Homework Load Can Consume a Kid’s Life

“Too Much Homework? Report Finds Otherwise” (Oct. 1) suggests that the time kids spend doing their homework has been found to come to 19 minutes per day, based on some kind of research or other. I am a retired Los Angeles Unified School District teacher with six grandchildren, three of whom are in grades one, five and seven, respectively.

The first-grader does more than 19 minutes per day. Sometimes it takes much longer. The other two spend an hour or hours per day on their work. If you add in science fairs and special reports and reading requirements and other nondaily but not-that-infrequent assignments, the averaged-out daily load is onerous.

There are other things in the lives of the young (how long are we young?) like, in my family’s case, volleyball and dance and art, that need tending. And then how about just sitting around and smelling the roses? Nineteen minutes, my backside.

David Wachtfogel

Manhattan Beach