If there is one thing that I clearly remember from my days in primary and secondary education, it is homework. Those lots of exercises that the teachers sent me and that finally, on more than one occasion, my parents and my brother ended up doing them because they were excessive and I didn't have time to do anything else. I remember getting up on weekends just as early as going to school to do my homework and study for tests.
Obviously, my parents went to protest at the educational center where I was together with other families, but the management staff and the teacher were totally deaf. The day came when they gave up, they left it for something impossible and they dreamed that in the future things would change and move forward in education.
Unfortunately, they were wrong in their dreams. Today, there are even more homework than we students of my generation had. Every morning I see elementary school kids loaded with backpacks that "weigh more than them".
Fortunately, this year it seems that we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of families have been protesting the excessive burden of duties who bring their children home. And that the course has done nothing more than start as who says.
For this reason, CEAPA (Spanish Confederation of Associations of Parents of Students) has convened that in November there is a strike to get the elimination of homework. And is that with the statistical data "48,5% of public school parents consider that homework negatively affect their family life" is to put their hands to the head.
In my opinion, most teachers who send homework (and watch out, not an exercise that takes fifteen minutes), have no idea of the consequences they are having for children and parents. We assume that starting in primary education, students pass many hours in educational centers.
They spend many hours listening, trying to pay attention and assimilating all the information and explanations that the teachers give in the classrooms. That, is already a incredible psychological effort. The most normal thing is that at home they could rest, disconnect and do the things they really enjoy.
But no, many of them, when they finish eating or have to go back to the educational center if they do not have the continuous day or they start to do the homework that they have to deliver the next day and study for the exams.
In this way, the moments of disconnection, relaxation and especially of play, are minimal or even nil. What does this entail? Stress, anxiety, discomfort, stress, disappointments, disappointments and a lot of demotivation. And obviously, that also negatively influences parents when they see that their children are losing one of the most important times of their lives, such as childhood, for doing homework.
I have friends who are psychologists and doing pediatric practices who tell me that more and more children come to their consultations with a clear childhood depression caused due to the stress caused by the school environment and excessive burden of homework. Childhood depression! I think that many people have not realized what the concept entails and it has been believed that the experts who warned of the situation were exaggerating.
That is, an extreme amount of homework not only affects the social and personal development of children but also their physical health. Fortunately, it seems that little by little (although from my point of view everything should go faster), many teachers are in favor of the withdrawal of homework and that learning without them is totally possible.
But for this to really happen, for something as obsolete as homework to really disappear, a large part of society has to agree and has to broaden its horizons. The statistical data given by CEAPA is a 48,5% of parents of public school children. And the others? And the rest?
I know of specific cases of families who have become angry with teachers for not sending homework homework and for trying to do things differently so that there is an adequate learning process. There are parents who have demanded more homework for the weekend and more discipline from the teachers. As if that kind of discipline works in learning!
There are so many ways to learn in the classroom. Gamification It is one of the tools that is not used as much as it should and is incredibly valuable. But unfortunately, there are still teachers who do not strive to be authentic, to motivate students, to excite them, to excite them and to train them in an education in values and away from the submission and oppression of duties.
Teachers who have settled in, relaxed, and refuse to move forward and change in their work. And those "professionals" are also the ones who they prevent teachers who really want to do things well and transform the educational system from shining. Will there really be hope at the end of the tunnel? What do you think?