Kids are not machines: An essay in education

In class we watched The Wall by Pink Floyd. After watching it we focused on education, taking some ideas from the movie to choose a topic for an essay.

Kids are not machines

    Education is undoubtedly unequal in many aspects between countries, not only looking at aspects as if education is free or has good quality, but as minimum aspects as uniform or, what this essay will be about, whether children get homework or not.

On the one hand, most children dream of having no homework, probably because they might want to do other things after school. Two cases must be analysed; in many countries double shift schools are popular as it gives parents certain warranty of their kids being at school all day while they work. This means kids spend approximately eight full hours at school, learning and doing different activities; it would be pretty stressing having homework afterwards. Just imagine having worked 8 hours straight and given every day tasks, not having time for yourself. The second case are schools where they are only half shift. It may sound logical to send homework to those kids, however it would be unfair. They would have a better opportunity of enjoying a hobby after school than those students at day-long shifts, but probably it would be ruined as they would have homework.

On the other hand, homework does serve a purpose other than “wasting” children’s time. We could agree in saying that doing tasks after school increases class follow-up, filling students with doubts to ask their teachers. This is positive as the child will acknowledge what he understands and what he doesn’t, accelerating his learning at certain rate. What’s more, giving homework creates in the kid a mood of focus in their own house, boosting their capability of concentration even in their house where there are various distractors, such as TV and their own toys.

What I personally believe is that homework is negative in children when it's given in excess. Adults, in many jobs, don’t get extra work to do in their houses, so why do kids have to? We can’t disparage kids; their homework and what they learn is as equally difficult for them, as our work is for us, so they don’t find it easy when they have to sit for hours in a chair solving math problems.

In conclusion, the homework issue should be homogenized so it could fit with every type of school. Kids deserve to be treated as more than only a work-machine.

By: Abril Stokle