Panel #5
Homework is Meant to be Practice and Not to Demonstrate Mastery of
Standards. Therefore, it Should Not be Incorporated into the Academic
Grade
Pro Position Paper
Caryn Asherson
California State University, Northridge
November 27, 2006
Homework is an important issue to just about anyone who is involved with
children. It often causes frustration, conflict, and tension between teachers, parents, and
students. Homework can be defined as “tasks assigned to students by school teachers
that are meant to be carried out during non-school hours.” (Cooper, 1987, p.7) After
spending the majority of their day in school, students are frequently given additional
assignments to be finished at home. Many parents and teachers are concerned about
the negative effect this might have on children.
The recent number of studies that have references to homework signify that
researchers are paying more attention to homework now than ever before. There is a
huge debate about its value and many scholars disagree on the supposed benefits of
homework as an instructional tool. In fact, the latest studies have not provided any
conclusive data to support the widespread notion that homework is beneficial. In 1985,
one expert revealed, “There is no good evidence that homework produces better
academic achievement.” (Jongsma, 1985, p.703) Hence, the data that tries to prove that
homework leads to higher achievement is weak or nonexistent.
Moreover, teachers should not view homework as an opportunity to test students’
knowledge. Homework is just for practice and not to demonstrate mastery of the
standards. Therefore, it should not be incorporated into a student’s academic grade.
One of our foremost goals as educators is to establish a love of learning in our students.
We hope to spark a flame of curiosity in the subjects we teach and inspire our students
to become thinkers and problem solvers. John Dewey declared, “The most important
attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning.” (Dewey, 1963, p.48) Yet,
study after study shows that a focus on grades leads to a decreased interest in learning.
(Butler 1987; Butler and Nisan 1986; Salili 1976) It perpetuates extrinsic reasons for
doing homework and it chips away at the passion for learning that we are trying to
encourage.
If a school constantly promotes achievement, a student who takes in that
message may find it difficult to delve into their own imagination or get swept away by the
process of trying to build something inventive. The student becomes so concerned
about results that he or she is not engaged in the activity that produces those results.
According to expert Alfie Kohn, “Students who are given grades, or for whom grades are
made particularly salient, tend to display less interest in what they’re doing, as compared
to those in the non-graded group.” (Kohn 2002) Additionally, when students are notified
that something they are about to do will count for a grade, they are likely to view the task
as a chore. Students become consumed with needing to get an A, concentrating only on
achievement rather than learning. They start to believe that grades are what count, not
intellectual exploration.
Furthermore, grading homework may make things worse for students who are
already performing poorly. At the same time that overemphasizing grades can eliminate
the joy of learning for high achievers, it can also overwhelm struggling kids. It can
perpetuate the increasing disparities between high and low achievers. What’s more,
family conflict intensifies when the children are struggling. Parents and students are
chronically frustrated by nightly battles with homework that leave them feeling stressed
out and fed up.
One study found that the more students are pushed to focus on getting good
grades, the more likely they are to cheat. (Anderman, Griesinger, and Westerfield, 1998)
With the pressure to perform well, students will go to great lengths to achieve, even if
they themselves regard cheating as wrong. They may copy from other students or
parents preoccupied with their child’s success may commandeer their kids’ homework
assignments. With the spotlight on grading, they forget that the aim is supposed to be
about the process, not the end product.
Next, grades tend to diminish the quality of students’ thinking. One series of
studies found that students who were given grades on assignments were considerably
less creative than those who received written comments but no grades. (Butler and
Nisan, 1986) In another study, students were notified that they would be graded on how
well they learned a social studies lesson. The students who were told they would be
graded had less understanding of the lesson than the students who were told that no
grade would be involved. (Grolnick and Ryan, 1987) Even when the students were
tested a week later, the students who were graded recalled fewer facts. (Grolnick and
Ryan, 1987)
In conclusion, if we focus on grades, learning suffers. We need to encourage
students to think about their learning, not their GPA’s. This will foster more excited
learners and discourage queries such as, “Do we have to know this?” We must attempt
to minimize the importance of grades in our classrooms and try not to confuse grades
with learning. By helping our students to pay less attention to grades we are creating a
learning-oriented classroom. Dorothy De Zouche, a teacher from Missouri says it all in
an article that was published in 1945. “If I can’t give a child a better reason for studying
than a grade on a report card, I ought to lock my desk, go home, and stay there.” (Kohn,
1999) When we become overly influenced by results, we end up, ironically, with results
that are lower than what we aim for.
References
1. Anderman, E.M., T. Griesinger, and Westerfield, G. (1998). Motivation and Cheating
During Early Adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology 90, 84-93.
2. Butler, R. (1987). Task-Involving and Ego-Involving Properties of Evaluation: Effects
of Different Feedback Conditions on Motivational Perceptions, Interest, and
Performance. Journal of Educational Psychology 79, 474-82.
3. Butler, R, and Nisan, M. (1986). Effects of No Feedback, Task-Related Comments,
and Grades on Intrinsic Motivation and Performance. Journal of Educational Psychology
78, 210-16.
4. Cooper, H. (1989). Homework. White Plains, NY: Longman.
5. Dewey, John. (1963). Interest and Effort in Education. New York: Collier.
6. Grolnick, W.S. and Ryan, R.M. (1987). Autonomy in Children’s Learning: An
Experimental and Individual Difference Investigation. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology 52, 890-98.
7. Jongsma, Eugene. (1985) Homework: Is it Worthwhile? Reading Teacher 38, 702-4.
8. Kohn, A. (1999) From Degrading to De-Grading. High School Magazine 6(5), 38-43.
9. Kohn, A. (November, 2002) The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation. Chronicle of
Higher Education. B7-B9.
10. Salili, F., M.L. Maehr, R.L. Sorensen, and L.J. Fryans Jr. (1976). A Further
Consideration of the Effects of Evaluation on Motivation. American Educational
Research Journal 13, 85-102.