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  3. The following two excerpts are about whether homework is a necessary part of

The following two excerpts are about whether homework is a necessary part of

游客2023-11-28  29
问题    The following two excerpts are about whether homework is a necessary part of students’ education. From the excerpts, you can find that homework has numbers of advantages but there have also been doubt and criticism about it.
   Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
   1.   summarize the different responses about homework, and then
   2.  express your opinion towards homework, especially what should be done to improve the efficiency of homework.
   Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
   Write your article on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.
   Excerpt 1
   Applause for Homework
   One of the biggest cheers heard in any classroom is when the teacher says "Homework-free tonight". When parents get this news later on, at home, there probably will be a silent sigh of relief. Homework is a well-established part of Irish life for children, their parents and teachers. Should it be?
   If meaningful and appropriate, homework can be something that children can get satisfaction from completing. However, too often is the case that children find the home work too difficult or too boring.
   Homework is valuable if it creates a link between home and school. Children spend six hours a day at school, involved in learning activities that affect their here and now, and their futures. It is vital that parents, as primary educators, have an input into children’s education.
   One set of homework will not suit all the children in a given class but this is often the norm nowadays. Homework should have some element of challenge and allow children to explore areas of personal interest from time to time. This can promote self-reliance and self-esteem. If parents find that homework is causing frustration, confusion, annoyance and ongoing difficulty for the child, this matter needs to be resolved, not tolerated. Parents need to bring this to the attention of the teacher. Assignments can then be varied and modified. At times, this can be done by moving away from traditional-type homework to include items such as project work, library visits, environmental observations and work based on sections of the curriculum which the child enjoys.
   In whatever form it is set, homework gives responsibility to pupils. This is a preparation for further education and work in the wider world. It conveys a message that education is not confined to schools, but is very much part of daily life. It also reinforces the fact that education begins and continues at home. If properly structured, homework is less of a chore and can be a natural part of routine at home.
   Excerpt 2
                            Is Homework a Huge Waste of Time?
   Well this isn’t going to make it any easier for parents already tired of having to nag their children to do their homework. In fact, mom and dad, you might want to go out of your way to make sure the kids never see this new study, which indicates an excess of homework isn’t doing younger students any good. And even for older students, all those evening hours spent sprawled out in front of textbooks have only modest benefits, the study finds.
   That’s the conclusion of some new Australian research which was surprisingly not conducted by a room full of 12-year-olds.
   " The amount of homework is a really critical issue for kids," Sydney University associate professor Dr. Richard Walker told The Daily Telegraph. " If they are overloaded, they are not going to be happy and not going to enjoy it. There are other valuable things kids want to do. "
   "I don’t think anyone except senior high school students should be doing a couple of hours of homework," Walker adds.
   The study of 10,000 Australian school kids found that 27% of 10 and 11-year-olds do at least three or four hours of homework per week.
   And as any parent who’s ever put in a late night re-familiarizing himself with eighth-grade algebra or assembling a blue ribbon-worthy science fair project knows, it’s not just the kids who are impacted by homework. A full 41% of parents spend at least three nights a week helping out the kids, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
   While the results are unique to Australia, they certainly paint a picture pretty familiar to parents in the US and other nations.  But is less learning really a good thing?
   " A little bit of homework is probably OK at all ages, if part of the reason is to help kids become self-directed learners," Walker told the Daily Telegraph. However, "If we ask if homework benefits outcomes, then it is pretty clear it does not at primary school and has pretty limited benefits in junior high school and some benefits in high school from Years 11 -12. "
选项
答案    Homework, a Curse or a Bless?
   Homework, a seemingly hideous word for students, if appropriate, can be an effective way to link home and school, and promote positive qualities such as self-reliance and self-esteem among students. But sadly, research shows that today’s homework, especially the kind for younger students count nothing for their study. And the overload of homework and parental involvement in it drain both students and parents, who begin doubting its limited benefits. Personally I think, unless well-designed, homework will remain to be an absolute white elephant.
   A lift of the hefty bags of today’s schoolchildren can give you a clue of the weight of homework they shoulder. Equally tortured are parents who are busily involved in frustrating homework which proves to be a headache even for adults. Homework, which is supposed to be a touchstone to testify whether there is something amiss in one’s study, now turns itself into a killing weapon no party enjoys. Heavily set in the pattern of repeated drills and rote learning, homework loses its luster of challenging students into a deeper wonderland to explore knowledge, which can boost both their self-reliance and their self-esteem if mysteries are solved by their own efforts. Besides, impossible to be individual-targeted, homework can’t work out for each student with its unavoidable uniformity. Some bright students may find a piece of homework undemanding and boring while others may rack their brains in solving it.
   To change homework into grist to the mill, many factors must be taken into account. First of all, new forms of homework should be set such as prescribed reading, project work, library and museum visits, environmental observations, all of which make homework more of a gift than a trial. Moreover, modern technology should be introduced into classrooms to facilitate different kinds of homework aimed at different categories of students. Hopefully, when students hear that the teacher has given "homework-free tonight" , there won’t be a sigh of relief but rather a moan of regret!
解析    本题讨论的是家庭作业在学生的教育中是不是必要的手段。选段1主要阐述了设计良好的作业给学生带来的好处：例如作业可以建立学生与家长之间的联系，从而使学校教育在家庭中得以继续；具有挑战性的作业可以激发学生的兴趣并且帮助他们建立自我探索的精神和自尊心。但是选段1同时提到现在的作业的模式恰恰阻碍了上述优势的发挥，因此应该对作业形式和内容采取一系列的改革。而选段2则引用研究结果表明作业对学生(尤其是年轻的学生)并没有益处。同时还指出过多的作业对学生和家长都是严重的负担。本题写作的重点首先总结上述选段要点，其次就作业的必要性以及如何改革作业以提高其效率进行论述。
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