Common Core Essay

Michelle Lehnard has three sons who each made a perfect score on the ACT. When asked how, one of Michelle’s explanations was their school did not support homework, but wanted the kids to learn new things. Why is this relevant? For over 75 years homework has been a controversial topic through the United States. Many schools throughout the country have made the decision to discontinue homework for effective reasons.

If these kids are only given one chance that whole year, then there could be no way for them to pull up a bad grade. Many students care about the grades they get in high school, especially when they plan to go to a good college. It is also very important because eventually the parents will get to see those grades. This means many kids try their hardest and are willing to do anything to get their grade up as high as possible. It is a teacher’s duty to help their students succeed in any way they can.

Combined with the 2000’s recession crises, many high schools and elementary schools have decreased resources or even cut classes in subject areas that are not part of No Child Left Behind 's accountability standards. Since 2007, almost 71% of schools have reduced instruction time in subjects such as art and music to provide more funding to Math and English (http://www.ed.gov/esea). In some schools, even though art and music remain available, students who are not on level with basic skills are sent to remedial reading or math classes rather the other optional

An average student would spend hours on schoolwork a day, which can be very stressful. A high school student will use half of their day around school relation. Almost all elementary to high school students will likely to agree that homework should not be assigned. The majority of students complain about homework yet teachers don’t usually understand why. While homework gives benefits to students, unnecessary homework should not be assigned due to the fact that there are enough school hours, it consumes time, and the development of poor health is encouraged.

Some of the parents question how the school year continues but they have longer breaks and don’t have any no school days. Many believe that shortening school breaks will improve student achievement but still have continuous year-round school. Teachers and students stress is because

Many schools in other countries spend less time in school and do not receive homework. Those schools are the ones with the highest test scores. The US is not even in the top twelve for best scores. With all the extra time students spend on school related items, such as homework, it is not helping. An article written by Sean Coughlan states that, “Pupils in England already get an average of 150 hours extra teaching per year than their Finnish counterparts.” Students in Finland do not receive homework, but their test scores are ranked sixth in the world.

When my neighbor sends us a letter, she writes in beautiful fine print cursive, that I can not read at all. That has motivated me to research the debate on cursive writing, whether or not it should be taught anymore. Cursive writing should be taught in schools because it has a positive effect on communication, history, and personal development. First, schools should teach cursive writing because it promotes good communication. Some think, since most assignments are now done on computers kids should spend more time learning typing rather than cursive.

Everyone has been handed homework. Most people have begrudgingly completed it under the assumption that it would help them practice and study -- an assumption that those hours of hard work spent after school would be useful; an assumption which is now being proved false. In fact, newly emerging evidence indicates that homework must be regulated because it actually has few proven academic benefits and can actually hurt the well-being of the students. Believe it or not, new studies indicate that homework has not shown any benefit for students academically. Many studies have been conducted on this subject, and most of the recent ones show no correlation between homework and academic success.

"Professors have ceased to expect genuine engagement from students and often give good grades (B or better) to work that is at minimally adequate." (Gutting 454). Although students are doing the minimum work, are students truly engaging what they learning? Last semester, when I took Math 124, knowing that math was the most frustrating subject for the most students, I would do the minimum work to pass the class. However, the

They typically accept the students with the highest test scores, but test scores have dropped more and more as the years have gone on. Professionals from Sydney University have found that too much homework is the main cause of the lowered test scores of students. “According to Richard Walker, an educational psychologist at Sydney University, data shows that in countries where more time is spent on homework, students score lower on a standardized test called the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. The same correlation is also seen when comparing homework time and test performance at schools within countries. Past studies have also demonstrated this basic trend” (Huffingtonpost.com, 2012).

The U.S. has dropped from 18th highest scores in schools in the world to be in the 30’s on almost all of the subjects on the test. The tests narrow down the curriculum to focus on the subjects that are on the test, forgetting about the other subjects. Standardized tests cannot measure all that schools teach like how to be a problem solver. Standardized tests have not improved America’s education system. Every once in a while the world will submit their schools performance and they will be ranked with

Welcome to the age of testing, where standardized tests reign supreme in the classroom. Today, schools religiously use standardized tests as a tool to measure success. Every year a new set of standards are released because the test scores the year before were not adequate. Leaving teachers and students under pressure to perform better. The pressure to do so well has led to cheating scandals and school districts scores being eliminated.