Summer homework? Sue the school.

[username]

The original objection was that requiring homework during the summer meant the student went over the 180 days of instruction dictated by law.

You are correct, but that is why I am not really discussing much in this thread at this point. We have moved away from a discussion of the issue to nitpicking, or at least that is my opinion.

I have stated my thoughts and opinions and at this point will watch the case to see what happens. I think there may well be real legal issues for a court to hear. Maybe not though.

 

[Tmy]

I dont understand. When does the school year end/begin for this kid. Is the summer homework for the fall symester? What if you transfer to the school right before September. Are you not allowed to take the advanced class cause you missed the summer?

What are these kids learning? They arent being taught, they are just doing work. Its almost an ego thing. Since you are in advanced classes you MUST do this pointless busywork. That doesnt make sense.

Even extra activities like sports and band still have limits to what you can do in the summer. You dont have football practice 8 hrs a day all summer long.

 

[Gwyn ap Nudd]

The original objection was that requiring homework during the summer meant the student went over the 180 days of instruction dictated by law. However, those 180 days do not include weekends. Thus, it doesn't matter if it is during the year or not, assigning homework on weekends would mean the students have more than 180 days of instruction.

But then, most homework assigned over a weekend can be completed on Friday night. The teacher (school, school board, state legislature, etc.) cannot control the fact that many students will choose to defer the homework until Sunday.

On the original point, it seems to revolve around the questions of (1) whether the honors class is truly voluntary and "extra-curricullar," and (2)whether it unfairly disadvantages those who would prefer to take it but the summer homework requirement presents a financial roadblock. Both of these are questions of fact that the original article does not provide us with enough information to resolve.

 

[Mason]

I still suspect that this sort of thing will end up with honors programs where the bulk of participants are more privileged kids who have the spare time and the resources to churn out work over the summer, instead of working at jobs...

And to me that is depriving people of an equal educational opportunity on the basis of SES.

I agree with this thought, and there's more to the story. Those privilaged kids who have the time to do the extra work will be more prepared for their college entrance exams. Either the AP class will directly transfer as credits or the students will be able to test beyond entrance-level courses. What this means is that the AP students will spend less money on college by not paying for the prep courses, and they will have as much as one or two full semesters that they won't have to sit through, depending on how many AP classes they took. This means earlier degrees than average.

By comparison, those who couldn't afford the time due to the necessity of working probably won't suddenly have even more free time after graduation, meaning they will have to take the entrance-level courses on top of the normal courses for a degree, and will likely have to work through their degree programs. This means that they will have more classes to take, and probably have less classes per semester so they can fit work into their schedules. Fortunately, they will be more likely to be eligable for financial aid than the privilaged ones are, so a community college might cost them less in money in the long run, but it could take them as much as twice as long, or longer to actually get that degree.

These circumstances mainly apply to only two types of student: poor college-bound students and sufficiently-funded college-bound students, so in the long run, it doesn't hurt the entire population of students. However, every child with the potential to exceed the norm should be granted that chance.

The trend for schools to take away classroom time in the name of prepping for scores on standardized tests (to avoid becoming one of Bush's 'failing schools'), is thoroughly regretable, and I don't doubt for a moment that if school boards could make children do ALL of their learning on their own time, in order to fill up the alloted school year with feel-good bandaid political programs, they would do it.

Probably true, but at least with the test prep, the kids are learning something? I hope?