The Irving, Texas School District made local headlines last week when they announced they would once again count homework as part of a student's grade. This reverses a decision made a year ago. The rationale: More high school students were receiving failing grades under the new policy. My immediate response was, "Da."
Having spent years working in a high school setting, I have seen the value of homework. I also know that most students view it with a certain degree of disdain. As a teacher, homework usually accounted for 20% of the total grade in my classroom. Students who were poor test takers even benefited from having their daily work graded. Even then, given a choice those students would have avoided taking assignments home. There had to be consequences attached to assigning homework. Assigments reinforced what had happened in the classroom, and in some cases challenged the students to take the principle taught to the next level.
Most parents are aware of this. If you have a rule, there needs to be consequence if the rule is broken. If a child breaks their curfew they need to forfeit double the time the next weekend: Thirty minutes late means one hour. If they fail to do their chores, it means giving up going out one night the following weekend or loss another privilege.
We all need rule to insure that their is structure in our lives. There also needs to consequences when we break the rules. So, what are the consequences when a parent does not hold up their end of the bargain?
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