Homework Season

From:http://news.omy.sg/News/Local%2BNews/Story/OMYStory201006281547-163598.html

家长申诉补课测验功课太多　学校剥夺学生假期

“学校假期，哪有假期？”有家长申诉，许多学校在假期安排补课、给学生太多功课、假期后又有测验，使学生完全无法享受假期！

6月学校假期结束，今天开学，但许多家长却申诉，孩子在假期间根本无法放假。

家长说，学生在假期间需回校补课，或在家埋头完成老师安排的作业，有些为应付开学后的测验，被迫不断复习功课。

、许多家长最近都投函《海峡时报》，吁请学校让学生在学业与休闲上取得平衡，也让家长与孩子有时间相处。

凯丽说，学校放假前的几个星期，她已计划带孩子出国度假。不料，学期结束前，她发现念一所名校中一的女儿需完成一堆作业，包括与同学见面讨论专题作业、电子报告、模型制作等。

作业都需在开学第一周交上，分数也将是年终考试分数之一。

凯丽说，有家长于是聘请补习老师替孩子完成作业，还有人带孩子出国，也需携带膝上型电脑方便孩子做作业。

家长认为，平日家长无法与孩子有充足时间联络情感，若连假期也遭剥夺，恐怕孩子日后会变得冷漠且不善于与家人沟通。

有些学校为了让学生在假期间好好休息，决定不安排假期作业或补课。

公教中学校长李学文说，校方尽量避免给学生假期功课，鼓励学生到图书馆借书阅读等，并指定学生在假期间不应回校，除非是为比赛训练或找老师解答功课。

李校长说，学校也在假期前安排考试，让学生可利用假期休息。

他不认为给学生假期作业能提高学习能力，反而可能弄巧反拙。

不过，李校长不否认能力较弱的学生，可能想利用假期复习，因此校方会与家长沟通，让学生有需要时到学校向老师求助。

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Can't help to say that University holidays are still the best, when we can totally forget about all the modules we've just taken and clear our memory space for the next semester. It doesn't sound right but this is how volatile our knowledge we obtained in university modules is. Comparable to RAM in our computers.

Because of this freedom, students usually worry about their holiday plans. They want to have a good rest but yet want to look for temporary jobs, internships, or other commitments to keep their surplus time occupied. On the other hand, primary, secondary and junior college students are complaining about having too much schoolwork during the holidays.

Looks like we are past the 'age' to understand these students' plight eh?

The term 'holiday homework' feels like long long ago. Though I can still vividly remember the frustration when I had to finish up a pile of assignments over a long weekend or a 1-week term break.

Compared to the university workload, those 'holiday homework' and 'remedial lessons' in the past seem like nothing. In fact I think the month-long holidays are more than enough to finish up everything. Perhaps the holiday workload has increased over the years under the revamped education system, or students have more activities to participate nowadays such that there is simply no time to set aside for academic work.

Let's talk about my personal experience. During secondary school days, I rarely went for outings with friends. Majority of the holiday was spent on CCA, which required a great deal of practice hours per week. At home, I would indulge in my videogames. I didn't use to spend as much time on computer/internet as compared to now. Homework was often pushed to the last minute, just like what almost everybody did.

Doing homework during school term and during holidays are different. Personally I tend to be less efficient when it comes to finishing homework during holidays, due to distraction, brain rust and the inertia to begin attempting the homework, which is always so difficult to overcome. This is probably why time always doesn't seem to be enough.

Remedial lessons are more of a rarity, at least for me. Teachers normally avoid holding lessons on holidays due to clash with CCA schedules...and their need to rest haha. If you still remember my previous article about teachers' workload, you would understand how precious school holidays are to them as well.

As for post-holiday tests, I actually prefer that way since it gives us more time to prepare and study. It can be rather torturous trying to juggle revision, homework, normal lessons and CCA during term time. However, having to do group project during holidays does sound daunting to me...

I believe schools will defend their stand by saying that holiday homework and lessons are necessary for students to retain their knowledge and keep in touch with what they have learnt thus far. I reluctantly agree with this, after realising how easy it is for us to forget things we've just learnt. However some people claim that this might instead have a negative impact on our learning ability.

If it is said that children have no time to spend with their parents, I think it's more of the other way round.

Are students nowadays really deprived of their holidays? Or are parents just getting more whiny and uptight? I think it's the latter. Look at the PSLE complaints.

And the freedom of speech and opinions has produced more grouchy citizens protesting at every little hardship they face. Just look at Stomp.