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Emma Boczek

"My Daughter's Homework is Killing Me" - 53 views

started by Emma Boczek on 25 Sep 13
  • Emma Boczek
    #1 Emma Boczek on 25 Sep 13
     
    http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/my-daughters-homework-is-killing-me/309514/

    The author attempts to do his eighth grade daughter's homework for a week.

    Is this an effective format for a feature? How can we present an issue from a first-person perspective? And finally, is it ever a good idea to try to do Algebra homework while high?
  • James Finn
    #2 James Finn on 30 Sep 13
     
    I feel that the author's credibility suffers as a result of the description of pot smoking at the end of the story. However, the format is successful in arguing against homework, in that it shows a grown man who struggles to complete his eighth-grade daughter's work load. Any person who reads about a middle-aged man struggling with supposedly easy homework would be persuaded that the workload dumped on adolescents is excessive.
    It is definitely not a good idea to attempt to do any type of homework while high. Being high would serve as a huge distraction and would take away form the quality of the work being done.
  • Meg Weiss
    #3 Meg Weiss on 30 Sep 13
     
    I'm really glad this parent wrote this. It makes me want to do something similar with my dad because he doesn't seem to realize just how much homework I have. I think this story is an effective feature, however I think I would approach writing it differently. Maybe more of a summary of the week as a whole, and then add more statistics to it.
  • liz archer
    #4 liz archer on 01 Oct 13
     
    This is a great article because it shows the amount of homework kids have these days. I agree with Meg about adding statistics because it would show how his experience matched actual facts.I believe that what kids are learning at school is at a more complex level than what kids learned twenty-thirty years ago.
  • Ariana Agnew
    #5 Ariana Agnew on 07 Oct 13
     
    I think stress in high school is mostly homework induced- with the work load, even if we're getting a decent amount of sleep, we can't find time to unwind and do the things we want to do- pleasure reading, hanging out with friends, and stress trying to make time. This makes our homework less in depth, too.
  • Devon Stoeber
    #6 Devon Stoeber on 28 Oct 13
     
    I agree with the author's point of the article that homework is causing too much stress among high school students. I have had this conversation with my parents many times, especially when it comes to math homework, that if I need help they always tell me they would never be able to do what I'm doing even at this point. I think it would be interesting so see if my weekly homework assignments would be too much for them as well. I agree with Meg that the way the article was written seemed to take away from the overall point being made, and I think some statistics would add to it too to make it even more effective.
  • Anna Vandergriff
    #7 Anna Vandergriff on 29 Oct 13
     
    I agree that we are put under an enormous amount of stress and I think this is especially relatable to a community like ours, where there is constantly an underlying competition between students and therefore competition to be "the best" and to get into the highest ranking universities. I think that a comparison between other generations' and our work load, however I don't know if the author is the most credible source for that.
  • kate luebkeman
    #8 kate luebkeman on 29 Oct 13
     
    I agree with the authors concept of the irrational amounts of homework among students in America. I also agree with the demand for statistics and facts backing up the feature. It would also be interesting to explore how heightened technology has increased homework load. For example, writing an essay conceptually takes much shorter now using computers than fifty years ago when students used typewriters, or sometimes, (god forbid!) hand wrote many drafts. How has this increased technology (excel, grapher, microsoft word, other interactive online education) changed the homework load? That would be interesting to explore- but maybe a whole other topic.
  • Riley Kuffner
    #9 Riley Kuffner on 29 Oct 13
     
    This is an interesting layout for a story. The day-by-day description of thought processes is easy to write and to read, both good for the speaker and the audience. We could learn from this kind of format and do something similar; maybe a typical week at a full time job. In regard to the issue of homework, there's no doubt that students are a bit overwhelmed these days. Other nations have more assessment based systems with optional homework to prepare oneself for the test. This requires a great deal of motivation that not all students possess, but is an interesting alternative to the traditional system.
  • Sonja Hutson
    #10 Sonja Hutson on 30 Oct 13
     
    First person features are always really interesting because they are uncommon and allow the reader to understand the issue at a more personal layout. However, due to the inherent repetition of homework, the article was somewhat repetitive. I found myself rolling my eyes at the beginning of the new section when I had to hear, again, about having to read Angela's Ashes and do algebra homework. The points he brought up were certainly interesting and living in his daughters shoes for a week was definitely a good way to gain insight into the issue, but the author could have made the article less repetitive. While the repetition may have illustrated how boring and repetitive the homework was, it didn't make me more interested in the article.
  • Bridget Lowry
    #11 Bridget Lowry on 30 Oct 13
     
    This was an interesting concept for a feature, because it's an experiment as opposed to just a summary. However, I got lost in the unnecessary descriptions of the specific homework. The detail and precision with which it was described added nothing to the story and distracted from the main point that the article was trying to present.
  • Camille Morgan
    #12 Camille Morgan on 02 Nov 13
     
    I found the day-by-day accounts to be a bit boring and tedious to read, but somewhat necessary in order to accurately depict the everyday struggles Esmee has to deal with as only an eighth-grader. I felt as if a lot of information was repeated, and the writing style itself didn't enthrall or entice me in any way. However, the topic itself is very relevant and I would love to read another article shining light upon the homework issue, just not this one.
  • Sophie Boczek
    #13 Sophie Boczek on 02 Nov 13
     
    I agree that we, as students, are put under a lot of stress as a result of increased homework loads. It was interesting to read the daily accounts, because it helps the reader to better understand the sheer amount of homework his daughter has, but the detailed accounts of each homework assignment were boring to read. I think how the author wrote the article distracted from the point he was trying to make, which was that schools are giving too much homework. I definitely with Meg about adding statistics to the article to give the reader context.
  • Jordan B
    #14 Jordan B on 03 Nov 13
     
    I agree with Camille in that the day-to-day descriptions got somewhat repetititve, but I also think that as a highschool student I am better acquainted with what a standard day of homework would look like than most working adults are. The first person narrative was an interesting tool and I think that the author used it well. While I agree with the author that something needs to be changed with regards to the homework situation, I don't think that the author had anything particularly insightful or new to say with regards to students current homework load.
  • Cam Vernali
    #15 Cam Vernali on 05 Nov 13
     
    Although I find some of the article to be kind of boring and undermining of the interest of the article, I think that the takeaway point is very interesting and thought-provoking and really brings together people's ideas about this topic. I think that the strong point of the article is to show how even though teenagers and schoolkids complain about the amount of homework we have, it is not because we are lazy but instead because we really are under a lot of my stress. If this article would want to be improved, the author should make the dated day less boring and long and more condensed and short to keep the reader interested and attentive.
  • sammy herdman
    #16 sammy herdman on 05 Nov 13
     
    I like this article a lot, mostly because it's so relevant to my/our current situation. I thought that the author bringing up the statistics about the amounts of homework assigned in past decades really enhanced the story. I disagree with someone's statement that the author pot smoking at the end makes his credibility suffer, actually I thought it made him a more relatable guy, because he is susceptible to realistic problems and temptations just like everyone else.
  • peter wynn
    #17 peter wynn on 05 Nov 13
     
    I thought that this article was a bit longer than it needed to be, I found most of it surprisingly entertaining. The long description of polynomials in her algebra homework did not serve much of a purpose and took away from the fun of the article, which in my opinion was the writers dispute with the teachers and parents. Had he elaborated on an incident when they were living in Brentwood and he a had an email dialogue that ended in him going to the principals office for "cyberbullying". It seemed funny that a school would accuse a parent of this, and I would have liked to hear more. The writer was funny throughout the whole piece, and I think that he could of elaborated on that event in a funny way. I agree with James that him talking about smoking pot at the end makes you question his ethics, but I thought it was an odd and comical way to finish the piece.
  • Hannah Y
    #18 Hannah Y on 07 Nov 13
     
    The writer was able to maintain a light voice which I think aided getting his point across. As a lot of people have noted, this article is amusing. However while being amused the writer was able to bring across a stronger point. I kind of wish he delved deeper. Because a piece like
    this can have opinion, I wanted to hear more of his at the end. The 'so what.'
    What does overloading children with homework mean besides the fact that it exhausts the kids.
    Does it deprive us of other opportunities?
    Is it fair?
    How could it be solved?
    What's the argument for it's not a problem?

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