Sunday, February 12, 2017

TOW #18 - Argument Against Homework

In “The growing argument against homework,” David McGinn, a journalist for The Globe and Mail, writes about why young students should not have to do homework. He explains that homework does not have many benefits, but it does cause frustration and exhaustion, leading to a lack of interest in learning.
I agree with the author’s argument, however I think that he could have applied the argument to high schoolers as well; he also used other methods of argumentation than appeals to logos.
The main argument focuses on a New York elementary school’s ban on homework. He agrees with the ban, but his argument surrounds the idea of a homework ban on elementary school students. However, I think that homework has even worse of an effect on high school students, including a lack of sleep and extreme stress. I think that his argument should also apply to older students to reach a wider audience and have more of an impact on his audience. I also think that elementary school students are not as impacted by a lot of homework because they typically have more freetime than high schoolers.
He explains that parents are upset with a New York school’s recent ban on homework, but argues with statistics that it is good for the students to have a break from homework. I agree with his argument, but I think that if he incorporated more pathos into his argument he could have parents understand that homework can be emotionally draining in addition to not helping the student’s education.
Ultimately, I agree with David McGinn, however I think that there are a couple of improvements that he could make to his argument to catch a principal’s attention and force a change in education systems.

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