'No homework' won't make us Finland

Have you seen the 'No homework note' circulating the Internet?  You can take a look at a recent Scary Mommy post here.

Our girls are attending a 'No homework' school this year.  The only nightly assignment for our third-grader is to read for 20 minutes.  In retrospect, last year in Ohio was the same, but no one put a label on it.  I just met a mom with fifth and sixth graders who is having the same experience.  As a teacher (some might add a very mean teacher) I've got a lot to say on this 'no homework' trend....

For a book study a few years back, I read a book called The Smartest Kids in the World.  It's become rather a joke for us since one night I was reading the book while swearing at the t.v. waiting for our district to call off for a snow day. My husband asked if that was how to produce the smartest kids.  I told him to shut up.

According the the author and a bunch of really impressive statistics, the smartest kids in the world are in Finland.  Finland is kicking everyone else's butt when it comes to education.  Of course the book has gone missing during the move, but it had a really nice graph showing test scores and general education-y success.  I recreated it for you here:

One of the reasons attributed to the success of Finland's students was the fact that they don't get homework.  However, there was a lot more.  Teachers in Finland are valued and paid accordingly.  I'm totally making this statistic up, but something like 3% of applicants are accepted into Finnish teaching programs.  Getting into a teachers college in Finland is like to getting into MIT in America.  Finland pays teachers appropriately for choosing their career over engineering or law.  Teachers adapt their lessons to meet the needs of each student.  They have a lot less students than American teachers and are given the TIME to research and plan for the differentiation process.  There is also an element of appreciation for nature and daily time outside that is attributed to the success of Finnish students.

Like I said, I forget the actual details and statistics.  If any Stow people want to weigh in here, please do!  But my take away is that not doing homework is small part of a culture that places a high value on public education and educators.

I have a second problem with the 'no homework' approach.  This approach sends kids the message that they will be fine just doing what everyone else does during the school day.  You are all intelligent, driven people.  Did you get where you are just going along with the status quo?  Success takes effort.  I want my kids to learn that getting ahead requires doing more.  I want doing more to be expected.  

I'm all for family time and playing outside, relaxing and all the other things that 'no homework' allows.  I'm also all for high expectations and scholarships and good jobs.  If we are not going to be getting homework I plan on assigning some of my own.