SCHOLARS’ HOMEWORK

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1930, Page 11

SCHOLARS’ HOMEWORK

OPPOSITION TO SYSTEM.

LONDON DOCTORS’ VIEWS.

The system of setting “homework” employed in London central and secondary schools is condemned in the annual report of the London County Council on Public Health, issued on October 15. Dr. F. N. Kay Menzies, the school medical officer, declares that “in the secondary schools there are many individual children who are considered to suffer from over-pressure, and the adverse Influences most frequently contributing to this result are held to be homework and long-distance travel to school.” Dr. Menzies quotes the opinions of several other doctors. One said: “It is not a good practice to set homework for a class as a whole. Boys do not work at the same rate at school; why should they .at home?” Another stated: “I have arranged with the headmistress of the secondary school where my own girl (.12) attends for homework to be halved,, and I have already found an improvement.” A third doctor remarked: “The system of compelling children, to work for a considerable period each evening at home must result in overstrain. The work has to be done when the child is already ‘tired.’” . Dr. Menzies insists that it is the duty of school authorities to consider the result of homework not merely upon scholastic advancement, but upon health and physique. “It is their duty,” he insists, “to ensure that in the 24 hours there is not only time for work, for meals, for physical exercises, and for sufficient sleep, but also for healthful relaxations and recreation.” Mr. L. Cecil Smith, headmaster of Colet Court, the preparatory school for St. Paul’s school, said: “There is no doubt a tendency to give too much homework. In my opinion, homework should be done at school if possible, as ‘prep.’ I keep school open for an hour for this purpose, so that day boys as well as ■boarders may get their ‘prep’ done here. It is a mistake to set a certain amount of work; a certain amount of time for homework should be set instead. I have limited the time to one hour.” ■

Mr. A. E. Warren, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters, said that unfortunately the,.success of a school was judged by the number of scholarships gained. These scholarships could be gained in a healthy way —and they could be gained in a very unhealthy way, by too much homework.