For more and more students, the days of lazy summers have given way to dozens of hours of reading, writing and arithmetic, not to mention art and science projects. Students who hit the beach instead of the books could face stiff consequences when they return to school.
Seventeen-year-old Lydia Mattern knows if she doesn’t turn in extensive reports on assigned books and a play for her advanced placement literature class in North East, Maryland., she will start her senior year with an F. In Chicago, Rauner College Prep principal Eric Thomas greeted 150 freshman at the new school last week by telling those who didn’t do the homework assigned last spring to join him for detention after school. And in Lancaster, Texas, more than 500 elementary, junior high and high school students were ordered to serve in-school suspensions or sent home because they didn’t do their assigned homework.
„It’s gotten worse every summer, I think”, said Emily Dosmar, a 17-year-old student at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago. By late August, Dosmar had spent more than 50 hours on art projects and a 4,000-word essay for her English literature class, and she didn’t even want to think about how long it was going to take her to translate a 75-page book from German to English before she starts her senior year after Labor Day. „The amount of work she has this summer is absurd”, said her father, Michael Dosmar. „There’s so much they’re trying to cram into the kids.”
Some wonder if the lack of a break is killing students’ love of learning. „Kids who have to read books, read 12 books and write reports over the summer, it kills the love of reading”, said William Crain, a professor of psychology at City College of New York and author of ”Reclaiming Childhood”. „The other part of it is they start to hate school when they don’t get any time to play”, he said.
Nancy Kalish, who has written extensively about parenting issues, said it is especially important that students be allowed free time in the summer because school is more stressful and competitive than ever. „Now summer is just a continuation of the stress and strain they feel in the school year”, said Kalish, co-author of ”The Case Against Homework”.
But many educators say summer homework is vitally important, not just for students in advanced classes and honors programs, but for everyone. „A lot of students need as much academic support as they can get”, said Thomas, the principal in Chicago. „Traditionally, we haven’t fared that well in Chicago with high schools getting kids prepared and I think it is definitely a necessity.”
In Lancaster, Teri Wilson, the school district’s director of community relations, said reading is too important to let slide during the summer. „We know that reading skills are tied to success the remainder of their lives”, she said. „We want them in the habit of reading and problem-solving every day.”
Other educators and parents point to studies and their own experiences that show students over the summer forget much of what they learned the previous school year. And they say students need to put extra effort into developing skills needed for success today. „Today, because of this fast-paced high-tech society, yeah, it’s important”, said Michael Sands, whose son, Nick, is doing homework in preparation for starting the sixth grade at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. „It’s so competitive today.”
That competition is also pushing high school students into the advanced placement classes that typically assign summer homework. „The messages from colleges is you need those AP classes”, said Elizabeth Clain, the chair of the history department at Mamaroneck High School in New York.
Callie Schweitzer, one of Clain’s students, said she has spent 50 to 60 hours on summer homework assignments for her classes. Schweitzer, 17, said her classmates know they have to do the work if they want to get into the country’s top colleges. „They spend their summers doing things to prove to schools they are worthy”, she said. (World)
