Is the homework at Benjamin too much or too little? Does Benjamin stand by its claim to only give a designated amount of homework to each grade each night? These are interesting questions when one considers that the new Franklin Academy charter school located in Palm Beach Gardens claims it gives no or very little homework so students can can have a rich extra curricular life.  Does this improve the learning of kids at the Franklin Academy by giving no homework? How would students be prepared for high school or college with no homework? Perhaps the real question is will the no-homework policy at Franklin last once the school year really gets rolling, and what will be its effects?

First comes the question of TBS teachers adhering to the handbook. Do they give the proper amount of homework to students each night based on the grade level suggestions? “Yes, I think teachers are very conscious of the amount of time we have to assign homework,” answered sixth-grade English teacher Mrs. Denise Ponchock, “and I think that we know kids have homework in every class, and we try to space our homework and not let the homework exceed our allotted time.” Mrs. Devine agrees: “Most teachers do adhere to the handbook. However, I believe that the English Department has a more difficult time following that rule because of the large amount of assigned reading. Since not everyone reads at the same pace, it is difficult to know how long reading assignments will take. What takes fifteen minutes for one student may take 40 minutes for another.”

Because The Franklin Academy offers students study halls during the day to accomplish the “no-homework” goal, Mrs. Ponchock was also asked to address the question of whether ETC is the same thing as offering a study hall during the day and if it is an effective tool in helping students not to have homework outside of school. She asserted that ETC is not the same as a study hall  because it is after school. However, she describes it as “a wonderful opportunity we offer students where students can go and get their homework done and have some help from various teachers.” Mrs. Devine supported Ponchock’s assertion: “ETC is more than a study hall. It acts as a study hall because it offers a quiet time and place to complete your homework before you go home for the day, and it is also an opportunity for students to obtain extra help from teachers. Over the years, I have noticed that it is the successful students who take advantage of ETC.”  For those of you that don’t know what ETC is or what it stands for well ETC is a study hall for kids from 3:20-4:15 where kids do their homework and they can leave whenever they want.

Most students and teachers would agree that homework is assigned to help students practice the skills and concepts they’ve been taught in class.“All of the homework I give helps develop good reading habits, good writing habits, and a stronger sense of the English language through grammar,” affirmed Mrs. Ponchock. She also  stressed that homework is important so students can repeat implementing skills learned in class: “I think the repetition is really important. All good writers will tell you that they write all the time. The same thing with reading – to be a good reader, you have to practice reading.”

The Neersyde also addressed the question of whether homework  is appropriate on weekends. “I think that when students are in middle school they have to use weekends to get their homework done,” explained Mrs. Ponchock.”They have such busy lives, there’s only so much time students have in an afternoon. I don’t necessarily assign a lot homework on the weekends, but I expect my students to get caught up or “ahead.’”

There are some schools of thought that believe  homework is not valuable or at least not as valuable as traditionally believed.  Few private schools in Manhattan do not  give out homework to students, however according to The New York Times, in an article in the Education section as far back as 2011, The Dalton School, a very prestigious private school on New York’s Upper East side, had done away with the level of rigorous homework that the school gave in the past. Ms. Lisa Waller, the  director of Dalton, sent a letter to parents announcing that tests and papers would be staggered to make sure students did not become overloaded. In addition, January midterms would be pushed back two weeks so students would not have to study during vacation.

Similarly, the Khan Academy is an online enterprise that believes homework should take place in the classroom The Khan Academy is a website that offers thousands of educational resources, micro lectures, and lessons where teachers post instructional videos, and then students review the lessons at their convenience. When they come to school the next day in class they do the homework from that lesson with the teacher assisting. This makes more sense than doing homework alone with no guidance. However even the Khan Academy says that this will work for only math, science and maybe grammar but it won’t work for English where class discussion about a novel is key, and reading is more expediently accomplished at home.

We tried several times to contact Franklin Academy about their no homework policy but were unable to reach them. The Benjamin School  will continue to give out homework but continues to make sure that the homework given is relevant and necessary for the furtherance of students’ learning.