Teachers give homework because they're too idle to teach

Taxpayers pay enough for them to teach kids, so ****ing teach them! They give children homework only because they'd rather spend their time scratching their arse than teaching, but love the holidays.

Do you agree?

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Reply 1

Platopus

Original post by floury

When my teachers set massive holiday home works, I always took great pleasure in the comfort that it was going to take them a lot of time and effort to mark.

Reply 2

Namita Gurung

Are you seriously asking this?
Even though it might not be enjoyable, one can't deny the benefits of having homework.

Off the top of my head:
It helps to recap things learned in the lesson
Allows practice
Can encourage the student to explore things of interest outside the taught material

It's not because they 'can't be bothered' to teach

Reply 3

S1939

I guess it depends on how seriously the students take it. If a teacher gives homework to pupils - knowing well that half the class is not going to complete it- then they should not have set it. Instead, the teachers responsibility should be to tailor the work set, according the students ability- which they should be doing in the first place.
However, getting homework is good as it encourages independent learning- something we will have to do, once we end up at uni.

Reply 4

username1204031

Original post by S1939

I guess it depends on how seriously the students take it. If a teacher gives homework to pupils - knowing well that half the class is not going to complete it- then they should not have set it.

But then wouldn't everyone just not do their homework so they'd stop getting it?

Reply 5

S1939

Original post by JordanL_

But then wouldn't everyone just not do their homework so they'd stop getting it?

They wouldn't stop getting homework. They would stop- not handing in their work. If you read my quote in full, I mentioned that the teacher should tailor their homework to the pupils ability- which they should be doing- as we're put in sets.
If a teacher understands that the work they set was too difficult/ something that the students do not understand- then they should maybe give an extra lesson or two, properly engaging with the pupils- making sure they understand it.

Reply 6

username1204031

Original post by S1939

More often than not, people don't do homework purely because they can't be bothered with it. Tailoring it to the students' ability won't fix that.

Reply 7

floury

Original post by Namita Gurung

A teacher in the making I see. If you need arse scratching techniques, I suggest you pop into your nearest school on their next 'inset day'.

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Reply 8

floury

Original post by S1939

What you need to appreciate though is that many teachers are too ****ing thick to be in the profession. They went to university and thought 'oh **** no actual employer wants me, let's go into teaching'.

This is why homework is never catered to the student.

If you can, do; if you can't, teach. If you can barely do either (or even tie up your shoelaces), teach primary school.

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Reply 9

floury

Original post by Platopus

When my teachers set massive holiday home works, I always took great pleasure in the comfort that it was going to take them a lot of time and effort to mark.

Pfft, they probably mark it in between This Morning and Judge Rinder!

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Reply 10

Butterfly9595

My school had a policy of demanding teachers to give out a minimum number of hours of homework, particularly lower down the school. Some is useful and does encourage independent learning, particularly at A Level, which is useful for deeper understanding.

Also, my main question is, if teachers are giving out homework, they're gonna have to mark it, which is probably a lot more work than teaching the class as a whole...

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Reply 11

Lkathryn08

They don't set homework because they're lazy!
They have to mark it so if anything they're giving themselves more work.
It helps to consolidate information taught in class if there isn't enough time in class to practice and you need to focus on teaching content!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 12

Platopus

Original post by floury

Pfft, they probably mark it in between This Morning and Judge Rinder!

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My essays were up to 5 thousand words long. I hope they gave em hell.

Reply 13

TheFame

In my experience, it's always the teachers who are NOT lazy that set the most homework... My English teacher was the most hardworking teacher I'd ever had and he was always setting homework after delivering solid lessons every single day. My music teacher, on the other hand, read through three PowerPoint slides every lesson and set at most two pieces of homework in the two years I had her!

So, in my opinion, I disagree with your statement. The teachers that are too idle to teach are probably going to be too idle to set homework and mark it...

Reply 14

Rather_Cynical

There is a fundamental misunderstanding of what "homework" is for. It's to practice and consolidate something that you've learned in class, so after the focus/attention steps you encode it into memory. It's not to replace teaching at all.

The "taxpayers money" nonsense shows very little understanding of how governments allocate resources, education is one of the most important investments you can make and as a proportion of GDP/tax revenues it's underfunded.

EDIT - there is a point that some teachers do misuse homework, but that's hardly the fault of the concept of homework - that's just poor teaching.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 15

Mutmit287

Original post by floury

Disagree, all that homework they set has to be looked through and marked to give feedback. This comment is actually ridiculous, teachers get paid very little for what they do, yes they get long holidays but they spend a lot of that time creating lesson plans and going to training, most even mark exam papers during the summer holidays.

Homework is there so that students can consolidate what they have learnt in class and gain valuable discipline which will set them in good shape when it comes to exams and revision. Homework also allows teachers to gauge how students perform when the information is not fresh in their mind and there is no teacher there to help them, its a really good useful tool, which most of us hated (unless you were me).

Reply 16

Sarah_Brighton

Original post by floury

No, homework gives you self-study / self-motivation skills. You're gonna have a nasty shock when you get a job or study at Uni if you expect everything to be drip-fed to you.

Also:
- The teacher's wage is appalling for the work they do.
- The wage is also proportionate to the holiday. Ie. they're not being paid for the 'time off' (even though many do actually work during that time).
- I know many teachers. None of them spend any time 'scratching their arse'. In general they work a full day and then do extra at home (marking, lesson planning). During the holidays, they (OMG) have some holiday (because we don't live in the Victorian era, and adults have families and other commitments) but they also prepare everything for the year ahead.