MalloryKeaton

http://www.click2houston.com/educati...43/detail.html

Boy Sues Math Teacher Who Assigned Summer Homework
Teen, Dad Say School Has No Authority Over Students During Summer

Posted: 11:47 am EST January 20, 2005

MILWAUKEE -- A suburban Milwaukee teen and his dad are suing the boy's math teacher for assigning homework to be done over summer vacation.

They are seeking to bar homework assignments over the summer.

year-old student at Whitnall High School, and his father, Bruce Larson of Hales Corners, contend in the suit which stemmed from an assignment in a math class that school officials have no legal authority to make students do homework over the summer because the state-required 180-day school year is over.

"It is poor public policy," Bruce Larson argued in the lawsuit filed last week in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. "These students are still children, yet they are subjected to increasing pressure to perform to ever-higher standards in numerous theaters. Come summer, they need a break." The Larsons said they believe that, if teachers want to assign homework during the summer vacation, it should be voluntary and not factored into the student's grade without the student's consent. Whitnall School Board member Mary Ann Lindberg said the board left the matter up to administrators. "Sometimes those kinds of decisions are best made at the building level with the teachers and the principal and perhaps someone in administration, because they know best what they're trying to achieve," Lindberg said. Whitnall School District Superintendent Karen Petric says the district tried to resolve the matter, but was unable to do so. "I strongly believe the district acted appropriately and didn't do anything wrong," Petric said. "Court is not the place to solve it. It doesn't belong there." Petric said the district would not have anything else to say on the matter because of concerns over student confidentiality.
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

TokyoNiGHTS

[QUOTE=MalloryKeaton

year-old student at Whitnall High School, and his father, Bruce Larson of Hales Corners, contend in the suit which stemmed from an assignment in a math class that school officials have no legal authority to make students do homework over the summer because the state-required 180-day school year is over.
[/QUOTE]

How about simply having him not do the homework then? Lawsuits like this need stop stop.

mh67511

But not doing the homework will affect him negatively. Homework SHOULD NOT be assigned over the summer break. I am glad they are doing this. It didn't say they are doing it for money, it said they doing it to bar summer homework assignments.

In fact at my school it got so out of control the principal declared that NO HOMEWORK, except for reading and ONLY reading, was to be assigned over holiday breaks. Up to that point teachers would assign ridiculous assignments over the break; if you even considered seeing family during that time you'd be screwed. And then if you did your homework and then decided to take a vacation while school was going on, the school got all mad because vacation was not considered a valid absence! Of course the whole thing would have been avoided had the geniuses at the school set it up so that the semester ENDED before break . Why they didn't do that is beyond me.

- Jen -

I never ever received homework over the summer holidays, must be a american school thing

I dont think its necessarily a bad thing, in small amounts, in terms of readings for the following school year, it is probably useful to get started a bit early on them...

Lain

Ho boy...these stories get either stranger or funnier. Oh well, either do the homework or don't. That's the thing. Watch when that boy reaches high school, whoa, homework during the summer.

Er...at least from where I live. I do reading projects during the summer.

Sindaanca

Some people have to understand that playing with the law can affect other cases that are more relevant.
I can't believe that dad is so stupid

roswellain_chick16

What the???

What a ridiculous case, what a waste of time and money...

Drekkan

I hate to burst their bubble, but even if you take the 180 day school year into account, they have no case. The homework is assigned on a schoolday, and it's due on a schoolday - therefore it's like homework assinged on a Friday and due Monday, which is nothing new.

When I was in HS I managed to get all my work done and still have plenty of time for family vacation and a summer job. If students are too stupid/lazy to need the ENTIRE FREAKING SUMMER to do their work, well then, they're stupid and lazy.

Quarterley

I never got assigned homework during the holiday breaks.

Once though, my English teacher told us to consider reading ahead on Shakespeare during Spring Break. I sometimes would do that to get ahead and be all ready even though it wasn't really necessary to do the reading early. But Shakespeare was just too much to handle.

Lorna

This is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of! Why on earth shouldn't you get homework over the holidays?? From the time I went to high school, we were always given at least some reading to do over the summer. And when I got to this boys age -- 17 years old -- I was given essays and research to do during the summer!

I can't believe the dad is suporting this! I hope it gets thrown out, and they get fined or something for wasting the courts time!

mh67511

It's funny you say that because I think being told to read "Cold Mountain" (as well as other books and assignments) was a waste of MY time. (On a side note, why can't they ever assign GOOD books like Michael Crichton? If you want to get kids to read, assign them GOOD BOOKS!)

It's *****ing ridiculous. Kids can't be kids anymore. Why can't they just enjoy the summer? Christ they're not all gonna turn into zombies because they aren't reading a book or doing math problems or other educational stuff.

Secondly I read that most people forget 80% of what they learn, so even if you had kids doing homework every day during the summer, they would probably forget most of it. I am not kidding you, THE ONLY thing I remember from my high school physics class is that objects fall at 9.8m/s2.

If you can't get all the material covered during the school year, you're trying to cover too much. If they give kids summer homework, why don't they just go to year round school then? Why even bother giving kids the summer off?

I am glad he is doing this and I hope he wins.

Drekkan - I don't know what school you went to, but we had new teachers every year. That's why most of us slacked off the last week of school, because we knew we would't have these teachers next year.

mh67511

.

Creative Christy

mh67511 - I totally agree with you! Schools should not be assigning homework during the summer! Now maybe asking kid to read a few books would be ok, as long as they were fun books not like "The Scarlet Letter" or anything like that. Maybe the reason kids like playing video games as opposed to reading is that you rarely get to read any fun books in school.

-Christy

Candice L.

I've never heard of assigning math homework over the summer. Summer reading, yeah, but math? That just seems kind of wrong to me. But I guess that's because I've always been a crappy math student.

*Lauren

God forbid the kid should learn! What is the world coming to when we're asking someone to LEARN! Oh the horror! Won't somebody think of the stupid children?