Death, taxes, and debates about homework and recess

With Labor Day come and gone, pretty much every public school in the U.S. is now back in session for the new school year.  And like clockwork, there’s a return to now familiar debates about homework and recess.  Maybe my memory of elementary and middle school is foggy, but I don’t seem to recall such passionate views on these topics back then.  And maybe that’s because the level of homework was generally agreed to be reasonable and recess was a staple of every school day.  I’m not entirely sure what changed (though I suspect federal education policies might be the main culprit) but homework and recess have already made headlines in this new school year around the country.

Last week, The New York Times noted that “As students return to school, debate about the amount of homework rages”.  The article and comments about it highlighted differences between and among parents, teachers, and even students about how much homework is “enough”.  Then a few days later I saw a post about a Louisiana elementary school whose principal decided to get rid of recess this school year, a move that—not surprisingly—provoked outrage among many parents at the school despite assurances that all students would at least get “a brain break…tied to the classroom activity”.

Personally, my experience as a teacher, a school leader, and a parent have led me to a few beliefs on these topics.  In regards to homework, it’s that quality and purpose are more important than trying to set some sort of benchmark for how many minutes a student should be spending on homework a night.  If there is a clear connection to extending or building upon skills and knowledge from the school day and/or if there’s a clear need for a student to complete a task started at school outside of regular school hours, then by all means, some sort of homework (or “home enrichment”) seems appropriate to me.  And as for recess, well, why any school would flat out do away with it makes no sense to me.  It’s obvious that students benefit physically and even intellectually from having regular recess time, and I’m proud of the fact that ANCS has daily recess on both campuses (heck, we’ve even got two days of “mandatory” recess at our middle campus to encourage students who might otherwise be in the cafeteria or library to get out and get a little more sunshine, exercise, and connection with peers).

What I also believe is that, with both homework and recess, there needs to be responsibility taken both at school and at home, by teachers and by parents, in co-owning these activities along with students.  There may be times when a teacher needs to meet with a student at recess to review a project because it’s the only time they can find to do so.  And there may also be times when a parent decides a student cannot finish a homework assignment because of an unexpected family obligation.  These things happen and neither should be cause for some major confrontation because recess/homework was deemed less/more important than something else.  Let’s trust one another to make the best decisions possible about matters of recess and homework when students are in our care and communicate with one another about them.