TORONTO – Banning homework for students may sound like the plans of a high school class president, but in France, it’s Francois Hollande’s latest policy.
The newly-elected French president may be trying to foster his popularity among the next generation of voters after he made a series of wide-ranging education reforms – with a nationwide ban on homework as the most controversial of the list.
“Education is priority. An education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school rather than at home,” he said, according to French media reports.
He told reporters that students aren’t on an even playing field when it comes to homework because some kids get help from their parents.
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His other policy changes include hiring more teachers, providing them incentives to move to low-income areas to teach and decreasing the number of students who fail each year.
He’s also pushing for a return to the 4.5 day school week instead of the current four day week in most French schools.
Hollande toppled Nicolas Sarkozy, the country’s long-time incumbent leader, in May. The Socialist Party leader took on education as one the key priorities he hoped to improve on during his five-year term.
Across the pond in Canada, discussion about banning homework has also surfaced recently.
In 2008, for example, the Toronto District School board drafted a policy that instructed teachers to lighten homework loads – from banning take-home assignments for kindergarteners to removing penalties for incomplete work.
Canadian father Chris Corrigan even championed an anti-homework cause that pushed for the end of kids’ take-home assignments.
He called for a ‘Great Canadian Homework Ban,’ following in the footsteps of a Danish writer.
A study conducted by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) suggested that too much homework can be counterproductive, especially if it’s piled on in younger grades.
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