“Homework may be the greatest single extinguisher of children’s curiosity that we have yet invented.”

-Alfie Kohn (author of The Homework Myth)

True to form, Lisa Nielsen (author of the award-winning The Innovative Educator) is thinking outside the box again.

We’ve been hearing about the Flipped Classroom (the practice of doing homework in class and watching instruction at home) a lot lately, but what about easing up on homework altogether?

In a recent post, Lisa highlights the growing movement against homework among parents, educators and students –  the main argument being that kids are already spending about 6 hours a day to organized academics, or as Lisa calls it, “academic pursuits chosen by other people.” Add in athletics and/or other school-related activities and obligations in addition to a few hours of homework, and it’s easy to see that these kinds of demands can leave very limited time for kids to grow as individuals outside of academics. What about playing outside? Spending time with family and friends? Daydreaming?

Read Lisa’s full post and watch the video here.

What do you think? Are the expectations and demands of today’s students unrealistic or unreasonable? By standardizing these academic expectations across the nation, are we stunting children’s creativity and curiosity?