Dave & Dujanovic: When does homework become too much?

Homework is a major part of a kid’s day.

After an eight-hour workday, how would you feel being asked to do two or three more hours at home? This is what school children face everyday. Utah’s kids endure seven hours of school. After that, there are two or three of extra schoolwork.

Work after school

Dave and Dujanovic discuss what the extra work is doing to our kids.

Dave Noriega wonders how schools can have our children for seven hours per day and still give them three hours of homework.

“At what point can we say, ‘All right, we’re done learning for the day’?” he says.

“Homework is busy work, it really is,” Debbie Dujanovic says. “I love encouraging kids to read … but I don’t think any more than thirty minutes a night is necessary.”

The U.S. is near the top for homework

Fifteen-year-olds in the United States spend more time doing homework than much of the rest of the world, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The Shanghai area of China tops the list of assigning the most homework. Shanghai schools report assigning 13.8 hours of homework per week. Russia is second at 9.8 hours.

The United States is 15th worldwide. American teenagers receive 6.1 hours of homework per week.

Dave and Dujanovic agree that six hours per week seems much lower than reality.

School kids can point to Finland, for instance, to argue that less homework is better.

Finland has one of the top educations systems in the world. Finnish teenagers have the smallest amount assigned in the world, at 2.8 hours per week.

Noriega suggests an old school, time-tested program in the place of hours of homework: unsupervised neighborhood playtime.

“When they come home, they should be able to come home,” he says.

Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon on KSL Newsradio. Users can find the show on the KSL Newsradio website and app, as well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.