I've wanted to have a conversation with Eva Bailén about homework for a long time. A few days ago I spoke with her and told her if she would answer some questions for Mothers Today and she was delighted to accept. Possibly, many of you will know Eva for her successful "duties the just" campaign and for being the author of the book How to survive your child's homework published in 2016.
Those of you who are regular readers of Mothers Today will know that homework and I are not good friends. In fact, I want them quite far away from the students because I don't think it helps them at all for their learning. It is clear that there are duties and duties but most of them are repetitive, boring and mechanical. Do they really bring something good to the students in their day to day? Eva Bailen, in Mothers Today, answers that question and many others. Do you dare to continue reading?
Mothers Today: Eva, thank you very much for accepting the interview for Mothers Today about homework. You have been fighting for the rationalization of duties for a long time, do you think your campaign has made the impact you wanted in society?
Eva Bailen: The campaign for just duties is reaching very far, it has reached the Congress of Deputies and even the people who are working for the Educational Pact. I believe that I have achieved much more than I imagined at first, and changes are being noticed in society, although without adequate political support the advances could be reversed over time. I trust that all the work I have done will be consolidated and with future educational reforms the problem of homework will be extinguished.
MH: There is a question that keeps popping up in my head, Eva. The WHO has stated that excessive homework is detrimental to students. However, there are still many centers that continue to pass on their homework. What do you think it is due to?
E.B.: I think there is a deep-rooted evil belief in our society: the sooner the better. For this belief nonsense theories and myths are defended, such as that the sooner children learn to read, the better for them, or that the sooner they get used to doing homework and studying much better for their academic future. In the end the belief has been able to with the scientific evidence and with the recommendations of the WHO. In settings where children are ignored, their emotional well-being matters little and adults care more about results and competitiveness, than for the proper and healthy development of children. In these cases, the homework, even if it is exorbitant, is justified with the sole purpose of guaranteeing educational success.
MH: With repetitive homework, students do not learn. What activities outside of school could they do?
E.B.: There are tasks that are very boring, very repetitive and with which certain exercises are mechanized, and it is true that in those cases the spark of learning is lost. Repetition is useful in some cases, such as when learning to play an instrument or playing a sport, but it is repetition understood as improvement. However, in the case of homework it is not justified. For example, if children practice multiplication every day, they will surely end up multiplying very quickly, but the important thing should be that they know, given a real problem, when to use multiplication or any other mathematical operation.
To do the math quickly we have calculators or computers. Would we trust an architect to do all his calculations mentally? Outside of school, the important thing would be that they see the application of what they are learning in school, how that applies in their life and in that of their family. In the kitchen, in the supermarket, on bills, in advertising, there are applications of what is taught in schools that children should be able to understand and relate to. Sending homework to occupy the children's afternoon should not be an option.
MH: Do you think that the completion of homework facilitates the assessment task of teachers?
E.B.: I think homework should not be evaluated. Homework that is not done in class in the presence of the teacher is unknown whether the student has done them with or without help. If they are badly done, they may have been made by the student alone, But not even correcting them in class sometimes children realize what their mistake has been. And if they are well done, you may have done them with help, you may even have a private teacher. If homework has weight in the evaluation grade, we increase social inequalities and associate academic performance with homework, Which is a mistake. Excellent academic performance can be achieved without doing homework.
MH: “Tomorrow you don't have class and the day after is Saturday. You have three days to do your homework ”. Surely you've heard that phrase more than once, Eva. Could you tell us what you think of her?
E.B.: Weekends and long weekends are to rest, to disconnect and to consolidate what has been learned. And it takes hold by giving a truce. It seems to me a mistake to take advantage of the fact that children have days off to send more homework. If an adult does not have rest periods, he ends up hating his job, and the last thing we want is for a child to hate school. Sometimes children have been forced so much with homework on vacations or even bridges by forcing them to read books that they are not interested in that we have made them hate reading. A vacation would be ideal to give them time to read what they like, to choose, to go to the library and discover the pleasure of reading without pressure.
MH: How about the idea of students doing their homework for fear of being punished?
E.B.: It's sad, but it happens a lot. There are children who do their homework for fear of punishment without recess, negative, humiliation. I think it is the worst way to maintain and awaken the curiosity of children, that they are interested in learning, that they go to school with enthusiasm, motivated and excited. Punishments repress, and in education they are an enemy to avoid.
MH: The ultimate goal of education should be to train free and critical thinking students. Do you think homework is an obstacle to achieving that goal?
E.B.: Traditional, repetitive, textbook homework, lacking in creativity sThey are an obstacle to developing critical thinking and an entrepreneurial spirit. Homework is a reflection of what happens in the classroom, depending on the methodologies used in class, so will the tasks proposed for home. It is a real problem that the educational system is not interested in developing critical thinking, and also expands so much that it does not even leave children free time outside the classroom.
MH: We know you have children, how do you feel when you see that every afternoon you spend your free time doing homework and exercises?
E.B.: When I started the just duties campaign www.change.org/fairduties my son didn't have time to play. It was what hurt me the most, seeing that her day didn't end until dinner time. Besides, our life was totally conditioned by the duties and the time we had to dedicate to study. We couldn't go out on the weekends, because he had to do a lot of homework and study, I felt that my life and that of my whole family was out of our control. It was amazing to see how the afternoons day after day, year after year, had to be spent locked up at home, we all lived it as a punishment. You live between helplessness, perplexity and helplessness. You don't want to question the teachers' work, and if you don't, you know your child suffers. Tremendous. Right now I can say that I am happy, because my children already have free time and enjoy their life.
MH: So is homework for the Parents or for students?
E.B.: Homework like everything has a moment, an age at which all students can be expected to be mature, able to manage their time, and then really be for them. A child of 6, 7 or 8 years old is very likely not mature to manage his time or to be locked in a room alone, as if he were grounded. If homework is sent to young children, homework is more for parents than for children. A high school student should already be able to take on their homework and manage when they are going to be done. In any case, it must always be borne in mind that a child who spends 7 hours a day in class, as happens in Secondary, cannot be required to study and do homework for several hours later, because his day would already be longer than that of a adult.
MH: Wouldn't it be more appropriate to eliminate them rather than rationalize them?
E.B.: Honestly, with the school load that children have, I think homework could be eliminated completely. But of course, we must also take into account what falls within what we call duties. Read for example, are they homework? They could be, but it would have to be done for fun. Rationalize is a broad term that includes moderating and giving meaning or reason to what is done. I think there are great teachers who know how to motivate their students and if they ask them to do some work at home I don't want them to feel like they have been forbidden to do it.
MH: Among so many homework, extracurricular activities and exams, do you think elementary school children are losing their childhood?
E.B.: I do not like to generalize, I think it is a frequent but not widespread situation. I always put my example: of my three children only one has gone through this situation. So I think there is a considerable percentage of children who are losing their childhood, and it is for them that we must fight. It does not seem healthy or appropriate for the development of a child who spends his childhood without time to play or sleep the hours necessary due to the excessive load of homework and exams.
Extracurricular activities can be wonderful if the child enjoys them, but if they are imposed by parents out of a desire to complete the training of their children so that they are more competitive, and they stress the child, better not do them.
MH: Thank you very much for joining us at Madres Hoy, Eva. But I would like to ask you one last question. What kind of education would you like for your children and what would you like them to promote in schools?
E.B.: I would like education to really focus on children, their rhythms, their needs and interests. Now children seem to have to be experts in many subjects, with no room for the artistic or the literary, which is the most creative and what produces great satisfaction in many people. The amount of content that they currently study, but do not learn, is excessive, and it does not help them to manage emotions, to know themselves or to know others. It seems to me essential that a student completes his training having found his element. Let him know what makes him happy and passionate, whatever it is, from painting, researching, to cutting hair or fixing cars. And be an empathetic, respectful and committed citizen. I would like education to focus more on well-being and the betterment of society than on economic success.