This paper examines the debate over homework levels in the United States by comparing a journalistic piece by Jay Mathews with peer-reviewed research by Gill and Schlossman, Chen and Stevenson, and other scholars. Drawing on data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and cross-national studies covering China, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, the paper evaluates whether American children are truly overburdened with homework. The analysis finds that U.S. homework levels are modest — averaging just over two hours per week for children under twelve — and have remained relatively stable over decades. The paper concludes that media portrayals of a homework crisis are exaggerated and that American students actually do less homework than their peers in several other developed nations.
The issue of homework appears to be a sensitive one in the United States. While some believe that children are subjected to too much homework, evidence suggests that American children may not study as much as children in other countries. This paper compares the article by Mathews with journal articles by Gill and Schlossman and several other authors, which present recent empirical evidence relating to the homework habits of American schoolchildren. The main difference between the piece by Mathews and the other two articles selected is that Mathews is clearly writing from a parent's perspective. The other two articles are written from a more objective viewpoint. This does not make the arguments used in Mathews' piece any less valid; it merely means that his perspective must be considered when evaluating his arguments.
Mathews' curiosity about homework appeared to arise as a result of both personal experience and a television report, although investigation of the facts revealed that the representation in the TV report may have been somewhat misleading. This may be explained by Mathews' discussion of the backgrounds of the experts featured on the program, one of whom appears to object strongly to the level of homework currently being assigned. This appears to have introduced an element of subjectivity to the findings presented in the TV show. The controversy over the accuracy with which study findings are portrayed in the media is also identified in the article by Gill and Schlossman, which gives several examples of the way in which results have been presented specifically to support the notion that homework levels are too high.
Both Mathews and Gill and Schlossman go on to present study findings in a more objective manner. Although it appears that American children have seen an increase in homework over recent years, this still leaves them with a relatively low level of homework — averaging 2 hours and 14 minutes per week for those aged under twelve. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), discussed by Gill and Schlossman, homework loads remain modest across all age groups.
Findings from the NAEP survey indicate that 9-year-old students spend the least amount of time on homework, with only 5% reporting that they had spent more than two hours on homework the previous night. This figure rose slightly among 13-year-olds, of whom 8% reported spending more than two hours studying the previous night. The report also showed that only 12% of 17-year-olds reported spending more than two hours studying on a given night. Furthermore, the proportion of students reportedly spending less than one hour on homework per night drops from just over 80% at age 9 to around 65% for both 13- and 17-year-olds. This indicates that over the entire age range, there may not be as great an increase in homework levels as Mathews appears to suggest. Rather, homework levels appear to remain fairly consistent across age groups.
"Decades-long homework data reveals stable or declining levels"
"U.S. homework compared to China, Japan, Germany, and Europe"
Overall, the evidence would appear to be highly supportive of the opinion put forth by Mathews — namely, that the homework level currently set in the U.S. should not be cause for concern. The level would appear to be at an optimal point for encouraging achievement, and is on a par with or even lower than that of many other developed countries. This further demonstrates that information portrayed by the popular media on this subject should be interpreted with caution.
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