Opinionated Bean

The Toronto Star had an article yesterday about an immigrant from Jamaica who, while sitting ready to take his oath of citizenship, noticed that the welcome package from the Ministry of Citizenship had some spelling errors.

The comments to the article have been interesting to read. Seems that I am not the only nit-picker out there who is saddened by today’s lazy computer users who cannot be bothered to use a neuron or two and figure out how to spell “colour” or “defence”, but instead insist on using the MS Word spellchecker (the default is American English, though this can be changed to either Canadian or British English).

I still blame the current state of the educational system in which it is still considered psychologically scarring to point out errors like this to students; and to actually have the audacity to deduct marks for spelling errors, when it’s the content which matters not the spelling.

In days of yore I was an undergraduate at York University, here in lovely Toronto Canada. I have to admit that I found it odd that my university would cancel classes for 3 days out of the year that were not considered statutory holidays (Bank Holidays to you Brits) - Yom Kippur & Rosh Hashana (sp?). But it was 3 days off from school, and what self-respecting student wouldn’t love to not having to go into class at an ungodly 8am.

Most recently there was a complaint lodged that this practice is discriminatory. The Ontario Human Rights Commission agreed and York University is to stop this discriminatory practice. Now, it appears that it was not a student complained - god forbid that some pimple faced self-centred 18 year old would actually think of religious rights.. that doesn’t happen until the 3rd or 4th year of university. It was a professor who lodged the complaint.

Officially, yes, the practice is discriminatory as it tends to favour those of Jewish Faith. But I ask now, if it is unfair to favour the Jewish students, why are we still favouring Christian students? — Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday. These three days the university is closed, as is any other educational institution in this country.

I enjoy reading the Toronto Star online, and not because by reading online I save any trees - though that is a good outcome. I mostly read it online as it helps with not cluttering up my tiny apartment with excessive newsprint like the sports section.

I did find an interesting article on how homework is a homewrecker. The gist of this report on education is that children have too much homework each day. It cuts into family time, which is the biggest complaint from parents. Now the odd thing is that most schools in the province of Ontario finish classes between 3:00-3:30pm, and if the kid happens to be in secondary school, depending on their spares, they may actually finish by anywhere between 12:00 noon to 3:30pm. Parents are still working during these hours and what are the kids doing? Shit all is what they are doing. These kids have many hours to complete their homework and still have family time, but they choose to piss the time away on video games, watching television and chatting on the phone with friends. Then come the evening it’s “mum, dad, I have like two hours of homework…help”.

In Letters to the Editor this morning two letters stuck out for me:

I have three grandchildren who are in senior kindergarten to Grade 2. I think children should have enough time to do 30 minutes of homework each night. These same children spend at least two hours a night watching mindless TV or playing video games, so they have plenty of time to do homework.

But not all homework leads to a learning experience. Students are sometimes given elaborate projects where the parents do most of the work, and this generates little benefit for the child. Assignments that can be completed by children on their own are the most beneficial.

I am convinced that a good deal of true learning takes place when children solve a problem on their own, and that is often done while doing homework.

Michael D. Smith, Oakville

My kids are 4 and 6, and they enjoy doing their homework. Their teachers provide fun, challenging exercises for both. They also enjoy completing their homework and doing it well. They love to show us their finished work. They love to read all the books that come home with them, and we love to read with them. They feel good about all that they achieve.

They have an hour or more to play right after school, and then they have an hour within which they can do homework, but it never takes that long.

There is a balance. Play is good, but so is homework. It prepares them. I can’t help but wonder if the parents are stressing out more than the children.

Sarah Eddenden, Brooklin, Ont.

Homework is necessary. If any of these parents expect their sprogs to do well in university the kids need to get use to homework. If nothing else it teaches them discipline, time management, and develops their abilities to focus. All necessary skills for university and for life within the workforce.

These complaints from parents about too much homework feeds into the underlying problems within society with regards to kids - they are coddled to the point that they are not self-sufficient.