the future roles of the students as contributors to the global economy and society. However, more thorough evidence is essential in proving that the liabilities of assigning homework outweigh the benefits.

A eye opening book
Greg Davis
Professor Gibbons
Sociology
Closing the Book on Homework



Closing the book on Homework, by John Buell, is a very informative and articulate read. It also has a very catchy title. John Buell not only fights for the suffering children and young adults but also for society as a whole. He does this by arguing that homework hurts our children and society. He does this through a very strong and well backed argument.

I feel that one of his strong points of argument was his discussion on suffering. He defined that suffering is children going to school malnourished or not properly fed. Yes, he pointed out that suffering is a physical problem, but he also pointed out that suffering can be a mental problem also. In my experience in life, I feel that mental suffering can be the worst. And I think that it is common sense that children that perform long hours of homework at home can experience a great deal of mental suffering. Not only are they on there own at home, they are not in a setting that is supportive and as encouraging as a school. And if these children are getting substantial amounts of support from there parents then the whole point of children doing homework is not working, because the children are not doing the work themselves. Buell thinks that the work should be done in the class room where children have the proper support and advice from teachers.

One of Buell's main arguments is that children just like adults need time to themselves. He pointed out that some children in elementary school spend 30 hours a week in school, and spend around 5 hours just traveling there. He then points out that these same children have to go home every day in an environment not as encouraging as school and do more hours of homework. Children need a substantial amount of time to themselves to grow and find themselves. In terms of intellect and educational attainment, kids that work during the school week, have lower levels of educational attainment. Kids working at jobs can be compared to kids "working" on school work. Is there that much of a difference? So if kids who hold jobs suffer than one can come to the conclusion that children spending hours on homework might also suffer.

Buell argues that homework places a constraint on families and on communities. I totally agree with this. How can families be expected to grow and to be close if children have to come home and get there work finished. It is not healthy for children to sit inside all day in school and then come home to hours of more sitting at there desk or study area. And Buell makes a good point about it being more difficult for children of poor economic backgrounds to perform there homework. It is a system set up in favor of middle class children. They can benefit more from taking work home to a more equipped setting.

John Buell is a very intelligent man that is currently engaging in a so called war, over the issue of homework. In his book he outlines many reasons why homework is not helping our society. He many times points out that there are no studies that correlate academic success to homework. I feel that homework is more harmful to the person and the family that to the society. Buell argues this by talking about the many different constraints that homework places on the family. This is a very informative book that should be read and studied by everyone interested on the debate of homework in today's society.

Time to discuss homework?
Everyone might have thought at least once that it would be nice to be free from the burden of everyday homework. However, we have convinced ourselves to do homework because we think of it is an unchangeable fact, without any room for discussion about alternatives. Is homework really needed for students to improve their academic performance? John Buell, in his Closing the Book on Homework, claims that the ways in which homework is assigned in today's society is not effective, useless, and there is a need for homework reform. He emphasizes the need for reducing the burdens of homework in America's public school by discussing roles and consequences of homework and by suggesting limitations and alternatives for homework for efficient education. He insists on his points by explaining the impacts of homework on students and the relation of homework beyond the educational (school) setting: America's culture and social conditions. His argument on homework is multidimensional, convincing, and compelling.
Buell challenges America's high value of homework. Admitting that students who get higher scores and grades engage in doing more homework, he claims homework is not the primary factor of improving students' academic performances. He says that homework does not work efficiently without adequate educational environment, such as parenting and well support of teachers to individuals. This is a good point because today's homework is assigned mostly as "one-size-fits all" assignments which puts responsibilities on only children. Furthermore he claims that homework also has negative impacts for children such as causing low motivation and attitudes, endangers health, and is a violation of parents and children by taking away time to spend together. The way he criticizes negative aspects of homework over its positive impacts effectively supports his position, why homework should be eliminated or limited. Thus, his opponents' perspective of homework reform seems too simplistic about assigning more homework without any regards of alternative consequences of it.
Buell depicts the roles of homework in a larger picture that suggests other perspectives of homework. He explains the historical background of homework in America's public education and says that the roles of homework have changed depending on social conditions. This suggests a role of school is to produce potential workers for the country's future. It is interesting to know that there was a homework reform and even agendas to limit homework in the history. This historical background of homework is not known well in today's society, which values heavy homework. His mention of this history is good because it not only shows his call for homework-free classroom and limitation of homework are not extremely pointless or overly optimistic idea, but also induces readers in the discussion of homework reform.
Buell greatly connects a high value of homework in American society with the cultural, traditional and moral value of hard work and the potentials of youth. In addition to his explanation of the historical shift of value of homework, this point explains well why there is a tendency that emphasizes more and more homework on children. He also makes a strong point that there is a strong tendency of parents of low-income families' longing for more homework for their children, because their academic success will lead them to upward social mobility. From his points, readers may gain a perspective that children have huge burdens of expectations from their family and society on their shoulders and those expectations perpetuate the high value of homework and more work on children. This implies an irony of homework when we consider his early critique that claims homework does not directly lead students to successful academic performance.
This book is good especially for teachers, school boarders, educational policy makers, and parents, whether they are against homework reform or not. It provides readers with rich perspectives of the value of homework, and allows them to rethink about its purpose. Buell's claim of home-free-classroom and reducing homework sounds idealistic and optimistic at first glance without knowing his evidence supports, but it is worth rethinking the value of homework in regards to his points because he does not merely suggest reducing all homework with a simple approach. If we go beyond the "norm" of hard work and try to reform today's procedures of assigning homework, we would get best outcome of education from fewer but well efficient and qualified procedures, as he suggests. This book suggests changes and provides room for discussion.