Looking to remind the world why everyone laughs at France behind its back, new president Francois Hollande has publically called for his country to introduce a nationwide ban on homework. The Socialist has become convinced giving children more work than they can complete at school is unfair to members of the lower class, and he wants the standard practice to be outlawed as soon as possible.
According to ABC News, his argument goes a little something like this. Most rich kids are able to get help with their homework because they have parents who are both capable and willing to help. Most poor children must do homework by themselves because their parents are either incapable or unwilling to help. Thus, homework affects poor kids differently and is a blight on the educational system.
My argument for why this is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard goes something like this. Kids are given homework as a means to practice and perfect what they learn in school. If they are no longer given homework, that means all of their practice time must then be done in school, which means they will ultimately learn far less topics. In addition, life isn’t fair. When kids get out into the real world, no employer gives a shit about their home life. They care about whether they can get the job done, and for the record, I’ve never met a single teacher that was unwilling to help a kid after school hours to compensate for his or her shitty parents.
Is having intelligent parents an advantage in the educational system? Yes. Is giving everyone less time to learn in order to compensate for shitty parenting ultimately beneficial to society as a whole? No. Sometimes taking everyone to the same level just puts everyone at the bottom rung.
And for the record, how the hell is anyone supposed to write a multi-page paper when they’re not allowed to use time outside of school? Dumb.
