Position Paper Essay

It is truly a T.G.I.F for elementary students in public schools because last September 16, 2010 Department of Education released a memorandum, called Memorandum 392 that orders elementary teachers to avoid giving their students home works during weekends. The Memorandum states that ‘ 1. Homework or assignments have been part of the pupils’ lives in their schooling. Common homework/assignment may include a period of reading to be done and writing to be completed, problems to be solved and projects to be worked on among others. The purpose of which is for the pupils to increase their knowledge and improve their abilities and skills. see more:should hw be banned 2. However, it has been observed that parents complain about too many pupils’ homework or assignments which rob themselves and their children quality time to be together in more enjoyable activities. 3. Hence it is advised that the teachers limit the giving of homework to reasonable quantity to give their ample time to rest and relax at home for the rest of the day. 4. Therefore no homework or assignment shall be given during weekends for pupils to enjoy their childhood and spend quality time with their parents without being burdened by the thought of doing lots of homework. Since teachers, parents and students always debate about this in the internet, I would like to share my stand in this issue. As a student and a future educator, I am in favor for the implementation of the No home works on weekend’s policy in grade school. First, according to number two guideline of the Deped Memorandum 392 S.2010; homework or assignment on weekends robs quality time of the parents and the children to be together in more enjoyable activities. I personally believe that weekends are for relaxing and of course bonding time with the family. According to a parent from www.debate.org, kids study 5 days a week with only a few hours with their family. It’s a difficult to manage, when teachers give home work over the weekend it takes away time from them doing sports, going outside, and even family time. According to a PNU Student, particularly a P.E Major she said that ‘we spend a lot more time awake at school. When we go home, we just sleep. We barely had time with our family’.  Also, according to a tumblr blogger which is a teacher; The State should see the value of quality Family bonding especially today when there seems to be a little time and opportunity for Parents to talk to their children. This quality time is a means to discuss sensitive issues that only parents can deliver and to strengthen the family ties. I believe that family time would be a productive and this time could help the children develop not only mentally but of course emotionally. Also according to an article in empoweringparents.com assignments always cause nightly conflicts among the parents and the child so I think that weekends can be a timeout and an exemption for this situation. According to the Assistant Secretary of DEPED, Mr. Toni Umali children should not only learn from school itself, they must also learn the importance of the family bonding. Aside from family matters, when kids are bombarded with a lot of assignments during weekend it does not only affects their bonding time with their family but also their health. I conducted a survey among PNU students and some of the answers concerns about the health of the students. According to a History major he is in favor of the policy because, in today’s educational system, a student’s week is crowded with too much school activities, leaving the student no room for recreation. Disallowing home works on weekends will be in favor of the student’s proper development not only mentally but also physically, emotionally and socially. Another response that came from our fellow English Major was ‘Yes, ‘coz students should relax their mind every weekend. Doing homework in weekends would stress out students and if students will be stressed out, their health would be at risk. According to teachthought.com Kids needs time to be kids, they need unstructured playtime; they need to play outside with their friends and of course physical exercise. Also a student answered that kids are studying 5 straight days a week and she don’t think that having 2 days break from it would be a reason for the kids to fail. A point was well raised by our fellow English major and a STA Major. The English major said that having no home works on weekends would inculcate laziness in the minds of our students So that students, in an early stage will learn how to prioritize and manage time. According to the STA Major ‘No, because as students it is our responsibility to do our assignments that  would enhance our deeper analysis or understanding in our lessons. It doesn’t mean that if it is weekend, we should enjoy or rest all through. As students, we need those home works for our weekend to be productive’ For me having no homework on weekend does not promote the habit of laziness, instead it promotes the importance of family bonding and that family should be a priority as mentioned above that is what memorandum 392 was meant for; to increase the time for the children to bond with their parents/family. Another well raised point was from a male student from University of Santo Tomas he said that he is not favor in No Homework Policy, because how come that the students understand the Lesson and also force them to reread again the lesson, so that they can deeply understand it. Well according to opencolleges.edu.au home works does not really equate to higher achievement. Study show that in elementary there is a weak link between achievement and home works. Most countries with less home works lead to have higher scores in achievement tests. Countries with more home work assigned like Greece, Thailand and Iran have the worst average scores. The last point that I would like to mention was a point raised by a fellow English Major that is not in favor of No Home works on weekend’s policy, she answered: No. Because home works act as supplements/follow-ups to the lessons taught inside the classroom. I believe so but I think it would be a great help if the assignments are not given during Fridays that would be pass on Monday the coming week. Let’s be considerate and give our kids free time to explore. Kids would also learn with life experiences that could be related with their topic in school. After all, kids are kids. They may not be able to absorb all the stress and the pressure in the environment maybe we’ll be surprised if one day our kids would be afraid to go to school just because he/she was not able to answer the assignments. According to teachthought.com homework may be a form of intrusion on family life, and may increase the drop-out rate in schools. The bottom line of this is we want what’s good for kids. We don’t train robots, we train humans. We don’t only fill the brains of our students; we should be able to fill their hearts. Let’s make learning easy and enjoyable  let us not take times in which children could do something great with their family and treasure the memory for the rest of their lives. Let us not make learning a horrible experience for our students, the government, the community, the teachers and most especially the parents should do their part to be able to develop a child into a intelligent, responsible and loving human being that could do something to promote excellence to the following generations. References: http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/20-reasons-you-shouldnt-assign-homework-over-the-holidays/ stophomework.com/fact.pdf http://juanrepublic.tumblr.com/post/1137647987/deped-memo-no-homework-shall-be-given-during-weekends http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-kids-have-homework-on-the-weekends http://www.debate.org/debates/should-Students-be-given-homework-during-the-weekends/1/ http://www.smartparenting.com.ph/kids/big-kids/poll-no-homework-on-weekends-policy-yes-or-no http://depedteacher.blogspot.com/2010/09/no-homework-shall-be-given-during.html http://www.empoweringparents.com/Homework-Hell-Part-l-How-to-Turn-It-Around.php http://happychild.mobi/articles/what-is-the-value-of-homework-research-and-reality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xMo-QFB11E http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100919-293072/TGIF-No-homework-on-weekendsDepEd