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Calgary couple get exemption from pointless homework
By DOUG MCINTYRE, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 19th November 2009, 2:43am
CALGARY -- Tom and Shelli Milley might be Calgary's coolest parents.
At least it's a safe bet their kids' peers think so after the couple hammered out a no-homework contract with their children's school board.
Make no mistake, as lawyers Tom and Shelli fully appreciate a good education -- what they can't abide are inordinate workloads.
"How fair is it to ask our kids to put in a full day's work at school and then come home at night and do another shift?" said Tom whose kids Spencer, 11, and Brittany, 10, attend St. Brigid elementary-junior high school.
The opt-out clause created by the Milleys has its roots in frustration with what Tom termed "busy work" -- assignments given for the sake of assigning them.
His eldest child Jay, now 18 and in university, once received poor grades on a French assignment that required using crayons to identify colours written in French -- because the boy, a quadriplegic, instead wrote the corresponding English terms, said his dad.
Shelli began researching the pros and cons of homework two years ago, with much literature finding no link between home assignments and grades.
She formed a committee at St. Brigid to examine the issue, though her husband said reaction at the school level was decidedly mixed.
"One size fits all, that's just not the way it works -- people learn differently," said Tom.
Such sentiments found a more sympathetic ear with the Calgary Catholic School District board, which recently formalized the deal with the Milleys -- dubbed a differentiated homework plan -- so their kids are graded solely on classroom work.
Even prior to the agreement, the CCSD last spring struck a committee to examine homework, said spokeswoman Tania Younker.
"There are other instances throughout our schools where individual plans are determined for students," she said, adding it's expected a new homework policy will be implemented next fall.
Tom emphasized the approach allows his children to concentrate on improving weaker areas of study.
"It's not that our kids don't do homework ... my son must have studied for an hour and a half last night with my wife because he has an upcoming science test," said Tom.
"Instead of doing busy work, we were able to concentrate and make sure he knows those materials."
DOUG.MCINTYRE@SUNMEDIA.CA
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