Homework Critics vs. Me

I know that the KIPP program has been successful with low-income kids -- and I'm for anything that makes kids love school and learn. But I question whether the homework is the reason (although I think it's great that they relieve untrained parents of the teacher role). Instead, it seems that, while the KIPP kids have a long and challenging school day, it's a balanced one. As you point out, the KIPP program makes time for those things that add joy and creativity to a child's day and alleviate the stress of constant academic pressure. But at other public schools around the country, just the opposite is true. Many have eliminated or slashed arts, music, physical education, and recess to cram in more academic instruction.

The Boston Globe just reported that in the past few years, there have been three suicides, along with lots of other destructive behavior, at Needham, the Massachusetts public high school I mentioned earlier where many students do more than four hours of homework each night. The principal blames it on the "pressure-cooker" environment and is trying to take action. The scary thing is, there are lots of other Needhams out there. When we will learn that more isn't always better, especially when it comes to our kids' education?

Jay: You have to be careful with suicide statistics. Alexandria Robbins, in her recent book "The Overachievers," tried to blame mounting school pressures in communities such as Needham (and Bethesda, Md., where I live and where Robbins went to high school) for what she said was a "114 percent spike" in the suicide rate of 15- to 19-year-olds between 1980 and 2002, based on a Washington Post report of a gifted education newsletter.

I checked this with University of Virginia teen suicide expert Peter Sheras, who said that although there has been a significant increase in the suicide rate among teenagers since 1980, much of the increase was in the first decade. Since the mid-90s, when Robbins says overachieving began to explode across America, the rate of accomplished suicides has remained steady. One of the highest suicide rates recently has been among Hispanic girls, few of whom live in Needham or Bethesda.

I have tried and failed to find national statistics that confirm the widespread view that there has been significant reduction of arts, music and recess in the schools to cram in more academic instruction. If you have some data, please tell me what it is. That would be a story. PE requirements have been declining for a generation, in many cases, as far as I can tell, because of budget pressures, not academic ones. Robbins alleged in her book that 40 percent of schools had eliminated recess, but when I checked her source I discovered that it actually said that 40 percent of PE teachers surveyed said their districts were cutting back or rethinking recess.

I share your view on the intelligence of the KIPP approach. Don't you think their system might help improve homework even in suburban neighborhoods? What if parents like you and me had the cell phone numbers of all of our children's teachers, and encouragement to call them if we had any concerns or questions? Some parents like me might abuse the privilege, of course, but I think it would motivate teachers to think VERY carefully about the worth and relevance of any homework they assigned.

Nancy: I'll get to the KIPP program in a moment. But first, I wasn't making any claim about an increase in teen suicide. At the same time, I wonder why there has to be a huge percentage of kids suffering from something before we're willing to admit there's a problem. If it's your kid, those percentages don't matter.

Yet since you seem to be so attached to stats, here are some telling ones. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 13 percent of American kids between 9 and 17 suffer from an anxiety disorder. A 1999 survey of 724 kids between 9 and 12 by Georgia Witkin, Ph.D., director of the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine Stress Research Program, found that 31 percent of them "worried a lot" and 47 percent had insomnia. When I called Witkin the other day for an update, she told me, "I would say kids are more anxious since I did the survey. There's been no let up in the symptoms that define stress in children, such as the earlier onset of migraines, gastro-intestinal problems, and sleep problems. And it's not because they're worried about Iraq or terrorism or global warming. Homework and school are a major part of it."

A January 2007 clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics cautions that both stress and depression in children are on the rise and recommends counteracting this with more play, "which is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth."

I'd say the world is in a sorry state when adults have to be told to allow kids to play. But when you look at the stats on recess -- and there are valid stats -- that's exactly what you find. According to a 2006 report from the National Center for Education Statistics, 7 to 13 percent of U.S. elementary school kids never have recess. That might not sound like a big number. But considering that there are 65,758 elementary schools in the United States, it means that 4,603 to 8,548 schools don't have any recess at all. And since there are more than 32.4 million elementary school kids, that means that 2.2 million to 4.2 million first- through fifth-graders can forget about any free play during the day.

In addition, that same report says that only 17 to 22 percent of elementary schools provide daily physical education, with the average elementary school scheduling it just 2.4 times a week. The time for art and music has also been reduced by 22 percent of all school districts, according to 2006 national survey by the Center on Education Policy. Whether they've made all these cuts for budgetary or academic purposes doesn't really matter. It still adds up to millions of little kids going all day without a break (except a short lunch) -- and, ironically, not getting the activity they need for proper brain development, to say nothing of preventing obesity. There's your story, and it's a sad one.

But back to homework . . . Do I think that giving out teachers' cell phone numbers to parents and kids with homework concerns is a good idea? Absolutely -- it's a great start. As we found when we interviewed hundreds of parents for our book, they can often improve the homework situation for their child (and sometimes the whole class) just by sharing those concerns with teachers and the administration in a non-confrontational manner. The key is to get educators, policy makers, and, yes, parents, to start rethinking homework -- and how we're schooling our kids in general. Then perhaps we'll see some real, meaningful change.

Jay: I appreciate your very well-sourced thoughts and am happy we agree on most of what is going on. (I did write about that Center on Education Policy report, about which there was some dispute on the meaning of its results. But if we got into that subject my very kind editor would be calling for my dismissal for reckless abuse of the infinite space available here at washingtonpost.com.) I hope you and Sara will keep me in touch with major developments, so that readers can be as up to date as possible on this very troublesome issue for us parents. Thanks very much.