I watched a tiktok by a school teacher who hasn't assigned any homework in 12 years a few days ago and I'm still thinking about it because she made some great points. I'll link it here but it's in German.
I'll go ahead and summarize the arguments she made as to why she thinks homework sucks:
It doesn't actually promote self-sufficiency. Kids who don't struggle with organization and discipline at school will also not struggle with their homework, but kids who do struggle at school and need more help will also struggle while trying to get anything done at home.
It's inherently unfair/unequal. Children's home situations are so very different, some kids have their own desk and computer in a quiet room and at least one parent around who has the time & knowledge to help them plus the financial means to hire a tutor, while some children don't even have their own room and their parents might not be around or lack the education and means to be of any help at all.
AI exists and can be used to do almost all homework and most kids use it.
Assigning and checking homework and enforcing consequences when students don't do it is a waste of class time and creates an unpleasant atmosphere.
And also a very important point that many people in the comments made based on their experiences as both students & parents of students:
In addition to being a huge stressor for children and bad for their mental health, it also puts a lot of strain on the parent-child relationship. In cases where a parent already has a tendency to be abusive, conflicts over homework can quickly escalate and lead to abuse, which can then cause trauma around learning itself.
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