Homework?

[rainman]

The only thing thats embarrasing from a political point of view is the way in 9 short years that labour has fucked up the education system to the point of ruin !!

Not to mention every single other aspect of the tax payers requirements.

I dunno. Seriously, petty partisan politics aside, the education system is pretty damn good compared to what I got. Both my sons get education tailored to their needs, get plenty of homework and extension, and get to learn some pretty advanced stuff earlier than I ever did. No way is it at the "point of ruin". What specific problems are you having?

And my requirements as a taxpayer are generally met fairly well - there are some things I'd prefer not to waste money on, but by and large, things are not too bad. There are some incompetent departments, and some good departments, but that doesn't seem to change whoever is in government.

[Kemet]

In part, though the education system is what you make - and take? - from it.

I've heard, in the past, people complain about Asians 'taking over everything' (??). You know why??

Look how hard they've worked at school to get there. Although this opinion is only coming from personal experience.

One of the things I always remember about high school is that there were a small few of the asian students slacking off and being just as lazy as the the small few of the local kids, but of all the "over-achievers" at school, a majority of those were asian kids.

I also think NCEA is a "little" namby-pamby....

Hell A LOT namby-pamby.

It's teaching the gifted kids that there efforts aren't worth the paper their "achieved with excellence" is written on.

The middle of the road kids only have to do enough work to pass now and they'll still get "achieved" with that minimum effort.

And it's now easier for some of the lower achievers to get that passing grade (so that no kid gets left behind?? or something), when really they are not getting ahead at all and are just being set up for a huge disappointment in the real world when they find out it wasn't really good enough after all.

In the end for me all my slacking off in 7th form go me were Ds. However, because I wanted to get into T-Col (at the time) I needed pass grades. That meant repeating 7th form so I could get those grades up.

A year is a bloody long time to waste when you've got some place else you should be!!!

MY POINT......

To anyone!! Your kids may resent you at the time but don't be afraid to push them. Don't go flying off the wall or anything but DO talk to their teachers about what is going on in their classes.

If you are clever enough, DO talk to your kids if they are slacking off and find out why. It can be as simple as being bored - or that they truly are stuggling with with some aspect of their work and need help but are too ashamed to ask for help. Don't forget peer-pressure. We had it at school and with the way social dynamics have changed since any one of us finished school, chances are that peer-pressure is a hell of alot worse for them than it was for us. If they can't talk to you find someone who they can talk to. Even if you never know exactly what is going on at least they can be talking to someone you trust and who can advise your kids what is in their best interests.



phew

enough from me.

[KiwiKat]

If your child has always been a high achiever they will generally be able to cruise through high school and get most homework and assignments done during class time. If he is highly sociable and not a high achiever he probably is slacking and hanging out with his mates when he should be doing revision etc.

3rd form and term 1 4th form maths is pretty easy (often boring with no challenge) being an extension of Intermediate level maths until about mid year when the tricky stuff hits home. If he is serious about achieving then he should be starting to focus and swot during the middle of this year. The reality is most boys will avoid study and homework unless pressured (private schools work). Don't panic yet. Remember the child often reflects the parent. (chip off the old block)

[ajturbo]

i asked luke that every friggin night last year... same answer.... "No, i've done it at school..."

well the little shit was lying... i asked the teacher at a meeting, found out the little shit had not done any home work...... that was just before we went over seas!!!

what i wanted to know was.... what was the teacher doing about him not doing his home work..... answer... NOTHING.
so why the frig complain to ME after 6 months of luke not doing it... to say that he wasn't doing anything about it... lazy frigin teacher... dam i wish i was a teacher of that level...!!

they would iether do as i TOLD them or they would be out of my class, sitting on the grass... they would obviously not want to be in that class, so why have them there!!!
just hope it would be raining....
friggin soft cock teachers..

when i was teaching at the poly, if the students were late for class.. the door was locked!!! ( untill i got it was a fire risk...wooops)

[GurlRacer]

I did TONS of homework up until I went to Norway to which I did nothing (even when I returned to NZ)

I had homework from at least every subject... and I was chef in training too!! Got to the point where the 'rents contacted the school and to cut it out.. they saw how much work I was doing. But then I became a lazy assed little shit

[KiwiKat]

i asked luke that every friggin night last year... same answer.... "No, i've done it at school..."

well the little shit was lying... i asked the teacher at a meeting, found out the little shit had not done any home work...... that was just before we went over seas!!!

what i wanted to know was.... what was the teacher doing about him not doing his home work..... answer... NOTHING.
so why the frig complain to ME after 6 months of luke not doing it... to say that he wasn't doing anything about it... lazy frigin teacher... dam i wish i was a teacher of that level...!!

they would iether do as i TOLD them or they would be out of my class, sitting on the grass... they would obviously not want to be in that class, so why have them there!!!
just hope it would be raining....
friggin soft cock teachers..

when i was teaching at the poly, if the students were late for class.. the door was locked!!! ( untill i got it was a fire risk...wooops)

Wrong - Great parenting attitude - blame the teacher - Your child is probably one of 150 that the teacher sees in a week. If they don't do the work they lose - simple. They probably blame the teacher too. Time is better spent on kids that want to learn and that have positive parent support.

[Quasievil]

Wrong - Great parenting attitude - blame the teacher - Your child is probably one of 150 that the teacher sees in a week. If they don't do the work they lose - simple. They probably blame the teacher too. Time is better spent on kids that want to learn and that have positive parent support.

Yeah I blame the teacher to, how hard is it for a teacher to check to see if the kid has done the homework that THEY put in place, and if they didnt *punish them accordingly and take a note for the report that goes to the parent.
Becuase the Teachers arent checking THATS the loophole for the kids to get out of the homework, meantime parents dont know whats going on.

*Told that they need to try harder, asked if there are problems at home whilst the fingers are ready to dial sips

[Blossom]

Havn't read the last couple of pages so not sure whats the norm...but with our four it varies.
form 3 girl (year 9) rarely gets homework and generally only from her science teacher (just got her report she is doing very well)
Form 1 boy (year 7) gets homework most nights
Standard 3 girl (year 5) randomly sometimes gets homework
New entrant girl gets 20mins of reading and revision every single night incl weekends.
Go figure. They go to 3 different schools too so I guess its a national issue. Our primary pta and board are meeting to 'discuss' the homework issue and whether or not they should consider culling it. (the homework not the pta)

[James Deuce]

My Year 4 chap gets 30 minutes a night. He's one of a small group in his class that completes it regularly. It's really easy to play the blame game, but I really feel for the parents (or solo parent) who both work to simply stay where they are and have no time or energy left ensure that homework is sorted.

Having said that there are parents in Year 4 chap's class who simply refuse to enforce the homework because it's "too hard". You can turn it into a positive thing, and we've stuck with it because this is an opportunity to develop good study habits that can make life a lot easier later on.

Pat yourself on the back for giving a crap Quasi.

[MsKABC]

The only thing thats embarrasing from a political point of view is the way in 9 short years that labour has fucked up the education system to the point of ruin !!

Sorry Quasi, but I'm going to have to disagree with you there. As a teacher of 5 years experience, it is my belief that the reason many kids don't get a decent education these days is that schools (more specifically teachers) are not supported. Not supported by the government (funding & legislation), by parents (poor role modelling, ignorance, don't give a crap, poor discipline etc) and not supported by society as a whole. Do you know how hard it is to actually discipline a child in school these days? When I was teaching, I could give out a detention for uniform infractions, chewing gum, inappropriate behaviour in the playground, and that was about it. Anything more serious and I either had to run my own detention during lunchtime (who the hell wants to do that when you get precious little time to do stuff or relax and eat your lunch as it is?) or send the issue to the dean. The deans were generally all as weak as piss and would give them a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket! As a teacher, I've been sworn at and sexually harrassed, and the worst thing that ever happened to them was they had to pick up rubbish, FFS! Schools have their hands tied too tightly behind their backs when it comes to suspensions and expulsions these days that kids in state schools get away with murder (and I mean that almost literally!) So we have these awful disruptive kids in schools that poor teachers have to expend almost all their energy on, leaving no time for the actual job of teaching! This is the only reason I left teaching.

I also think NCEA is a "little" namby-pamby....

Hell A LOT namby-pamby.

It's teaching the gifted kids that there efforts aren't worth the paper their "achieved with excellence" is written on.

I actually found that it was quite difficult for kids to get 'achieved', and even more so 'merit' or 'excellence'. An average kid might get say 10 A, 2 M & 1 E marks, so whilst they got 13 marks overall, if they needed 11 A marks to get achieved, they didn't get it. Above average kids might get 16 A, 3 M and 2 E, so whilst they got 21 marks overall, they might need 13 A, 4 M and 2 E to get excellence, they only get an 'achieved' grade.

what i wanted to know was.... what was the teacher doing about him not doing his home work..... answer... NOTHING.
so why the frig complain to ME after 6 months of luke not doing it... to say that he wasn't doing anything about it... lazy frigin teacher... dam i wish i was a teacher of that level...!!

Your perspective is completely unrealistic, sorry. You have 30 kids pour into your classroom, it takes at least 5 minutes to get them all there and seated and settled down, you've got 55 minutes total to get your lesson done, and you are supposed to go round the room and check each student's homework, taking 5-10 minutes, meanwhile the rest of the room is erupting? It's not as easy as you might think.

they would iether do as i TOLD them or they would be out of my class, sitting on the grass... they would obviously not want to be in that class, so why have them there!!!
just hope it would be raining....
friggin soft cock teachers..

when i was teaching at the poly, if the students were late for class.. the door was locked!!! ( untill i got it was a fire risk...wooops)

Again, a completely unrealistic attitude. You taught at polytech, where students actually paid to be there, and generally cared whether they passed or failed. If you send a kid out of class in high school, the result is them wandering off around the school causing mayhem, or staying outside and doing their damndest to disrupt your class. I know, I've tried it - doesn't work.

Wrong - Great parenting attitude - blame the teacher - Your child is probably one of 150 that the teacher sees in a week. If they don't do the work they lose - simple. They probably blame the teacher too. Time is better spent on kids that want to learn and that have positive parent support.

Absolutely spot on.

Yeah I blame the teacher to, how hard is it for a teacher to check to see if the kid has done the homework that THEY put in place, and if they didnt *punish them accordingly and take a note for the report that goes to the parent.
Becuase the Teachers arent checking THATS the loophole for the kids to get out of the homework, meantime parents dont know whats going on.

As above - it is actually quite hard to enforce h/w requirements, when you're having to deal with all manner of other shit. There is some onus on parents to be in touch with what is happening too, and support the teacher. A teacher might see a student for 3-4 hours a week - a hell of a lot is expected of them for those hours. The best way to make absolutely sure that h/w is being done is to sight your child's h/w diary and sign it off each night, and keep in regular contact with the teachers and/or dean if you suspect something is up. Teachers can't do it on their own

Having said that there are parents in Year 4 chap's class who simply refuse to enforce the homework because it's "too hard". You can turn it into a positive thing, and we've stuck with it because this is an opportunity to develop good study habits that can make life a lot easier later on.

Yep - parenting is bloody hard, and all too often parents take the easy way out. Generally this happens long before the kids reach high school and the bad habits are far too ingrained for even a really good teacher to be able to have a positive influence.

Pat yourself on the back for giving a crap Quasi.

Yes - it's more than a lot of parents would do. I almost only ever saw the parents who cared (and therefore whose kids were doing well) at parent-teacher interviews. The parents I really needed to see didn't bother to come.

[Finn]

Bollocks on both counts. My son's doing some NCEA credits and there is plenty of homework and frequent assessment that builds planning and self-responsibility skills, very much in the style of a tertiary work programme.

And, as to your second point, Tolley's the minister - so pfffft. She's a ferking lightweight. I heard her talking on Radio NZ Checkpoint this evening and she's an utter embarrassment.

You're a pinko so your post is void of any logic, reason or fact.

[PrincessBandit]

My son (year 13 - that's 7th form for us oldies) often says he has none, but they do get study time during the day in which they can complete work.

Most students find, if they've "coasted" through junior years (9 and 10) and even year 11 (5th form) that year 12 is a huge jump up and a rude shock. How to deal with the recidivist "I don't have any"/"I've already done it all" eluded me all through both my kids high school years. Nagging does NOT help and in the end I had to accept that the only way they'd buck their ideas up was to start failing. The problem is that everything they do at school these days is designed to give them as many "goes" as needed in order to finally achieve or pass that many have a complete lack of incentive to do any extra study or work.

[Quasievil]

Nagging does NOT help and in the end I had to accept that the only way they'd buck their ideas up was to start failing. The problem is that everything they do at school these days is designed to give them as many "goes" as needed in order to finally achieve or pass that many have a complete lack of incentive to do any extra study or work.

Im to old school, its simple if he doesnt pick up his ideas do some homework and study and better his grades he aint playing rugby this year, end of story

[bull]

My 3 boys, 12yr old at intermediate gets double sided A4 sheet for a fortnights homework, my two younger boys 8 and 7 get single A4 sheet each week. The two younger boys are also advised to do some reading each night.

Just recently had parent teacher interviews with the 12yr olds teach and i told him im concerned at the lack of homework. He said to me that they give that amount because it means everyone can achieve it.

This was not acceptable to me and i told the teacher this - I want my child to be striving to get ahead, not just coasting along at the dumbest childs level. I requested more homework for my son to which he agreed. Two weeks to do a double sided A4 sheet that my son can knock out in an hour on a Monday night - what a crock.

I agree with you too Quasi - my boy let himself and his softball team down twice this past season - hadnt done his homework so couldnt train and play that week. And the coach had the cheek to say to my son that i was being a bit harsh.

My boys all know that the sports they play are purely for fitness and fun, education is number 1 priority to me and it always will be you dont do the school stuff you miss the fitness and fun stuff.

[rainman]

You're a pinko so your post is void of any logic, reason or fact.

You're off your game. Not feeling well?