The Virtues of (Home) Work.

Poor Elijah (Peter Berger) does it again with his guest commentary "The
Virtues of Work." In this biting article Poor Elijah skewers the "no
homework" crowd.

..... Work's been out of style for almost forty years. The change took place
at about the same time that I checked into my freshman dorm. That's when we
decided that the "work ethic" was passé. ....

Read all of Poor Elijah's commentary at:

http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-10-18-05.htm

Sincerely,

Dr. Mark H. Shapiro
Editor and Publisher
The Irascible Professor
http://irascibleprofessor.com

In article <z_6dneu2prsq08veRVn-iw DeleteThis @adelphia.com>,
Mark S. <mshapiro2 DeleteThis @nospam_adelphia.net> wrote:


>Poor Elijah (Peter Berger) does it again with his guest commentary "The
>Virtues of Work." In this biting article Poor Elijah skewers the "no
>homework" crowd.

>.... Work's been out of style for almost forty years. The change took place
>at about the same time that I checked into my freshman dorm. That's when we
>decided that the "work ethic" was pass. ....

>Read all of Poor Elijah's commentary at:

>http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-10-18-05.htm

The decline of homework is due to many factors, one of
which (not stated in the commentary) is the teachers'
fear of the students learning what is not strictly
according to what the teachers themselves present.

This led in the late 30s to requesting children not to
discuss schoolwork with their parents, not overturned until
after Sputnik. The other comments are correct, and I can
assure you that most college students do not read the
textbook (do they read anything else?) before or after
coming to class, except to read the homework problems
assigned or the answers.

The comments about drill and kill are valid; students
should not be asked to do homework which does not add
to their understanding.

What has happened is that most of the students, after
a year or so, are no longer interested in learning,
which is not memorizing. The teachers seem to want
the rest to be in the same category.

Let those who want to learn and can do so to succeed
at that, and not turn them off or get in the way.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin DeleteThis @stat.purdue.edu Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558