Children’s homework is becoming the bane of their parents’ lives
Print Edition
MANY parents are lamenting on their life as they needed to do their own homework when they were children — but now have to do their children’s after-school work.
“I was dreaming of the life my parents was living when I was doing homework when I was a child,” said one father in a post on WeChat. “They could take a walk, watch TV, visit friends and chat after supper.”
“I thought I would live the same life as theirs when I grew up. But I found it is totally different. I am still doing homework, for my children.”
Indeed, homework is no longer the bane of just students. It has also become a daily grind for their parents as well.
The netizen’s online post drew sympathetic response from many who read it. Some web users said the whole neighborhood could no doubt hear them shout when they were helping their children with homework. Others said they were frustrated by the stupidity or carelessness of their offspring. Some even confessed to losing their patience and spanking their children.
One parent reported a heart attack attributed to the stress of helping children with homework.
“After thinking it over and over again,” the heart attack victim wrote, “I decided that life is more important. Now when it comes to homework, I just go with the flow.”
Alisa Chen, an office worker and mother of a third grader in Shanghai, told Shanghai Daily that she thought of herself as the “wicked stepmother” of fairy tales when trying to help with homework. Her daughter was often reduced to tears by her criticism.
“She is so slow and makes the same mistakes over and over,” Chen said. “I just couldn’t help but raise my voice in reminding her that she needs to be careful and correct her errors.”
In fact, she added, her daughter’s homework became more arduous than her own office work. Losing her temper with her child created a depressing atmosphere in the home.
So why are parents getting so involved with homework? Many blame the education system. Others say parents are overanxious to see their children succeed and get good grades.
“Teachers assign tasks to parents, such as checking homework, listening to their recitations and helping with word dictation,” Chen said. “Now there is even a new concept called ‘home dictation,’ which we never had in our childhood. It means dictation assignments needing to be done at home.” Parents are required to sign their names to attest that they have helped with each assignment.
Chen said she tried to save a lot of home stress by signing her name without checking her daughter’s performance. That had repercussions.
“A teacher sent me messages via WeChat, blaming me for being irresponsible when my daughter could not recite text in class that I had signed my name to saying she had recited it fluently at home,” she recalled. “I had no choice but to treat homework more seriously than my own work.”
The involvement — often reluctant — of parents in homework is also increasing the stress levels of students.
In feedback gathered by the East China Normal University Press on the subject of parent involvement in homework, many Shanghai students said they were scared of their parents, who had become homework tyrants at home.
Second grader Huang Xun said her mother always asked her to raise her voice when reading texts aloud.
“If I failed to do so, she would raise her voice and eventually get into such a rage that the roof was almost blown off,” she wrote in her feedback.
Wang Beiyi, a third grader, described how her mother’s temperament has changed in the past three years.
“When I was in first grade, my grandma would stay in my room and play with an iPad while I was doing homework,” she said.
“When I was in second grade, she moved to another room because she could not bear my mother’s angry voice any more. And now, the door of the other room is always closed.
Li Yige, another third grader, said his mother tore up his writing book after he wrote a bad essay. “It seemed she would tear me up, too,” he said. “Once when I refused to do homework, she was very angry and forced me to stay up past midnight to do it. She was like a furious dragon breathing fire and I was terrified.”
Is it really necessary for parents to be so involved with homework?
Ding Limin, headmistress of the Primary School Affiliated to the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, thinks not.
“It’s necessary for parents to help cultivate good study habits, such as urging the completion of assignments on time,” she said. “But they should not have to check every answer. That’s what we have teachers for.”
Xiong Bingqi, vice director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, said he believes parents should stay well away from children’s homework.
“When parents interfere too much, they end up basing their relationship with their children on test scores,” he said. “It increases the anxiety of parents, strains the parent-child relationship and deprives children from cultivating independence.”
Most parents who have busy, high-pressure jobs aren’t really qualified to be tutoring children in subjects where they have little or no expertise, Xiong said.
Instead of losing their tempers over the details of homework, Xiong said parents should devise study plans with their children and then supervise them.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
