Students at a Quebec school are celebrating a new policy that aims to give children enough time to do all of their work in class.
Ecole Elizabeth Ballantyne student Nicole Walsh says she is thrilled by the “no homework” policy at her Montreal-area school.
“No homework?” says Walsh. “That’s every kids dream!”
School principal Michael Brown says students shouldn’t spend six hours working at school and then be expected to do two more hours of work at home.
“We want students to be at home being with their (families), being with their friends, playing and being children,” he says.
Elizabeth Ballantyne isn’t the first school to do away with homework. There have been homework bans in schools from Barrie, Ont., to Saguenay, Que.
Some research has shown that homework has little or no academic benefit for children up to sixth grade, and it’s a notorious source of stress.
McGill University professor Steven Shaw agrees that homework is a major cause of fights between parents and children. “There is not a lot of evidence it does anything positive,” he says.
It’s up to individual teachers and schools to decide whether to ban homework. Not everyone agrees that it’s the right choice.
Steven Erdelyi, head of Solomon Schechter Academy in Montreal, says it’s important for students to spend time at home reviewing what they learned.
“Those study skills, those work habits (that) they develop by doing their homework will help them succeed throughout their lives,” Erdelyi says.
With a report from CTV’s Vanessa Lee in Montreal
