Students, teachers, parents seek homework balance

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hilo High School freshman Julie Aikichy-Samuel estimates she spends three hours a day on homework, mostly algebra and science.

Randiann Porras-Tang reads with her son, Maluikeau, 10. Porras-Tang, the principal of Kalani High School, says Maluikeau usually has about 40 minutes of homework a night. Maluikeau is a fourth-grader at Hanahau'oli School. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

"I don't spend that much time with my family anymore because there's way too much homework. I spend more time in my room than I do with my family," said Aikichy-Samuel, 14, who quit basketball to focus on academics. She said she wakes up tired in the morning with puffy eyes after staying up late to finish her work.

Classmate Kylen Tsubaki needs about an hour a day to finish his take-home assignments, and is more typical of students nationwide when it comes to time spent on homework, according to recent studies. He knocks out his school work while watching TV and still has time for football and basketball.

"I play all my sports, and then I do my homework," he said.

Interviews with several students and parents in Hawai'i indicate experiences and attitudes about time spent on homework vary. Recent national studies indicate children of all ages typically spend less than an hour a day doing homework — certainly less time than most devote to playing sports or watching TV.

But many families are struggling to find the right balance between schoolwork, family and free time, sports and other activities, and for parents who may find it difficult to figure out whether there's too much or too little homework, several Hawai'i educators say it's the quality of the assignments that matters.

Too much homework can be counterproductive, particularly in subjects such as math, said Paul Deering, associate professor of education at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. He said many parents and educators are stuck on a "medieval" concept of learning that views the brain as a muscle that can be strengthened through mental exercises.

"Just like when you go to the gym to exercise your muscles, if 10 reps is good, then 20 or 30 must be better. That's not what it's like with your brain," Deering said.

"A few problems of a particular type, that's fine. Once they figure it out by the fifth or sixth problem, at that point they're no longer learning math. What they are learning is that school is boring, adults are mean ... "

Homework, like any good learning activity, "should connect with stuff the kids already are familiar with and are interested in," Deering said. As the term implies, it also should have something to do with the home.

For example, Deering said students could be assigned to interview their grandparents about what it was like when they were young. They could conduct a literacy survey to find examples of print in the house, from newspapers and books to shopping lists and cereal boxes. Or, the youngest students could be asked to count the number of feet at home — two for each family member, four for most family pets.

Building skills, having time

Julie Aikichy-Samuel

Kylen Tsubaki

Grace Ueoka, a kindergarten teacher at Pukalani Elementary School on Maui, sends her pupils home four days a week with one or two simple worksheets for them to practice penmanship and to reinforce basic concepts they have gone over in class, such as the days of the week or colors. They also are expected to read with their parents.

"It's not lots, and it's not anything new, and it's not hard for the parents," Ueoka said. "I have never had a parent who did not want to do the homework once you explain the purpose of it and the benefits."

While homework for younger children is not considered an academic necessity, it is valuable in helping them to develop study skills and a sense of responsibility and independence. It's also used to encourage parents to set aside time to spend with their children.

In addition to 15 minutes or so of nightly reading and worksheet homework, students in Betty Brask's second-grade class at Kihei Elementary School on Maui are expected to work together with their parents on monthly science projects, such as building a rocket.

"Homework shouldn't be a source of family conflict," Brask said. "Parents have so little time. They're together with their children for such a short time I don't want it to be spent battling over homework.

"Plus, my guys are little; they're only 7. They need to be out playing, having fun and reading together."

Jason and Terri Cambra have no problem with the amount of homework their 5-year-old daughter, Kai'ulani, brings home from her kindergarten class at Kamali'i Elementary School in Kihei. She spends about five to 15 minutes a day doing assignments at home, sometimes more if she wants to do a really good job.

But now that their 11-year-old daughter, Mahealani, has made the jump from elementary to middle school, the Cambras are finding it difficult to balance schoolwork with other activities, such as hula and church youth group, that they feel are important for their children.

Mahealani transferred from the public-school system to enter the sixth grade at Kamehameha Schools on Maui, and is dealing with more homework.

Cambra said her daughter spends anywhere from a half-hour to three hours nightly on homework, mostly math, English and violin practice for the school orchestra. While she is generally satisfied with her daughter's workload, she worries Mahealani and other students can become overwhelmed, and there are times when she would like to draw the line.

"Sometimes it's too much. If you're not done in a certain amount of time, say 9 p.m., it's too bad because it's bedtime. You've been up since 5 in the morning already," Cambra said. "We have friends who are up until midnight or 12:30 helping their kids with their homework."

Learning to schedule

Mathematics takes up a large fraction of homework for many students, and it's essential for mastering the subject, said Dewey Gottlieb II, a Milken Family Foundation national educator award winner who teaches advanced placement calculus and pre-algebra at Pearl City High School.

"Students are not going to absorb everything in the classroom; it needs to percolate for a little while," he said.

That doesn't mean Gottlieb piles on the homework. For calculus, he assigns an average of up to an hour a night, less for lower skill levels.

"Homework is good if it has a genuine purpose to it. If it's just busy work, more of a bad thing is not helpful," he said.

Kaiser High School junior Billy Kern said math takes up most of the one to two hours daily he spends on homework, which he believes is a reasonable amount.

He likes that his teacher assigns a week's worth of homework at a time, allowing Kern flexibility to decide when it gets done. There may be several reasons for delaying the work.

"Sleep is a big one," Kern said, "and sometimes if the waves are good ... "

Getting a schedule of homework assignments well in advance and easy access to teachers via e-mail, class Web sites and regulars hours set aside to provide extra assistance are helping Makiki resident Carol Komo's two sons manage their homework.

Her 17-year-old is a senior at Iolani, and the 12-year-old is a seventh-grader at Punahou. Both have at least two hours of homework a day.

"The older boy knows how to navigate the situation a little better. He has some preparation time and is able to study at school. When he was younger he needed more supervision. Now at his age, he has to be able to go off to college and do time management," she said.

The younger boy is learning to use the homework schedule to prioritize assignments.

Even with their homework load, Komo's sons find time to play sports, dance hula, watch their favorite TV shows and participate in Internet chat rooms.

Adapting to her three sons' different study habits was a lesson learned by Kalani High School Principal Randiann Porras-Tang. She has two sons in college — one who graduated from Punahou, the other from Kalani — and a third who is a fourth-grader at Hanahau'oli School. He spends about 40 minutes a day on homework, including reading.

"The older son planned ahead and was attentive to his school work and liked to do it right away. The second drove me crazy because he wouldn't even start his homework until 10 o'clock at night," she said.

The conflict caused stress in the family, and Porras-Tang said she finally dropped her objections to his late-night study sessions as long as he maintained decent grades.

Her youngest son is still evolving: He occasionally grumbles about homework but also knows he has to meet certain academic expectations. A weekly homework plan has helped him to pace his workload, she said.

Deering said he'd rather have teachers err in favor of less homework. "Kids have lots of things they need to be doing including academics. To develop their bodies and social relations, they need sports and play," he said.

Staff writer Kevin Dayton contributed to this report. Contact Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.