Are Kids Spending Too Much Time on Homework?
BOBBIE BATTISTA, HOST: Are kids today spending too much of their time on homework? The authors of a new book say they are. Some parents agree and say homework should be expelled from the curriculum.</s>CHIP GERKEN, PARENT: I think homework is not useful until a child is older and it in fact is harmful for a younger child, because it teaches the child that school is a chore, that it's not fun.</s>BATTISTA: Are children overworked and overstressed?</s>SANDRA LOGGINS, PARENT: Not having homework allows us to be a family in the evening, to do those thing that help us build our family, whether it's reading or being together. There's other ways to learn than having rote homework to do every single evening.</s>BATTISTA: Is homework essential to the learning process or do the costs outweigh the benefits? Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to TALKBACK LIVE. Remember rushing home from school in the fall trying to catch the last precious hours of daylight before darkness fell, only to hear those dreaded words from your mom: "Not until you do your homework"? It is an almost universal rite of passage, but the authors of a new book called "The End of Homework" say it shouldn't be that way. Etta Kralovec is the vice president of learning at Training and Development Corporation in Maine and John Buell is a former associate editor of "The Progressive." Welcome to the show, both of you.</s>ETTA KRALOVEC, CO-AUTHOR, "THE END OF HOMEWORK": Thank you.</s>JOHN BUELL, CO-AUTHOR, "THE END OF HOMEWORK": Thank you.</s>BATTISTA: Not only do the two of you contend that schools should get rid of homework, but you say that homework is bad for kids. What do you mean by that? What are the adverse effects of homework?</s>KRALOVEC: Well, I think that we found in our research that homework has four very negative effects. One is that homework punishes poor kids for being poor. In addition, homework intrudes onto the family's agenda for their own children. Additionally, homework appears to stand in the way of a child's full development. And finally, there's a lot of questions about what homework's impact is on learning.</s>BUELL: I think it's interesting that you spoke about homework as a rite of passage. One of the aspects of our research that especially surprised me the more we dip -- dipped into this is that homework has not always been an essential rite of passage in our public schools. Homework -- the amount that's assigned, the kind has waxed and waned</s>BATTISTA: Oops, John, hold on just a second. I think we are having a few audio problems with your mike. We'll try to get those straightened out. We heard most of what you said, though, I think. Etta, let me ask you, exactly how much homework are kids doing today?</s>KRALOVEC: Well, you know, that's a very difficult thing to measure, because, first of all, it's self-reported. So all we really know is what parents and kids and teachers say that they're doing. The -- I think the general belief is -- and I know you have another guest on whose done a lot of research and time in homework -- is that kids are actually spending more time on homework. We certainly have evidence from parents who seem to be overwhelmed by the amount of homework, and we also have evidence from the amount of back, neck and shoulder problems that osteopaths are reporting.</s>BATTISTA: So you're really not -- you don't really want to just revamp the whole idea of homework or -- on the basis that kids are doing too much. You just think overall they shouldn't be doing homework at all?</s>KRALOVEC: We believe that independent study and sometimes rote learning are all really important parts of an educational agenda. But we believe those activities belong in an environment where all kids have access to equal educational resources and can do that work under the guidance of a trained teacher. And that's in the school, that the school work belongs in the school, not at home.</s>BUELL: I mean, homework is by definition work that students do at home, and I think we need to recognize that the homes in which students are doing that work differ considerably in terms of act -- even finding a safe, secure, quiet environment in which to do the homework isn't something that we can take as a given.</s>BATTISTA: Some of these statistics that you -- that you do base your work on are from a University of Michigan study, and we do have Sandra Hofferth on the phone with us. She is the author of that study on how kids are spending their time these days. Sandra, thank you for joining us. Help us if you can, here. In your studies, how much time did you find that kids are spending on homework today?</s>SANDRA HOFFERTH, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Well, I find that 6- to 8-year-olds spend about half an hour per day on homework and by the time they're 9 to 11 about 45 minutes. So they're not spending huge amounts. Now this is an increase since 1981. And the authors of the study are absolutely correct that there was an increase both for the 6- to 8-year- olds and for the 9- to 11-year-olds. But to give you an example, 9- to 11-year-olds spent about a half hour per evening in 1981, and by 1997 it was about three quarters of an hour. So it has been an increase, but for those 9- to 11-year- olds, particularly, it hasn't been very large. I think it was larger for the younger children, from about nine minutes, there's almost nothing, to about a half hour. So this is from -- data from a large nationally representative survey of about 2,900 children done over the whole United States. This covers children in urban and rural areas from all different backgrounds. And this -- these data come from actual diaries, 24-hour diaries, reporting going through each minute exactly what they're doing. So these are very accurate data on what American children are doing.</s>BATTISTA: And it does seem, as you say, to vary. I mean, you're talking averages for the most part, because we were talking to Jamile (ph) here. Did I say that right? Jamile? Jamile, in the audience here and you were saying that you had a 7-year-old, was it, who was doing as much as two hours of homework?</s>JAMILE: Yes, that's correct. Down in Dade County, where I'm from, she goes to what's considered an "A" school. They have levels now, and she was getting a lot of homework from one teacher who didn't even realize it. It took the parents to go to this teacher and say, we're getting too much homework, two to three hours, and of course, students do their homework at different levels, especially at that age. And she's not the fastest, but she wasn't the slowest and she was getting two hours of homework a night.</s>BATTISTA: That's a lot to me for a 7-year-old. How -- Sandra, how does the time they spend on their homework compare to the time they spend on other activities or free time?</s>HOFFERTH: Well, now, that is a very good point, because children actually in 1997 spent about, particularly 9- to 11-year-olds, almost 13 hours per week watching television. So, that's on the order of two hours a day. So it's -- that is -- television is what children spend most of their time doing. It's about a quarter of their free time spent watching television, and another quarter of their time is spent sort of in free play. So studying is actually quite small on average compared to some of those other things. Now, I agree that -- that the person mentioned that two hours an evening might be a bit much. Certainly compared to the national averages it's more than a child of that age would normally spend. And so going to the teacher and talking about it seems like a reasonable approach. But that's why the national figures give you a much better sense rather than just picking out, you know, a few extreme cases.</s>BATTISTA: Sure. Etta, John, the natural follow-up question in regard to time spent on homework versus television is that a lot of people would say, if the kids don't have to do homework, they're going to spend time more time in front of the television. John, what do you think?</s>BUELL: Well, I think that's certainly -- certainly a possibility. But I think we have to ask the further question: If we simply load more homework on, is that going to assure that the homework will get done? We know of very many instances in which children do their homework in front of television. I think it's -- I think the amount of television that children watch is much more a commentary on the lack of other kinds of opportunities that we're providing for our children, that we ought to spend more time thinking about that.</s>BATTISTA: Are there no benefits at all, Etta, to doing homework? I mean, doesn't it prepare kids for the homework that they're going to get in the higher grades -- high school and college? Doesn't it help them with time management, problem solving, independent study, that sort of thing?</s>KRALOVEC: Well, the studies on -- have done on homework are actually very inconclusive, and they've been very narrowly focused on homework and academic achievement. There's really been no studies done on the sort of the side effects, if you will, of what homework is purported to help children develop. And there are certainly folks that are concerned about the negative consequences of homework: for example, how kids learn to cheat by doing homework, how kids learn to sort of get by with the least amount of work. So it's -- we really don't know, because we haven't taken a look at what those other consequences might be.</s>BATTISTA: I just happen to have a bunch of high school seniors in the audience today. How -- how convenient...</s>KRALOVEC: Great, let's hear from them.</s>BATTISTA: Right. I know. We're going to talk with them. Christina, you say you spend about -- you told me before the show, about two hours a night on homework.</s>CHRISTINA: Yes, that's -- I spend about two hours. The only problem is like a lot of teachers, they think that their class is, like, a lot of really important. They don't realize that we have other classes and that we have to put time in there. So I mean, they -- they don't realize that fact. So, that's why I don't really -- I have to divide it up. I just give all the teachers a little time.</s>BATTISTA: Yes, we have your teachers in the audience, here: Jerry up there. We'd asked him earlier how much -- how much homework do you give, Jerry? And you said you gave when you were teaching about an hour a night in biology.</s>JERRY: Yes. About -- about an hour a night is what I expected the students to spend on the -- the work that I had given them. And it -- it became such that, yes, they would end up having to make the decision as to do the biology tonight, do the English tomorrow night or whatever. And so it is -- it is tough on the students, but yet in defense of the teachers, this is how we acknowledge what we've been teaching them and if they are actually understanding what we're teaching them and to able to get some feedback from them.</s>BATTISTA: John, is -- isn't that a valid reason to give homework?</s>BUELL: Well, it's -- it's certainly a reason that's often cited, but we're really concerned that in many instances when the homework is being done and it's done incorrectly, the teacher doesn't always know fully what are the factors that led to the incorrect answer. Etta has got some good examples from math classes that, you know, she's monitored, as well as other experience in teaching philosophy herself at the high school level.</s>KRALOVEC: Yes. I -- can I also answer about...</s>BATTISTA: Yes.</s>KRALOVEC: ... the defense of teachers? I think that teachers are in as much of a bind about this as parents are, that teachers are feeling very pressured from parents. The assumption is that good teachers give more homework. So I don't think anybody comes out of this homework battle clean. I think everybody is struggling with the issue, and certainly no teacher would want to think that they're putting the kids in a position of having to choose from biology homework and history homework. I mean, that's a horrible position to put professional educators in.</s>BATTISTA: I've got to take a quick break here. As we do, the e- mails are coming in pretty fast and furious. Gerald, in Wisconsin says: "It is ridiculous to even suggest doing away with homework. It's an integral part of learning. It always has been, it always will be." Gronny in Florida says: "So we give the kids more free time to get into trouble? Parents, most, would not fill that time with constructive responsibilities at home." I -- I -- boy, I hope that's not true, Gronny, but I've got to take a break. We'll talk more with the students when we come back and with our guests. Also Sandra Hofferth, thank you very much for joining us. And as we go to break, please take part in our online viewer vote. Go to CNN.com/talkback. Today's question: Should we eliminate homework? We'll be right back.</s>BATTISTA: The U.S. Department of Education recommends a maximum of 20 minutes of homework for children in first through third grades, 20 to four minutes for fourth through sixth grades, a maximum of two hours in grades seven through nine, and anywhere between 90 minutes and 2 1/2 hours for 10th through 12th graders. Let me go back to the kids real quick, here. Anton, go ahead.</s>ANTON: How are you doing? I was making a comment on what you said about cheating, and I think that teachers pile on so much homework on students at one time that it can end up to the child having to cheat in school because they have so much information that runs in and out of their head at once. And then they're trying to figure out what the answers is, and they might end up having to cheat.</s>BATTISTA: And over here to Jessica, who -- you think there are benefits to homework, that you need to have it.</s>JESSICA: Yes, what -- I -- I think that the homework is to reinforce what we learn at school, so we need it, so that we can make sure that we understand what we are learning. So it's very important, but if we have too many classes, you know, that give us homework, maybe we can make time to do a little bit and a little bit so that we can do good at school.</s>BATTISTA: Uh-huh. Let me bring another -- well, I have to interrupt the show just a second to throw to Lou in the newsroom.</s>BATTISTA: In April, the Chinese Ministry of Education announced plans to eliminate homework for primary school students and reduce the at-home workload for middle school students: the change an effort to reduce stress on students and to combine traditional text-book based memorization with practical skills. OK. Where were we? Talking about homework and whether or not the schools should get rid of it. Let's bring Eddie Davis III into the conversation. He is a ninth-grade English teacher at an inner city school in Durham, North Carolina. But he is currently serving a three-year term on the National Education Association's executive community. Eddie, thank you for joining us today.</s>EDDIE DAVIS III, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Thank you so much for having me.</s>BATTISTA: Tell me, what do know about the benefits of homework? I mean, is there a direct correlation between homework and improved academy performance?</s>DAVIS: I think it is. I think there is. Obviously, I would like to look at homework as yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I think that there are lots of benefits that come from kids being able to go home and reflect upon the work that they have done in the formal classroom the day before and also making sure that they do practice and guided work that will have them prepared for the next day. So being prepared for the next day is another benefit of having homework. And I think that kids develop patterns that will help them in their later lives by being able to go out of the formal setting, to do some reflecting, to practice the work that they've done, and to be prepared for the future. Lots of structure in kids' lives come from having to do homework on a regular basis. So I think the NEA and the parents around -- the PTA and other groups around the country have always thought that homework is very, very important and valuable to the progress of kids. And I think we see that's even more now as we move into times when there are high-stakes testing.</s>BATTISTA: It is -- it does seem to be increasing, the amount of homework kids are getting. Are we pushing them too hard? How does a teacher or a school decide how much is too much or too little?</s>DAVIS: Well, I think there needs to be conversation between parents and teachers and students -- the schools -- to make sure that we do not overdue it. Certainly, I know of horror stories where parents have indicated that kindergarten students have come home with homework that would keep them up in -- way into the night. On the other hand, I have heard of places where parents are begging teachers to give more homework. So I think that we have to make sure that there is a happy medium there. I think that the guidelines that you've had up today earlier talking about the Department of Education, as well as a brochure that the NEA and the PTA have developed indicating that young students maybe ought to do about a half hour to 45 minutes. When they get into the middle years, maybe that can be increased to an hour, hour and a half. And when they get into high school, they certainly ought to be prepared, at least on the average, to do about two hours of work at home to prepare them for the next day.</s>BATTISTA: Let me take a phone call from Heidi in New York -- Heidi.</s>HEIDI: Welcome back, Ms. Battista.</s>BATTISTA: Thank you.</s>HEIDI: I am calling as someone who was primarily educated by the public school system until I was 16. I went to schools Connecticut, Detroit, Michigan, back to Connecticut, out to California in the West Los Angeles area, back to Connecticut. Homework from the age of 9 to 14, an average of two hours, sometimes less, most of the time more. It reinforced the lessons. It allowed for an expansion of my exploration of the material. It allowed me to read more than was being given me in the class. It was a wonderful experience with my mother. I was a single-parent family. From the age of 14 to 16, I had four to six hours of homework. Can't imagine how kids have time right now to watch television. I was allowed to watch news.</s>BATTISTA: You know, you bring something that I -- Heidi -- that I want to pursue with Ed and John, because why can't parents use the time for homework as a chance to bond with their children, and fill the need for more of that family time that we're talking about them not getting?</s>KRALOVEC: Well, you know, Bobbie, when we did our study of high school dropouts in Maine, we discovered that these children did not have a home environment that was conducive to doing homework. And so while the idea might sound nice, the mom and the child sit together and study, and it's all very "Ozzie & Harriet," the fact is that few American families are structured that way today. Parents have two jobs often, parents work at night. So there is a lot of problems for American families that compounded, because kids have these massive amounts of homework. But you know, I'd like to also go back to something that Eddie Davis said, because I agree with all of his points about the purpose of homework and how it can re-enforce, and it helps kids reflect on their work, and it helps them prepare for the next day. We believe all that is vitally important in an educational agenda, we just believe that, that work should be done in the public school or in the school setting under the guidance of trained, professional educators, where all kids have access to the same resources and where they can work together in collaborative study groups where their learning actually becomes much more effective.</s>BATTISTA: Yes, we -- I got an e-mail in fact, from somebody named Brandon who says: "Most people I know would rather extend school one hour in which you would get more work done than go home and do two hours worth of homework." That's kind of what you are talking about, Etta, in a way. You're talking about supervised...</s>KRALOVEC: Well, I think all kids...</s>BATTISTA: Yes, right. Supervised type of...</s>KRALOVEC: I think kids when -- right, supervised in school. When you talk to kids they will say, I like school, I hate homework, and I think that that's a message to us as parents and educators that we ought to think about restructuring the school day so kids have an opportunity to do the really important independent work that is crucial in an education under the guidance of a trained teacher and with -- in study groups with friends.</s>BATTISTA: Eddie, go ahead, I know you wanted to say something?</s>DAVIS: Yes, I do. I think that we -- that extending the school day may be something that we could theoretically talk about, but I don't think it's very practical. I don't know how we would divide it up. Which homework would you do, would you divide it up so today you'll do one class homework and another the next day? I just don't think that works out real well. I think the issue of trying to make sure that kids work at home with their parents is a wonderful way for parents to be actively involved. The comment has been made that some parents don't have the opportunity, or the skills, or they're not there, I don't know that we need to throw the baby out with the bath water. I think we need to find ways for those kids who don't have that structure to provide it. In fact, homework provides a lot more structure than some of the other kinds of things that kids can be involved with without it. So I think -- I look at homework, even though we certainly need to have it creative as possible and to make it a fun activity for kids while they are learning, I think we need to look at it like I look at football practice. We certainly would not say that the structured environment that we have on a Friday night is the only time the kid could get a chance to get on the field and practice their skills there.</s>BATTISTA: I have to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk to another teacher and more of our students, right after this.</s>BATTISTA: Quickly, some more audience reaction. Juwan, you bring up a good point.</s>JUWAN: Right. I was commenting on how it is for a student athlete to compete with homework. It really puts a strain on them when they get home about 7:30, 8:00, and then have about two to three hours they need to sufficiently do their homework, it's really a strain on them, then try to get some good amount of sleep is difficult with large amounts of homework.</s>BATTISTA: On the other hand, Jared says, you have to do it.</s>JARED: Well, like I was saying, I really hate to use the old cliche, practice makes perfect, but it's true, you know. And homework not only helps you re-enforce what you learn, but it also helps to teach you responsibility, such as time management, because that is essential in growing up, you know.</s>BATTISTA: Here to talk with us now is Esme Raji Codell, Esme Raji is a teacher, a public school teacher, and author of the book "Educating Esme: A Diary For First Year Teaching." Esme, good to see you again.</s>ESME RAJI CODELL, PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER: So nice to see you, Bobbie.</s>BATTISTA: How do you feel about this subject, homework or no homework?</s>CODELL: Well, I can't believe I'm actually going to say anything in defense of homework -- my students would kill me -- but I think that homework does serve a purpose. It helps reinforce the skills that are introduced during the school day. I think something that's worth discussing is, what are we talking about when we're talking about homework? It doesn't necessarily have to be something that's no fun. We could tie assignments into students' interests, make them more project oriented so that students can't really cheat. It's more individualized outcome. And also, I think one of the best homework assignments is something that every parent can do with their child, which is read aloud. Work sheets, on the one had, which is a common form of homework -- there is no research to support that, that helps academic achievement. But read aloud, it's been very well documented that 20 minutes a night really leads to wonderful strides in academic achievement. And I have a Web site, Planetesme.com, and there are many resources on the Web that offer wonderful lists of books and activities that can be used as homework and make homework a lot more pleasant.</s>BATTISTA: Let me bring Etta and John back into the conversation here, because it just seems that if the students feel like they are getting something out of their homework, then how can we say get rid of it?</s>BUELL: Well, I -- for one thing, when you tell students that their education isn't going to depend exclusively on homework, that doesn't mean you're telling them they can't do independent projects or other sorts of activities on their own. We've had experience in terms of dealing with alternative schools, for instance, where homework is not assigned and where over the course the year, students find -- parents experiences that students are reading more books on their own, they're engaged in their own projects. I would question the notion that one develop self-discipline or the ability to manage time when more and more assignments are loaded on kids that they have to do. That doesn't really teach self-discipline or self-management.</s>BATTISTA: Etta, your thoughts?</s>KRALOVEC: Well, you know, I have a lot of problems with the idea that the work that we're talking about can only be done at home. I think it's really important for us to understand that we believe all of these things are important. Yes, kids need to reinforce what they learn in the class, yes it's important for kids to read, but we believe that work should be done at school, because not everybody, frankly, has a parent at home who can read. I've done a lot of research on rural Maine kids and the parents -- there are some parents that can't read to their kids. And so when the school says, oh, just read to your kid 20 minutes a night, the shame that I hear from parents and the concern and the lack of their ability to help their kids read really puts a huge strain on that family. Yes, it's important to read to kids. Not all parents can do it. But, you know, I also wanted to say to Eddie that I'm with you, Eddie. Talking about redoing homework and doing it in the school setting is going to call for a lot of school restructuring, but I think that we can think out of the box in education, and now is the time to do it. And we ought to help teachers and school districts, as educational professionals, think outside the box on this issue.</s>DAVIS: Well, I -- Bobbie, may I?.</s>BATTISTA: Yes, go ahead.</s>DAVIS: I certainly agree that there ought to be more creative use of the school day. In some places, there are lots of experimenting going on in terms of lengthening the school day, lengthening the school year. And all those things I think ought to be considered. But I still think that there ought to be ways for kids to go home at night and reflect. I mean, I think the writing process, as I teach writing to kids, I don't think you can actually give the writing prompt, give them the assignment and expect that they will do all the writing that we want them to do in class. We want them to have time to think, to allow the ideas to percolate and to do the kinds of work at home that will have them prepared for the next day. The other piece that you talked about in terms of not having parents at home who can do it, I come from a very, very poor rural environment, and my parents or other people around me could not sometimes read and do the work that I was assigned to do. But the fact is that my mother sat down with us and asked us to teach her. So there was a structured environment and we were able to interact and bond around the homework that we knew was so valuable, so important for the futures that we would have.</s>BATTISTA: Jerry, our teacher in the audience, wants to respond to Etta, I believe.</s>JERRY: Etta, if I'm hearing you right, what you're basically asking the teachers to do is to stay at the school even longer than we already are, continue working with the children more than we already are. So where does that put our families?</s>KRALOVEC: Well, you know, I've been an English teacher for 12 years -- public school English teacher. And I'm sure, like the rest of the teachers in the audience, I've spent my fair share of weekends and nights grading papers. And I actually don't think that's good either. I think that teachers need to have a limit to the amount of work that they do. An eight-hour day is an eight-hour day. But I think that teachers are de-professionalized when we send schoolwork home and assume that whoever wants to do it can do it, and whoever helps can help. I think that, as teachers, we have a responsibility now to really take seriously the idea that we are ratcheting up the pressure on kids, we are increasing standards, and teachers are going to have to take responsibility for the kids' learning and not let huge pieces of it go home to a black hole that they have no control over. And I'm sure, as a teacher, you understand that when some of that work goes home, you don't know who does it so you don't know where the student's at with their learning. You don't know whether they understand it or their mother understands it.</s>BATTISTA: I have to go to break. As we do, an e-mail from Chris who's a teacher who says, "I give homework because I am literally not given enough time to cover the material that I am required to cover by law. Reduce class sized by half and give us larger chunks of time to work with our students and the need for homework may be nearly eliminated." We'll be back right after this.</s>BATTISTA: I don't know where to go next. There isn't a person in this audience that doesn't have a really valuable opinion, so let me take a phone call quickly because Ruth in California has been hanging on for a while. Ruth, go ahead.</s>RUTH: Hi, thank you. My 14-year-old grandson in the ninth grade is disgusted because so much time is wasted during the classroom day. He's there from 8:00 to 3:00 p.m., which is seven hours. If they can't organize their time and teach within that time span, then I think this is the problem. And this is something that a friend of mine who was a teacher told me 30 years ago, the same thing, that she doesn't have time in the classroom to really do what she wants to do, that there's so much else going on that just wastes time.</s>BATTISTA: Esme, do you find that to be a problem also?</s>CODELL: Yes. I think engaged time in the classroom is always something that teachers are striving for, and these are the sorts of things we have to look at before we can take away homework. We have to make sure those types of things are in place before we remove more time on tasks wherever that may be. I would like to respond to something that Etta said about reading, because reading, of course, falls into all the categories, and children who find homework difficult, if their reading skills improve, all of the problems with homework will also become alleviated. There are many illiterate people in this country, and I know it's very shameful to them perhaps to have to try to read to their children. But the legacy of illiteracy and the correlation between illiteracy and prison time in this country is not something that we should ignore. We do have books on tapes. We have public libraries and public librarians who can assist with these types of challenges. If there is going to be time spent on school -- and I hope it never stops -- that it's used for educational purposes. And I don't see -- I don't quite understand Etta's insistence limiting ourselves to the school building when even for poor urban children especially there's so many wonderful resources to be discovered throughout the city or throughout rural areas. Why must we insist that everything happen at school?</s>BATTISTA: Etta?</s>KRALOVEC: Well, I think we insist that everything that happens in school should be the activities that kids are graded on and evaluated on and they're tested on. I think the opportunities for kids in their communities to grow and to learn are extraordinary, but most kids don't have an opportunity to follow their own interests or their own learning activities because they're tied to the school's educational agenda. And so as long as we're on the school's educational agenda, then the school, it seems to me, has a responsibility to provide the resources and the support for that learning.</s>CODELL: I think you're talking out of both sides of your mouth then, because you want -- you want the schools to provide certain things and you want them to be everything at home, but then you say they need more from the home. I mean, children are spending so much time watching TV -- you can look at the U.S. Department of Education's reports -- when they are at home, it's not being used constructively. So I don't understand what the complaint is. If there are exciting activities that can be done at home, then let's do them. And I think that it isn't just the school's responsibility. It's the parent's responsibility to work with teachers and teachers to work with parents to create these kinds of activities that benefit the children, who are the bottom line.</s>DAVIS: Bobbie, may I?</s>BATTISTA: Yes, go ahead.</s>DAVIS: May I? I think that a good point has been hit upon, and that is that the parents are the first teachers of the children, and there are lots of activities that parents deal with kids and should be dealing with it. The National Education Association believes that even the parents who don't have those skills, there are excellent programs that we have. Metaskills training is a good program that allows parents early on to understand how they can work with their children, and as they get older and get into school, there ought to be a correlation between the work that the parent wants to see the child achieve and the work that is coming out of the school merge so that people can indeed see how kids improve through the work in school and through homework: structured and constructive and fun homework that can be done.</s>BATTISTA: I know one of the pet peeves that can we're hearing from kids in the audience, and also Matthew on the e-mails says: "I was a senior in high school last year and was receiving five hours of homework each night. Most of it wasn't relevant to the lessons taught or even to the class." We heard a couple of people up here in our audience say, you know, there's nothing worse than doing three hours of homework every night, and then the teacher doesn't even bother to check it or discuss it the next day or anything else. So, that teaches kids, you know, what's the point.</s>DAVIS: That should never be done. Homework should never be given if there's no expectation that it will be graded and counted and valued. That should never happen.</s>KRALOVEC: Excuse me...</s>CODELL: Bobbie, can I talk about...</s>BATTISTA: I'm sorry. Esme, go ahead real quickly.</s>CODELL: Well, I just wanted to say, if it's not, then the parent really needs to address the teacher about it.</s>BATTISTA: Etta, quickly, and then I've got to go to break.</s>KRALOVEC: You know, most of us live in the real world, and Esme and Eddie are talking about the ideal, but for most of us working parents, it's a struggle every night.</s>BATTISTA: We'll be back in just a second and we'll check our poll and get final comments in just a moment.</s>BATTISTA: Let's take a quick look at the results of our online viewer vote. Today, the question was "Should we eliminate homework?" 63 percent say no, 37 percent say yes. And the last couple of e-mails, Vanessa in Nova Scotia says: "As students get closer to adulthood, we have less time to enjoy being adolescents because we spend a large portion of our day in school and doing homework." But Derek says: "I don't think doing away with homework is the answer. I do homework all the time as a professional. An appropriate amount of homework prepares students to be productive adults." This debate will continue. I want to thank all of our guests for joining us today, appreciate your input into this -- this topic, and as I say, I'm sure it'll come up again here. Thanks again. Thank you for joining us at home. We'll see you again tomorrow. "STREET SWEEP" begins right now.