New York Times Quotes TC’s Tom Hatch on ”Homework Wars” | Teachers College Columbia University

Skip to content Skip to main navigation
Skip to content Skip to content
Filed Under > Quoted & Noted

The New York Times Quotes TC’s Tom Hatch on “Homework Wars”

Thomas Hatch, Professor of Education
Thomas Hatch, Professor of Education
In an April 25 New York Times story describing parent “homework wars,” TC's Tom Hatch, co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching (NCREST), says they’re a “proxy fight about what constitutes learning,” and “intrinsically linked to the debates over standardized testing that have fueled the national ‘opt-out’ movement.”

Parents disagree — often passionately — about the correct amount of homework their children should be doing. One camp believes kids need homework to lock in and reinforce learning, promote discipline, and to achieve and compete in the global workplace. According to Hatch, other parents, using the same logic that promotes opting out of standardized tests, say it puts too much stress on their children and is repetitive, boring, and wastes time. The National PTA compromises with the position that students should get 10 minutes of homework per grade year in school (i.e., 60 minutes in sixth grade).

The controversy is “a small part of a larger conversation about how kids should spend their time,” Hatch says.

To read the full story, go here: 

Published Thursday, May 11, 2017