Merrimack's New Homework Policy

neilschelly's picture

Merrimack has instituted what is essentially an optional homework policy, town-wide. Students will get homework, but it won’t be graded. They can do it if they need the practice to better understand the material. They can get help with it from teachers. They just don’t need to do it if the material is already comfortable for them. They can use that time instead to focus on other subjects they are less comfortable with, develop hobbies, spend time with friends, learn things outside of school, whatever. I’m thrilled with this decision.

Some folks are upset. Several people seem to think this is the epitome of “everyone-gets-a-trophy” because that’s the go-to way for some people to degrade the current generation of kids. I think this overlap between people who object to this policy and people who think everyone gets a trophy is fascinating. “Everyone-gets-a-trophy” means everyone gets the same outcome for different performances. It would mean that the outcome of playing a game is a trophy, rather than reserving that outcome for winning the game. It would mean that the outcome of doing homework is a satisfactory participation grade, rather than a grade that actually reflects your ability to use the subject material effectively.

This policy is the opposite of everyone-gets-a-trophy. The kids who put in the effort to learn the material, practice with the homework, and engage their teachers for help with subject matter they find difficult will do better. That will be reflected in their grades which will be based on their understanding of the material. Those grades will not be a measure of how well they could accomplish busywork that may or may not have been time-consuming or difficult for them.

I wonder if people just dropped this pretense that modern kids have it too easy (they don’t), don’t work as hard as their parents (they do), or have too much free time on their hands (they don’t), then maybe they might just see this for what it is. The best way to teach kids responsibility is to let them experience the good outcomes or negative consequences of their own actions. Parents should be helping to foster the understanding of these natural consequences. Tons of research has shown that there is almost no value (or even negative backfires) in unnatural consequences where the punishment mechanism has nothing to do with the outcome of the bad behavior. It’s really hard sometimes, but I love it when I can teach my daughter something with natural consequences. She practices really, really hard, and masters a new skill _because_ she practiced really hard. She throws a tantrum at night, and we don’t have as much time to play before bedtime _because_ she spent so much time screaming about nothing.

I’m thrilled with the new decision. I have been very anxious about having to start helping Aeryn with homework that she didn't _need_ to do soon.