Given that we have kids in the same class, it isn't surprising I suppose that we get irked about education issues in a kind of coordinated way. You can always tell when report cards are imminent, the homework load is ramped right up! The teachers' inabilities to plan ahead and cover material at school translate into long homework assignments done in isolation at home.

I started off by being merely annoyed that school policies were souring my home life, taking that precious couple of hours every evening from me and replacing them with a conflict ridden warzone. The more research I do on homework, the more militant I get in my views on the subject.

Given that the available research does not suggest that homework improves academic achievement, why are teachers ALLOWED to assign it and INSIST on its completion? I have requested that my children in elementary school be allowed to "opt out" of homework. I was denied permission by the principal, it is too complicated, sets bad precedent...

Where to go from here? How do we make the point more clearly? How do we insist that we have the right to determine how our family time is spent?

Ironically, this generation of students with huge homework loads is hitting university hard. They are failing. They have been "trained" to do a lot of homework, but it is not good work, and they have no idea how to do good, hard work.

Finally, in the absence of any research to support the academic value of homework, many educators tell us that students learn responsibility and good study habits from completing homework. I would argue that the opposite it happening. How does my signing homework logs and reading sheets translate into a more responsible child? We seem to be raising children for whom every little thing is done.

Homework should be feeding the dog, taking out the garbage, making your bed, preparing your lunch, cutting your toe nails...