Show Us What
Homework’s For
Students sound off on why homework doesn’t work— and how that might change.
Kathleen Cushman
Kids spend many of their after-school hours doing what cognitive scientists call deliberate practice in areas like the arts, athletics,
and hobbies. So when I set out recently
to gather students’ perspectives on
homework—for a What Kids Can Do
project in which youth explored how
they develop motivation and mastery—
I first asked the teenagers to describe
their nonacademic practice activities.
For instance, Jacob, who plays in a
basketball league, told me that every
time he finishes a game, he makes notes
on his mistakes and asks friends where
he needs improvement:
Then, when I’m alone, I practice by
myself. If I’m bad at free throws, I take 50
free throws. If I’m bad at three-pointers,
I take a lot of three-pointers. My stamina
is not that good, so I push myself by
running in the park every day.
Ideally, kids told me, their homework
should serve the same function, tar-
geting areas of weakness and pushing
them to reach a new place just within
their capability. But when students and
I applied their criteria for deliberate
practice to homework assignments,
homework typically fell short. Delib-
erate practice has an express purpose
and is tailored to the individual; yet too
often, students said, teachers issued the
same homework to all without making
its purpose clear. Deliberate practice
involves attention, and any repetition
requires focus. Yet students reported
that they could do much of their
homework without thinking, repeating
things by rote without knowing what
they meant. Good practice leads
to new skills, but kids said
that when they finished
their homework, they
seldom applied any of the
requested information.
What’s the Purpose?
These students often did not know
the point of their homework, which
lowered their motivation to do it:
