HOMEWORK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22960, 11 February 1938, Page 14

HOMEWORK

Sir, —As a parent as well as a teacher,, .. J I desire, Sir, to enter an emphatic pro-/f ■ J test against tho unfair and unnecessary , imposition of homework on young children. Such a system is nothing short of a proof of inefficiency on the part of a teacher. Tho child is surely as much'" entitled to its leisure when the day's work is done as the adult. To expect a child to work 25 hours a, week in school during this hot weather (which, incidentally is against the present recommendations of the department), .ia surely enough. Under a system of home-' , work the parent becomes the teacher, ; ; and tho teacher merely the tester. The time will shortly come, I venture to-'-' suggest, when such methods of teach-, ing will be regarded as anachronistic. ' Thank goodness, they are obsolescent now. It certainly does not take much teaching skill to avoid it for six and , seven-year-old children. Actually, there is very little to be said for it at any stage of the child's education. As a' parent of young children who suffer, and a teacher, of others who do not, I thank vou for the space you have allowed me. Teacher-Parent.- i^ij