WTH

School has started almost everywhere now. I have been seeing quite a bit of chatter, complaints and discussions on stuff that got me to thinking, “what is going on?” At the start of every year there is going to be some growing pains around a new school year, expectations and getting to know each other. Almost like when you start a new job! What has me wondering what is going on, is the focus on homework and the amount of recess time. Really?

Plenty of people have brought up the research that homework does not really add any educational improvements for elementary school students. Data can say whatever it wants to. If you want to look at the overall improvement in scores for homework or not, it is probably correct. Missing are the variables like – was the homework done, how about correctly done, was it really homework or just work that the particular student did not complete in the class time? Besides that – there is much more that homework adds that does not have to focus on educational achievement. How about –

• Personal responsibility…
• Commitment and follow through…
• Importance of learning in general…

I never heard or never said, “sorry boss, but I don’t think that taking my work home is going to make me any better of an employee.” I do know one thing. Not doing my job would definitely be grounds of not being employed. What message are we really sending with there is too much homework and it does not add any value to the education of our young folks?

Let’s tackle recess… Many people believe that their children need more playtime to let their brains step away from all that cramming of knowledge into those brains… When I volunteer in schools, I watch the interaction during instruction. It does not take long to notice the students that are focused and learning. Which is not all of them for sure… Does having more breaks help? Probably.. I have not found any solid research on that one. I have noticed that today’s students are less focused on the task at hand than years ago. That is probably more related to the fact that as parents we have more technology to let them play with, we keep them busy all the time, we don’t let them just chill at home and we do everything for them. Maybe if we, as parents, stopped that stuff – and let their brains chill at home – we would not worry about them chillin in school.

Going back to the workplace… I used to have employees that would take more breaks or just disappear from time to time. Depending on the guidelines this could be a problem. Within the school day – there is prescribed set of minutes and such for instruction that must be met. There also is making sure that the material that is supposed to be taught is being received. Almost like at work – the work needs to get completed… If you are not doing the work and taking too many breaks or disappearing from your work station – I have a feeling your employment status will change quickly.

What message are we trying to send to our young impressionable children? That work is not as important as having fun? We all can agree that we are seeing a large increase of entitled folks entering the workplace everyday. Maybe if we stopped enabling that behavior when they are young we can see a change.

As a hiring manager, I look for and have seen plenty of behavior that tells me that work ethic is strong or weak in candidates. Where has that been developed? I say it starts at home! Are you helping improving the workplace candidates? Are you helping to increase the entitled or lack of personal responsibility workers?

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