Silvia Renteria
EDU 522
Historical Project Paper
Homework refers to the task of completing an assignment outside of the
classroom. Almost all children that have gone through the K-12 educational system
in the U.S. have experienced homework. The main reasons for assigning homework
is to allow students additional time outside of the classroom to improve their
knowledge and skills. The argument to homework is that it is rote or busy work and
not engaging for students. According to Dewey’s (1990) Big Ideas all students need
to be active participants in order to succeed in the classroom. There are three main
beliefs about homework currently in our educational system that homework should
be engaging, homework should be qualitative and/or quantitative, and homework
should be connected to concepts learned in the classroom for independent practice.
There is a huge debate on the value of homework. Some feel it is boring and
mundane while others value the importance of such praxis. The issue with
homework is should it be teacher or student centered and what is the purpose of
assigning homework.
From the essentialism philosophy the goal of homework is to help students
grow to become good and productive citizens. Teachers in the 21st century need to
address this issue with intentionality and understand their philosophy for assigning
homework. An educators’ pedagogy on the homework issue must be addressed
before homework is assigned. If the teacher is assigning homework to prepare
students for life or to help make them productive citizens that goal should be
addressed. In 1918 John Franklin Bobbitt, and American educationist, wrote The
Curriculum. According to Bobbitt (1918) there needed to be an entrance point of
curriculum to see what results needed to be accomplished. Bobbitt believed that the
curriculum needed to adapt the new industrial society and students should be
taught useful material that they would use in their daily lives. Homework in his
vision would serve to prepare students for adulthood. Students should learn the
skills necessary to fulfill their daily tasks. Ultimately, students, parents, and other
faculty members must understand the intention with assigning homework not
repeat what has been done in the past for past sakes. Thus, an understanding takes
place on the value of homework. If the citizens in American society value homework
this empowers it and we can have a positive cultural shift on the perspective of
homework.
The essentialism worldview challenged the current state of education of the
time by stating that the curriculum was concerned with educational experiences
themselves. Students were being sent with homework assignments that would have
them practice problems and learn the fundamentals. They were being asked to
remember and have a foundational understanding. This was highly valued at the
time because in order for students to ever have the ability to apply anything they
first needed to master it. The idea was to master it before they use it. Bobbit did not
believe in this ideal. His belief is that students needed to use what they were
learning. Their needed to be a practical use to the experiences being learned and
sent home as homework. The practical use that he referred to was how to transfer
what students were learning to the workforce. If students were to be productive
citizens in society they needed to have the preparation for practical life. However, it
is important to understand that mastery of concepts is highly important and holds
value. Bobbitt cleverly did this because as he was challenging the Perennialism
philosophy of the time and he paid his respect by giving it value. It was Important
that the understanding that the foundation and scientific method have validity and
must still be embedded in the curriculum. However, his implication was that if
homework is assigned it should also have within it some components of knowledge
and understanding but must include its practical use and its application.
Bobbit (1919) wanted the design dimensions of the curriculum was problemcentered designs. The problem centered design focuses on real life problems of
individuals and society. People of the past operationalized their beliefs with the
idea that the work needed to have practical use. The idea was that it was necessary
to relate what was happening in a science classroom to work related situations.
According to Bobbitt his common theme was that ideas learned in the classroom
need to be put to work in what he called intellectual work-experience. We must pay
close attention to his clever wordplay. If the work being done in the classroom or
the homework being sent home is not fulfilling some work related experience then it
is inefficient, unfocused, and failing our students. We must think of the work habits,
attitudes, and sense of responsibility we want our students to have. He is setting the
standard of what students need to be equipped for society. The work being
assigned for homework needs to be serious duties. Now, lets relate it to the
disconnect happening in current homework assignments being given. Some might
argue what is the point. If students have no practical use for the homework what is
it being sent home to do? It is with this intentionality to produce good and
productive citizens that homework needs to address.
Teaching and learning then would have to reflect the same theme of training
on the work level. The teacher then must not be the holder of all information but be
the trainer at the table. The teacher must have students work in the classroom and
must facilitate and train students to apply what they are using in the classroom.
Bobbit (1918) states, “Experience is the best teacher”. (p.30). This experience needs
to take place in the classroom. Lets think about the years that students spend in
public education and all the work related experience the can obtain. The teacher
must provide practical opportunities for the student to learn. The homework being
sent home must relate to the work experience the student can then take in any
practical work situation. The task to be performed as homework is central to this
idea. Homework, if necessary, must be intentional and have a purpose. Teaching
and learning are intertwined and therefore the student as a learner must be
ambitious. This ambition and desire to learn comes from the idea that the student is
learning a derived interest that serves the purpose of his or her fulfillment in
society. Bobbit shares examples of this type of learning that takes place where a
student is training on home cooking. The assignment or homework can be sent
home as a cooking task. The student can complete this task at home and bring it
into the classroom for assessment. This has a practical purpose because the food
could perish but also they are preparing for real life. Also, the student could work in
the cafeteria to fulfill this assignment as well. This is a practical work related
activity. Teaching and learning become one and the idea is that students are making
the connection of work related experience. The homework that is being assigned to
students that is being taught and learned is equipping students for employment.
They are receiving work related experience. Moreover, they are also being taught
and learning core values and character education.
The issue with homework is should it be teacher or student centered and
what is the purpose of assigning homework. The curriculum of the past and design
dimensions intended to respond to the industrial revolution. Education needed to
respond to the time period of the time by preparing students for their roles or
functions in society. The past curriculum had its value but it was being asked to
make the transition to connecting with good and productive citizens. Students
needed to be able to apply what was being used in the classroom to work related
experience. They needed a teacher to be the trainer at the table, the guide on the
side. The answer to the issue for the time was fairly simple. The purpose of
homework for this time was that it needed to be student centered. The teacher
needed to facilitate the learning experience and that experience needed to be hands
on. Students must learn in an environment that would be able to prepare them for
their role in life. This training became critical because it was in the context of the
real world. My school issue is about homework and the answer lies in the common
core. Today’s response comes in the form of preparing students for the 21st century.
It is a time of technological advances that are rapidly changing. As I finish writing
this paper twitter has been taken over by snap chat, snap chat by instagram, and
instagram by tinder. If you are telling yourself, I remember tinder that proves the
rapid changing technological world we are living in. The world as some might say is
being flattened by technology. The issue of homework comes in the form of
common core asking students to be able to apply what they are using in the
classroom to the real world. It needs to be student centered and they must be able
to infuse technology throughout. We must respond as educators to the 21st century
just as our past curriculum designers responded to the industrial revolution. We
are living in a technological revolution and homework must respond to this in a
practical sense. The homework we assign to students must be one that is relevant
with our time. It needs to be intentional and have a purpose.
References:
Bobbit, F. 1918. The Curriculum. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Dewey, J. (1990). The School and Society / The Child and the Curriculum. Chicago, IL:
University of Chicago Press.