Parents and Homework

* Re “Homework Driving Parents Nuts,” Nov. 22.

Your article points out that the problem begins with the parents, not the children. The parents are setting a bad example beginning with their narrow perspective of education as a whole, diminishing the authority of teachers and school administrators, and with misguided expectations of both their children and the school system.

Parents too often don’t set priorities in their own lives (fun, sports, ballet override homework, chores). In many homes, children don’t see their parents read, and education is presented only as a gateway to making money without establishing in the child’s mind the steps necessary to get there. Families don’t sit down to evening meals together (a forum for discussing family and world events). Children are overstimulated by too many extracurricular activities, leaving them physically and mentally exhausted with no time or emotional space for homework.

But what baffles me most is parents often complaining that teachers assign too much homework! What is too much? A short school day covering five or more subjects is not enough time to teach everything. School presents the tip of the iceberg; acquiring knowledge is a greater task to be performed over a lifetime. Regrettably, with so much information available, there is little time to acquire knowledge.

STEPHANY YABLOW

Sherman Oaks