Newton South Principal Joel Stembridge sent email last week announcing the following small, but significant, change in homework policy at the school:
As a goodwill gesture to students and their families, who experience stress due to our school’s rigorous homework expectations, all classroom teachers will adopt as a one-year pilot proposal a homework-free weekend program, whereby no homework will be due on the day of return after each of four specifically agreed-upon weekends (one each term), to take place on the following four weekends during the school year:
* Columbus Day Weekend (early October) (Term 1)
* Thanksgiving Weekend (Term 2)
* The 2nd weekend in March (Term 3)
* Memorial Day Weekend (end of May) (Term 4)*
*does not apply to seniors
It is our hope that these weekends will allow families to plan events or trips accordingly, and will help our students know that we, the adults here at South, understand that it can be a challenge to maintain a healthy balance. These weekends will give all of us a chance to pause, breathe, and gather ourselves.
We have also agreed to recommit to our long-vacation policy:
There is a “one-night equivalent” homework limit placed on the December, February, and April vacation breaks. Students in Advanced Placement courses will likely have more than a “one-night-equivalent” during April break in order to prepare for May exams.
I am so happy to see this. There’s nothing worse than a stressed-out high schooler on holiday weekends and vacations.
This is a small step, the significance of which cannot be overstated. Student stress is right up there with bullying as far systemic problems in public schools. Bullying has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, while stress has largely gone unaddressed.
I’d like to know who conceived this change in policy, because that person is clearly paying attention to the needs of our students, and deserves not only a “thank you,” but a raise.
I can’t believe that they give homework over Thanksgiving vacation! There are very few family times, and I would hate to see my student stress out over going to “Grandmother’s house” because he/she had a huge amount of homework. Family time is important. . . . and that is when we learn about our own families, and build family history and memories. I think it should be standard operating procedure not to give homework during that weekend.
I understand that in the professional world that doctors and nurses work over that weekend, but we are talking about teenagers. Building relationships with family members is more important than one additional weekend of homework.
Thank you for the new policy and I hope it is more than a one year trial.
I wish this was in place when i went to South!
Given a programmed allotment of coursework, and a mandated period to achieve it, I don’t quite understand what this is doing. How can it make things less stressful if the back load of requirements is pushed forward requiring yet more work in other periods? Can a teacher ask that students study certain chapters without a deliverable? Seeing the word “balance” — an employment keyword — has me wondering if we’re trying to be “P.C.” again at a cost of a good education.
Hoss, I have had two kids go through the NPS from K-12, and the third is now a junior at NNHS with multiple honors and AP courses. It is hard enough getting together with family for holidays and vacations without having to worry about killer assignments that are due on the following school day. My kids were/are up past midnight doing homework most of the time while they were/are in high school. They can get the work done during the rest of each term. This is just common sense, as far as I am concerned.
The folks at FOX are not going to like this one bit.
This does seem like common sense – Is this policy also going to be put in place at NNHS?
I’d like people to read Ted’s post again, because his family’s experience is nearly exactly the same as mine. I’ve had two kids graduate from South in recent years, and my youngest is now a junior there.
Newton kids start high school at 7:30 in the morning. Most nights they are up past midnight doing homework. I’m not suggesting that school work takes up every minute of their days, but no matter how you slice it, these kids are asked to put in very long hours. The resulting stress level is untenable. And the lack of attention the issue of stress has received is appalling. This is the FIRST action I’ve seen to address this issue in years.
I hope the policy includes having big projects due before these homework-free weekends, not soon after. Otherwise, kids may not have routine homework to worry about, but may end up using these weekends on things like term papers that are done over a longer period of time.
Really glad I’ll never have to go through high school again.
Unbelievable that there actually has to be a rule enacted. What kind of person would assign homework due after these holidays? Blows my mind.
At one time we had a babysitter who went to Brookline High. I remember her saying they had a “homework free” policy one weekend per month.
What a horrid policy. It is a disservice to those students who seek to excel academically at the highest of levels. It is an imposition on teachers who seek to help their students do so. As an electrical engineering professor for the past 18 years and a graduate of MIT also in EE (BS, MS, and PhD) I see this as just one more contribution to the lose of US dominance in STEM fields. Certainly work for work sake is to be avoided, but the simple truth of the matter is that excellence requires hard work and there will always be people out there willing to go the extra mile. Ifyou want to address stress, teach kids how to handle it rather than artificially reducing it. What a typical Newtonian approach to “solving” a problem. I only hope that at least the honors and AP faculty can manage to work around this nonsense.
Eric –
I couldn’t disagree more. As the parent of one Newton South graduate who took plenty of honors and AP classes and a current junior who is doing the same, I can assure you that my child will be no less challenged because of this policy. Multi-day projects — the kind of homework that kids really learn from — won’t be affected by this. The same homework and tests will be required, the same curriculum will be studied. The kids will just be assessed one day later. Or maybe one day earlier. Maybe tests will be given before vacations instead of after.
What will change is family vacations and holidays. I don’t see anything wrong with letting high-schoolers — who will be stressed by the end of this week until the end of the school year — get some time to breathe.
Perhaps this new policy is artificially reducing a source of stress but it’s an artificial source of stress, determined by an artificial schedule that probably can handle these simply adjustments with little impact.
@Eric Miller– How old are your children? Do they attend NPS?
Respectfully Mike, what road are you taking him? You thinking NPS is so much tougher than other towns, NPS can take more than a dozen days off the calendar? Empower these future leaders, let them determine certain delivery dates (a small slice of “Sudbury Valley”)… Some students work. Some of them help pay bills. Not all go on Colorado ski trips. Where is the stress relief squeezing the same deliverables in less time?
Whats even more uncomfortable is the two-calendar approach — NNHS, NSHS. “One-City” all around please. I went to school in a larger city that always had one HS because they would very concerned about separate but equal in matters
Well…it was either a separate but equal concern or they didn’t have $200 gigillion to build a designer school on the other side of the tracks
Hoss– I was really just wondering if Eric has kids who might be affected by this homework policy, or if his objection is more theoretical. It’s pretty easy to advocate overloading kids with homework and stressing them out, when it’s someone else’s kids. I also take objection to academic elitists, who think educating kids in math and science is more important than educating them in music and art. I’m not suggesting any of this applies to Eric. I’m just wondering what basis he has for his opinion.
What Gail said. My junior took History over the summer so she could complete her junior thesis and have time to work on all of her AP and Honors courses this year. Kids who want to excel have and will continue to have plenty of opportunity to do so. A home assignment policy that gives high school students more time over a long week or vacation to spend visiting with grandma and grandpa, recreating or just goofing off once in awhile is not going to cause us to lose our stature in the world of STEM. It even might make the kids more well adjusted. As Albert Einstein said: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Smart guy, Einstein.
Wow Eric. 4 days in a 180 day schedule. Coming kinda strong on that one aren’t you?
My daughter just started her sophomore year at Amherst College, and we are starting the college application process with her younger brother who is starting his senior year tomorrow. My kids attend(ed) Needham High School (once famous for the rash of suicides ostensibly related, to some degree, to academic and social stressors).
I would give my eye teeth to have this kind of compassionate, family-centric policy put in place at NHS. While I want my children to excel academically, of course, I also want them to grow up to see the benefit of down-time and value the opportunity to just sit, eat and spend time with their parents and extended family. This sort of policy enforces the notion that THAT also has importance. Kudos NSHS.
My kids are 14 (just started Newton South today), 12 (Oak Hill) and 7 (Zervas). I am quite clear with them about what I think of this nonsense. Lest anyone fear for their development, my wife is just as clear in her disagreement with me.
As I said before, as a mater of official policy this one sends precisely the wrong message to those a few kids who really can compete. Yes Kim it is only four days but that does not change the fact that it is just wrong. This is a cheap and easy non-fix to the very real problem of stress. As you say, four days. It has minimal substantive impact and at the same time tacitly discourages those who do seek excellence from pursuing it; at least at the margins. So perhaps this type of thing would be harmful for the less rigorous academic tracks, but for those students interested in excelling at the highest (and yes, most competitive) levels, this policy is wrong.
Anyone who has ever worked in a science or engineering lab at MIT, Harvard, etc., one of the Harvard hospital or for company that is truly innovating knows exactly what I am talking about. (Likely this is true as well for those in music and the arts as Mike a describes. My experience in these fields is nil.) Nonetheless, the fact of the matter is that true excellence goes to those who know how to pursue it aggressively. These people are both talented in their field and posses the strongest of work ethics. The rest are left behind. While this is certainly not an appropriate approach to public education for all of our students, it is what some small number both want and need. As a taxpayer and parent, this is also something I would like at least not prohibited. The school should worry first and foremost about education. My wife and I are there to teach them about “balance.”
Thus, a policy that explicitly prohibits such a work ethic across the board is not one of which we should be proud. Moreover, once we take this small step what is to prevent the next one and the next one after that? I am mindful of the slippery slope fallacy, but I also know how Newton works.
Eric– It sounds like your children are very fortunate to have you as a father. And even more fortunate to have two loving parents with somewhat differing perspectives on educational balance. I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my question, and I sincerely hope your older child’s experience at NSHS is a positive one.
It’s fairly obvious we have different opinions of what might constitute the ideal public school system. And we could probably debate many points about NPS for hours. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. So I’d rather focus on an area of apparent agreement.
Your comments seem to acknowledge that school can be a contributing factor to childhood stress. Your earlier post mentioned something about teaching kids how to “handle” stress. I’m curious what ideas you had in mind when you suggested that.
We encourage our kids to pursue a variety of activities in addition to academics, especially sports. There is nothing like some physical exercise to clear one’s head and bring things into perspective. Having experienced eight years as a student at MIT (probably the quintessential pressure cooker), I have certainly learned that there is far more to life than tomorrow’s exam or even the grade at the end of the term. Knowing the tendency for South to be a similar environment, it is my hope that I can instill some of this experience into my kids as they proceed through the school without inhibiting them from also pursing intensively academic interests that they find to be worth such effort (should they in fact find any worth that level of effort). As I indicated previous, where I may fail here, my wife (also an MIT grad but with a good deal more balance than I) most definitely will not.
Institutionally, I would guess that management of stress is a topic that could be covered more explicitly in health classes or advisory. I am sure that there are curricula and other best practices out there which could be of use in Newton. I cannot believe that limiting learning is the best solution. If I am wrong in this regard, then perhaps someone from the Administration can substantiate the idea that homework free long weekends are a best practice.
My point Mike is simply this: it is my opinion that the school should not as a matter of policy limit academic activity (even in this small way) for there is most certainly a group of students capable and interested in working in this manner and I believe teachers at South willing to support them in these endeavors. The policy we are discussing is a start down a road that deprives this group of students the experience they want and I think deserve. Yes it is a small step, but it is a step nonetheless.
Eric– Your comments are excellent, and [even though I disagree] I totally get where you’re coming from. Again, I think your children are very fortunate having parents who emphasize and value education. I also believe you will find for them at NSHS, not necessarily your ideal learning environment, but darn close to it.
Aside from your advocacy of scholastic achievement, there are two comments I’d like to make to you. First, I think you are dramatically underestimating the amount of school related stress most students carry with them daily. Second, far and away, the most significant learning experiences I’ve personally ever had, came outside of a classroom and had nothing to do with school.
Again, Eric, I hope your new high schooler has a great freshman year at South. I really appreciate your comments and value your opinion.
I think that Mike and Gail and their families have had similar experiences to mine and I agree with their sentiments. But Wendy Schapiro’s comment prompts me to add that, in my opinion, it is very much the school system’s responsibility to help students manage school-related stress both inside and outside of the classroom. There is no one size fits all when it comes to managing school-related stress, and when MIT and Harvard were experiencing among the highest suicide rates among private colleges, they were both severely criticized and praised for their responses.
There is no doubt in my mind that both high schools can be pressure cookers. Some kids can handle it, some cannot. Some kids will thrive on it, others will drown in it. Many families have the resources, financial or otherwise, to recognize and support their kids when they are experiencing unhealthy levels of stress, many others do not. A public school system has to serve all of them.
It has certainly been my experience that, next to parents, the faculty at the high schools have the greatest insight into how students are affected by what is going on at school, and very often even greater insight. Which prompts me to ask whether teachers and department heads were consulted about this policy. I cannot imagine such a policy being implemented by fiat, but I think everyone would benefit from understanding how Principal Stembridge came up with it and why. Perhaps someone from NSHS, NPS or the School Committee could respond.
I don’t believe the new policy’s intent is to limit academic activity (I was on the South School Council when some of this policy was discussed). The idea is to increase consistency in expectations across the school. Not to reduce stress from academic expectations, but to reduce stress caused by unpredictable expectations. For example, a student’s family expects them to participate in a vacation, family visit, holiday, holy day, etc. and a teacher unexpectedly gives the student a major assignment due at the end of vacation.
Many college classes give out schedules at the beginning of a term listing the exam dates and paper/project due dates. Not all high school teachers do. The idea was to help reduce stress by giving students more predictable school schedules – which I think is as beneficial as a health class on yoga or meditation.
The policy was created by a teacher subcommittee of South’s School Council.
Thanks, Lucia.
My reaction to this article was similar to Eric’s. My daughter graduated Newton North last spring. She did have homework during the weekends now banned by Newton South. She learned to manage her time appropriately, a skill which will no doubt assist her now as she begins college. The work, theoretically, will still need to get done, the material will need to be taught….so the stress will be incurred as more work is piled on during the school week, with less sleep.
Eric is correct that our children need to learn how to manage stress, and be encouraged to participate in activities that will reduce (or re-channel?) stress. For Eric’s kids, sounds as though athletics fit the bill; for mine, theatre and music.
Finally, for the record, my kid never had a problem saying to a teacher “Hey, I will be away for vacation / I have a competition / I have tech week….may I please have an extension?” That’s self-advocacy and time management, and will not be refused if a teacher sees that the student puts their full effort into their work the rest of the weeks / weekends / etc.
With respect to Admn Hess–Mahan’s comments about MIT and Harvard, for MIT at least, their response to the problems brought on by the nature of the environment were not to limit workload but rather increase student services.
I would echo the sentiments of Native Newtonian. One other life lesson this policy removes is learning how to punt; how to determine that the effort required to get some assignment perfect is not worth the price paid in terms of e.g., enjoying a vacation. While having to make such a tradeoff is likely not appropriate for a first year student, certainly by junior and senior year there is benefit for some of the students in our high schools to being exposed to such choices. The problem with the current policy is that it is an across the board ban; a rather blunt instrument if ever there was one. If the school really wanted to support all of its students, a more nuanced approach would have been implemented. It is a disappointment that such options were not pursued.
Eric, I think Lucia eloquently describes the rationale underlying the policy, and I agree with it. I think you may be missing the forest for the trees here, which is that assigning a project that is due the day after Thanksgiving Day weekend or other times when students are likely to be traveling to visit with family or on family vacations puts undue added stress on both students and their families.
I come from a family full of teachers and college professors, I went to a good college (Tufts, where you teach), and all three of my kids have gone to Newton North, and I can honestly say that I don’t think this policy is going to adversely affect students’ education or send a message that excellence and achievement is undervalued. What it will do, as Lucia said, is assure students and their families that they won’t have to choose between being with family and doing schoolwork when visiting with family or on family vacations.
A lot of those kids at risk of suicide need services because they feel alienated from their friends, their families and the world in general. The last thing those kids need is another reason to be further isolated. It’s great that your kids have so much support and so much going for them. I know an awful lot of kids in Newton who don’t.
With all due respect, your kids aren’t really going to suffer by not having to grind out a term paper due the Monday after Thanksgiving. And I freely admit that, without more, this policy isn’t going to cure school-related stress. However, I think it is a common sense policy that is respectful of students and their families and strikes a proper balance between promoting academic excellence and family harmony. It sounds like your wife might agree. But, by all means come back to me in four years when your student has graduated and let me know if I am totally wrong about that.
Native Newtonian, it is great that your student learned to be an effective self advocate. Many of us, including those of us whose kids have learning disabilities, have students who may not be as skilled or as capable of dealing with conflicting demands from teachers and their families. Throwing those kids in the deep end of the pool and telling them to sink or swim is not going to help them learn how to manage stress.
I would agree, Ted. But lessening the demands for those who can, and should, learn to sink or swim doesn’t help them. Those who have learning disabilities should theoretically have sought out assistance; if the assistance is lacking, that is a whole different topic.
Native Newtonian, come talk to me when you have walked a mile in my shoes.
@Native Newtonian– I think you’ve got it backward. Parents who want to put extraordinarily high academic demands on their children, should do so by supplementing their public school education. I don’t want the school system stressing out my daughter, because some parents want to raise their children in the image of the socially inept brainiacs on Big Bang Theory.
It’s worth me repeating again, stress is a major, hidden problem in our public school system. It is unhealthy for our children. I do not believe we can reduce [“re-channel”] stress simply by adding more organized activities to a child’s schedule. The stress is a result of systemic issues within the schools, and must be addressed at the source. That’s why I applaud this homework policy, and will continue to advocate for things like later start times at our high schools.