Six weeks into a new school year and it’s as though Satan himself has taken charge of the agenda, this nightly quest for knowledge and salvation known as homework.
In the daily space of extra work between school and sports events or social activities, is a place where ordinarily lucid, composed and relatively smart adults are rendered incompetent, babbling dunces. Normally strong and successful adults, who struggle to make sense of the latest Math textbook, or some scientific explanation long lost in the time capsule of elementary schools of a different era.
Lest you think that your struggle with the concept of Grade Six Math or Grade Seven Science is indicative of lost brain cells, dimly lit passages of knowledge that no longer lead to anywhere and fog shrouded snippets of past information that seem suddenly gone, take heart; you are not alone.
CTV News in a timely little feature on the National News Wednesday (well timely for me, after trying to figure out what it is the text book was suggesting we do with newsprint rolls and page sizes, they wouldn’t like my answer by the way) comes word that a good portion of Canadian parents feel totally incompetent and lost when it comes to homework.
The results of a joint survey between Statistics Canada and the Canadian Council on Learning aired on the CTV News, shows that when it comes to homework, the parents may need just as much help as the students! The key say the Council of Learning is not so much what you know or remember, but rather to try and foster a love of learning.
Which apparently is easier said than done. Especially when you consider the survey results and how we apparently feel.
In the telephone opinion poll of 5,266 people, it was found that two out of every three respondents believe parents don't have the knowledge they need to help their kids with their homework.
Two out of three, that’s uh, two thirds, hmm, 66% right?
The results leave the Canadian Council on Learning troubled at the state of the parent’s surveyed, leaving them to talking about a knowledge gap between parent and student
A gap brought to life by the results, which probably means that most parents are feeling more frustrated after a night of homework, than the young ones they are supposed to be helping! A situation that probably isn’t particularly conducive with that fostering of a life long love of learning!
The CTV website features complete information on the story and links to some great video stories on the subject , (though they did spell council wrong, more homework please for the research department) material that will help to comfort any parent feeling a tad out of the loop. And may also go a long way to bringing down the pressure zone of the nightly homework battles.
In this case it seems that misery loves the company! And as we grab yet another text book and try to make sense of the confusing text and methods (for us), it would appear that there’s quite a few fellow travelers ready to take the journey with us!
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