Personally I agree with you when you say homework shouldn't be used but sometimes i think its needed. The homework could be as small as reviewing every night but you need to do something to make sure you know the topic. Also, you need some way of making sure that the students are keeping up with what you are learning so give them a small quiz or something like that.

I agree with the homework, It's definitely unnecessary, but i still think that the core of certiain subjects are necessary. Math is very important, and it's nice to know a few things about our history. Also the basic skills of english are needed to not seem like an idiot in life. Other than that i like your system. I also completely agree with having a close relationship with teachers. It seems that the classes i have with teachers im close with are easier and more profitable in my education. Nice job.

As a teacher, I often ask what the purpose of homework is. As a parent, I've seen my kids rush through homework so they could do other things. If they know the material, homework is easy. If they don't know the material, homework is IMPOSSIBLE without someone to guide them. What's the point of easy homework? And what's the point of completing homework you don't understand, only to get a low grade on it the next day?

If what is going on in the classroom is relevant and meaningful, then we teachers have done our jobs for the day. I think there is value in getting away from the school work for the evening and engaging the brain in other activities. When I come home from work, the last thing I want to do is MORE WORK!

So Harrison, I'm signing up for YOUR school.

First of all, thanks for all the feedback guys. I'm glad I have people agreeing with my stance on homework, but I'm also glad that some people disagree. In case it wasn't clear, the homework thing is a huge element of school that I would fight. I really think that, provided we're talking about a class of relatively mature, motivated students, homework would not be a necessary part of school. I see homework, like I said, as a necessary means to an end. This doesn't mean that I don't think it reinforces your learning in a subject. Just to defend my point, (and I realize that I didn't explain this in the paper, but this was my thought process) my idea of school kind of focused less on what the student learned, and more on how they develop as a person. Homework tends to stop the individual from doing things that they may want to do socially, and, here's where my logic kicks in, the social and psychological aspects of a students life are just as important to their becoming a functioning member of society as learning a career is. Talking with peers helps to develop debating skills, as well as basic human interaction skills.

On a less thought out note, and to further defend myself, (someone needs to do it!) homework does not, even without my taking it away, fit in with the rest of my educational plan. I digress.

Despite my argument, there is no way to guarantee that not having homework would work-- at all. The fact of the matter is, it's never really been tried. Homework has existed since the establishment of formal educational systems. Who knows? The lack of homework could debunk the entire formal system. It could also end in disaster. I suppose that it would need to be tried.

I think that students should learn about the history of our pastime and understand that it can happen any day. Also I agree that students should learn how to learn because in some cases students don't know how to be taught and understand the work, and its harder for them to understand. I also agree that we shouldn't have any homework and that its a lot to put on us. I think that the teachers give us homework because they want us to understand and make sure that we learned something that day. I think that we should have testes because this will make us study and then really have it in the back of our head and be able to talk about it in an open discussion. I think students and teachers should have a bond because teachers should be able to help in anything that the student needs. To also take account how they learn and be able to help them along the way.

Your not the only one that sees homework as one of those things that you HAVE to overcome in order to achieve success. Also the way of learning through direct exposure is also a strong agreement , when we get out of school and into the real world, yea we'll need to know math and english and so on, but what about our actual ability to think and make real life decisions that don't have to do with equations and literary elements?

That's where being able to have discussions and debates to argue our points and elaborate on others thoughts and opinions, being able to speak up for yourself and learn what's out there. We should learn how to think for ourselves and not just learn to solve problems and what not.

I really like your use of different perspectives and multiple diverse sources to drive your point. And you really helped me question the purpose of homework. HOWEVA: Your mentioning a fostering of student-teacher relationship seems highly problematic. Not only would it be impractical for a teacher or multiple teachers to personally connect with ALL students, I think it has the ability to be counter productive in some cases. Personally, I have gotten mixed up passion for a subject and connection to a teacher.

I'll go ahead and be obvious with the subject matter; Spanish is definitely not close to my heart. Not only is my tongue not built for Zorro-esque manipulation of the language, it has nothing to do with my life at all. I came to SLA having taken French since the 3rd grade. However, Ms.Gierke helped me to define the value of the language enough for me to maintain interest. Her teaching was effective enough for me to pull off A's too. I connected to her teaching so much that I almost thought it would be fun for me to continue my Spanish education. But I realized how far away the language was from what I cared for. And I realized had I gone forward with it I might have liked it less than I did when i started out because I would have been learning Spanish for Ms.Gierke, not myself.

I said all that to say, finding passion through teachers is problematic at times. However, I feel if teaching is an aspiration it would make sense. --Or if a teacher reversely inspires by being a bad teacher. So, my question: how does a teacher who teaches core curriculum inspire specialized students?

Oh dear, seems as though I've left a long comment.

First, I think that this is well written.   However, I am not sure that your idea of no homework, although I agree with it, is likely to ever happen.  Perhaps, we may see a decrease, but for such subjects as foreign languages and math, practice is key in order to absorb the process and concepts.  I also think that your idea of student-teacher relationships is impractical, espcially in schools that have thousands of students in them.  And no traditional subjecs?  While I, again, agree with your point, don't you think that people need to have some type of fact-based knowledge to argue ove in the first place?  And that people should be taught how to write, and read, and whatnot?  

I like this vision of school that you've set-up Harrison. But in your courses description, where does math fit in? Or History, English, and Language classes? Are those subjects obsolete in your vision? I love the idea of not having homework (it's something I've fought against for years) but in what other way would your school assess how and what the students are learning and if the style of learning is good for the individual student?

That's a great idea for a school, but if you decide to omit homework from your curriculum, how else would you be able to determine what the students know? Will your school give out grades? If so, how would you determine whether or not a student truly knows the material?