Question: Is Assigning Homework Advantageous?

Homework Should Not Be Mandatory

Thank you, Danielle, for an engaging debate. [Debate Summary] Clarification It's clear my opponent misunderstands the concept of a counterplan. My counterplan, which addresses the quantity of homework, does not prevent me from discussing homework quality within the status quo. I propose reducing the excessive amount of homework, not advocating for all homework to be beneficial, as that's not feasible. My opponent's sources focus on large quantities of homework, which I'm arguing against. My sources support general claims, not statistical data. My opponent must prove that homework, while beneficial, should not be mandatory. Counterplan 1A. My opponent misinterprets my counterplan, believing it involves only beneficial homework. However, this is not realistic, and my focus is elsewhere. 1B. My opponent repeats the misunderstanding from point 1A. I do not advocate for all homework to be beneficial, as that is not feasible. Point 2 I demonstrated that the burden on parents is minimal, as the majority are satisfied with the current system. Even if this argument fails, my counterplan minimizes homework for those receiving excessive amounts, reducing the burden on parents. I refuted objections regarding lost family time, showing that family time is not lost but created. I also showed that students are assigned homework based on their abilities, ensuring equal time spent. Furthermore, schools consider students' financial situations when assigning homework. Point 3 My opponent claims homework cuts into free time and creates a second shift of work for children. However, my counterplan addresses this. Even if the counterplan wasn't in place, after-school activities and part-time jobs demonstrate that students have time for homework. Point 4 I've shown that homework does not significantly impact students' academic sets. Classwork and examinations are the primary factors. My opponent's claims about homework being graded are irrelevant, as grading doesn't equate to considering homework in assessing students' abilities. Cheating may occur, but my opponent's statistics are unreliable. Since homework doesn't count for significant evaluation, cheating has no meaningful impact. Students who choose to do their homework properly still benefit. My opponent incorrectly states I dropped the argument about homework's drill and kill methodology, which I refuted by noting excessive homework is the issue, not the concept of homework itself.

In conclusion, the resolution that homework should not be mandatory is clearly supported.

Why do children need to get homework. I am always at work and I don't really have time to help my child. Can't they just do it in class? Then the teacher gets mad at my child for having the answers incorrect, well if you explained to her on what she has to do she would have gotten it right. I understand the importance of homework but at leas give them one she from each subject rather than five. Please comment on what you think, I am open minded on your opinions. And tell me what I should do about this. Thx😀

<> This is a very relevant point in which I will get to in just a moment. < > You do not hear news stories based on the laziness of students in foreign countries. But they hear segments on the students of the USA. They are considered lazy and priviledged by the rest of the world. I'm inclined to agree. < > How sad for you and your friends that you couldn't produce an "A" with one night's work. That only says that you're either not as smart as I was, or that you're too lazy to put the proper effort into your work that I did to my work. <<(Answering a question in the comments below) We cannot use any tricks to fool our teacher that would make out paper longer. She has been a teacher for a long time, and she would recognize any variation in the size. We are also not allowed to add pictures, if we do, we get points taken off. Any other tricks we try would also end in loss of points.>> Thank you for acknowledging the comments below in this debate. Now I may do the very same. You have three sources that have all successfully completed the eighth grade and we all echo the other's advice. Instead of complaining about the task that each of us has had to do, you came online and made a debate about it, instead of actually doing the report itself. <> I apologize for offending you, but it was not my intent. Actions speak louder than words, and inaction speaks just as loudly. I believe you truly care about your grades. I do. I also believe that you would prefer things to be easy and have fast solutions, which is why you probably still haven't completed your assignment. < > I doubt that, as there are countless websites that offer cheats of every kind for students in high school. Students cheat every single day in this country. It's laughable to suggest that "many" would be "quite upset" if someone did their work for them. I have a nephew in the eighth grade and I guarantee that he wouldn't be as distraught. <<"You have such a sense of entitlement, but you haven't earned such.">> I wasn't referring to you, specifically, in this statement. I was referring to your entire generation. As a whole, you are everything that I claim you to be. Prove me wrong if this isn't so. < > I have already experienced what you're going through. I did it (without all the complaining). My schoolmates and I accepted our workload as part of our academic careers. And, yes, we complained about things, but never about having TWO-WHOLE-WEEKS TO PRODUCE eighteen little pages. It's madness! < > Yes. So? This debate is how you claim to have been working like crazy, yet here you are on the internet while your paper is unfinished. There are three sources here echoing the fact that this is a small feat and not unreasonable at all. If I seem to act with entitlement, it is because I've earned the right to be this way. I've paid my dues. I've written the papers that I was assigned to write. I work and earn every cent in my bank account. Entitlement, within reason, is mine for the taking. You are barely a teenager, so I'll give you some advice. It only gets much, much harder before it ever becomes easy.

Hello and thanks for your reply. I am not sure if you are familiar with cyber schooling or not, but your point about cyber schooling helping students knowledge with the World Wide Web (Internet) is basically not true in most cases. Yes a student gets a laptop, and yes they use the program, but it is pretty much step by step setup for them. They use only one program and that one program surly cannot teach them much of anything about the web. Now for my argument. I believe there shouldn't be any type of homeschooling/cyber schooling. ( I meant them both in my title and you somewhat addressed homeschooling. Anyways, I believe it messes with a students social life, and all the benefits of going to an actual high school. First off, a college wont think as much of a student who got good grades in a cyber school, as much as they would a student who did it in a regular high school. I think we can all agree on that for obvious reasons. Secondly, the student misses out on all of the clubs and extracurricular activities the schools offer. Those are big things colleges look at. Also just the social impact of being apart of those clubs or sports usually has a great impact on students. (http://www.public.iastate.edu...) Lastly, imagine if everyone went to cyber schools, then teachers would loose jobs. (In an economy that we are vigorously trying to get jobs for people) Many jobs would be lost. No such thing as a school board, all the food companies loose lots of business because the schools wont need to buy any food from them. Janitors loose jobs, lawn care company's, bus company's, lots of company's will suffer. I just see Cyber school having a lot more cons than pros.

While your argument is valid there is also increasing evidence to show that the idea of year round schooling is not going to increase student achievements nor will it be an easy adjustment for students, parents and teachers. According to an article in the New York Times, schools that recently instituted a year round school plan did not improve achievement scores or ratings as compared to other schools in the state.

Thanks to Logic_on_rails again for a great debate.I would like to apologize to Logic_on_rails and to the readers, I have had some personal issues arise unexpectedly and have not given this debate the preparation and time it deserves.That said, let's address the key points of this debate and my consclusions.Burden of ProofMy Burden of Proof is to prove that greatly reducing the amount of homework given [to High School students] in favor of increasing/setting the length of the school day from 9am to 5 pm does not provide sufficient increased benefit to society or the students to justify making said change.School Day.I maintain that Lengthening the school day will ultimately detract from the extra-curricular activities that Students can participate in, both by directly decreasing the amount of overall time available for those activities and by decreasing the viability of participating in activities.Pro has countered this point, I find that his endeavor to represent a lengthened school day as conducive to extra curricar activity participation and early low-skill job market participation is somewhat falacious. Homework can typically done in a broken or segmented fashion if necessary, playing baseball, rugby, or waiting tables cannot. On this point, merits of lengthening school day. LearningI do not feel compelled to completely counter the Spacing Effect. I will concede that spaced Learning may help some students learn more than alternative learning methods. I do not concede that all homework is conterproductive to spaced learning in school, by extension, I do not concede that spaced learning in school offers significant enough marginal benefit to justify changing the status quo. The Merits of HomeworkHomework is a necessary tool of education. By extension, reductions in Homework will hamper ability to fully develop and achieve the best level of education & should be seen as a failure on the part of the education system.I disagree with Pro's rebuttal: Homework put into school time does not maintain the benefits of homework performed at home. I maintain that addition of either taught hours or "study hall hours" at school again does not offer sufficient benefit to justify changing status quo.Reduction in General MischiefOn Pro's point: Extended. A solid school environment reduces the disproportionately high amount of youth crime for the reasons discussed in R2, such as empirical evidence showing how governments reduce harmful drug use, with education being cited as one of the main factors for smoking’s decline being one. Refer to R2.I have outlined in earlier rounds the merits of extra curriculars to this end. I do not believe that extension of the school day is mutually exclusive with participation in extra curriculars with respect to reduction of mischievious behavior. Again. No obligation to change status quo.Working Mindset / Lack of Agrarian Workfroce CurrentlyOn working mindset point. Extra curricular activities in my definition and as explained above include low-skill labor market jobs.What better way is there to prepare for the working world and mindset than actual participation in the labor force?An agrarianism. This is an international policy debate (theory). The world still relies heavily on agriculture. It is somewhat narrow-minded to assume that it does not. [1] Afghanistan: ½ of the GDP comes from agriculture, not including the illicit opium economy... Bangladesh: Of the 80% of the population that lives in rural areas, 54% work in agriculture... Bhutan: 1/3 of the GDP comes from agriculture, and is a key source of income, employment, and food security for mostBhutanese... India: Some 72% of the India’s 1.1 billion people live in rural areas... Maldives: Fisheries accounts for 8 percent of the country's GDP... Nepal: The country’s challenge is to transform subsistence agriculture based on low-value cereals into a commercialeconomic activity... Pakistan: 40% of the country’s labor force works in agriculture, which accounts for 22% of the GDP... Sri Lanka: Agriculture accounts for only 17% of the GDP, yet 80% of the population lives in rural areas.. Feasibility / Cost I maintain my earlier points on Fasibility and Cost. Pro's rebuttals do not sufficiently disprove my points or the viability of them.The implicit cost of a change argues for the status quo.SummaryI have, in my opinion, fulfilled my burden of proof in that I have offered reasonable evidence and logic to support the maintenance of status quo.The proposed change will create too great a social disruption to justify its imposition.Readers, ask yourselves simply if we can expect the world to alter a years old educational system if the change is not 100% necessary.Thanks again to Logic_ on_rails.[1] http://web.worldbank.org...

Thanks Danielle! This debate has definitely been a fun one to participate in. [Debate Summary] Clarification It is evident that my opponent completely misunderstands what a counterplan is. My counterplan (ie. proposed changes to the status quo which gives me a fraction of the BOP) was in regards to quantity because, obviously, I can feasibly make sure that all homework is beneficial and of a good quality - that does NOT mean that I can’t talk about homework quality within the status quo and in the past because my counterplan is not a list of my advocacies (as my opponent seems to believe). Ergo, there is no contradiction, I hope it is now clear to my opponent and to voters of what a counterplan is and how it is different to my advocacies and rebuttals. So, just to clarify, my counterplan states that quantity is too high so it will be reduced. My rebuttal to my opponent’s source is that it addresses an older version of the education system with different qualities of homework. These statements are not contradictory and can coexist without any contradictions. Nobody should be confused by this. I extend those arguments. Point 1 The outcome of this contention is simple. My opponent uses incredibly unreliable data that fails to account for 99.99999163742% of the children in the world (children in poverty and in poor conditions are still children and should be [and are] included in this figure). Virtually all of my opponent’s sources here deal with large quantities of homework which is something that I’m specifically advocating the removal of from the status quo (as is made evident in my counterplan). My opponent has attempted to show that my sources do not account for as many people as hers however my sources are not being used in the same way that hers are. She is using her sources to prove that homework should be abolished using statistical data. I was using mine for general claims that bare the same weight regardless of the amount of people involved since I did not use these for statistic related claims. She also appears to believe that not every beneficial thing must be mandatory. I have accepted this however my opponent seems to believe that this is as far as her burden requires her to achieve. This is objectively false. There are some things that are beneficial and should be mandatory (my opponent concedes this). Therefore, my opponent’s burden entails them in proving that whilst homework can be beneficial it should not be mandatory. My concession of beneficial things not having to be mandatory does not mean that my opponent’s burden is advanced in any way. Counterplan 1A. My opponent once again misunderstands what a counterplan is. My opponent lies about me saying that my counterplan involves only beneficial homework being implemented. She tries to get out of this precarious situation she’s been put in by saying that by saying this it means that I advocate all homework - even non beneficial homework. This is simply not true. A counterplan is a proposed change to the status quo on the the negative case’s behalf. I cannot make a beneficial related change to the status quo because as my opponent pointed out earlier on in this debate, that simply isn’t feasible. This doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t prefer there to be only beneficial homework, I would. Though this is virtually impossible so I am focussing my counterplan elsewhere. 1B. My opponent makes an identical misinterpretation to what she says in response to point 1A. Just because I’m not making a proposed change on the status quo to make all homework beneficial, doesn’t mean that I do not advocate this - I merely find this proposed changed to be unfeasible and unrealistic. Please extend my counterplan as my opponent pretty much drops it all and instead resorts to refuting nonexistent argument regarding benefits and then making strange and ultimately false complaints about me advocating homework that isn’t beneficial. Point 2 In this contention I proved that the burden on parents is of an extremely low percentage. The majority are clearly content with the status quo. Regardless, even if this objection fails you still ought to presume Con as the counterplan minimizes homework quantity for those that receive too much homework, therefore the burden on parents is virtually non existent. Either way, you ought to consider this point in my favor. She also raised the objection of family time being lost which was also refuted by the fact that I used psychological evidence in order to refute this point and show that in reality family time is created as opposed to being lost. I also showed that students are set based on abilities and are given the amount of homework that should be sufficient in correlation with their ability so that everybody spends the same amount of time on homework (though not necessarily doing the same amount of homework or the same difficulty level in homework). Furthermore, I managed to show that parents doing homework is neither good nor bad. Though no benefits at all is worse. Sets and teaching opinion on students is formulated based on class work and examination (which I proved via citation in the previous round). Therefore, whilst this does happen, all this means is that some students won’t gain anything from homework and some will. I refuted the objection in regards to resources due to the fact that schools take the student’s parents/carers financial state into consideration. My opponent blatantly lies when she says: “Con dropped that even when good HW is assigned, it is the student's approach that is critical. ” This is massively untrue. I will quote my response from R3: “She helps explain the very purpose of homework itself. She points out that homework cannot be monitored in regards to approach and therefore students may not grasp or understand the material properly. If they do not understand it and get all of the questions wrong (for example), then it is the teacher’s duty to correct the student and explain the homework to them. The lesson is designed to teach all students generally. The homework shows specific pupils progress and understanding of that lesson which teachers can then monitor and intervene if necessary in order to help said student to understand it properly”. My opponent’s claim that I dropped this is ludicrous. Point 3 My opponent claims that homework cuts time into things and she also claim that it provides a second shift of work for children. This is automatically negated by the counterplan. Additionally, even if my counterplan was not enacted this contention would still work in my favor since after school activities exist and I presented a large statistic showing that people have plenty of time to do homework alongside activities and I demonstrated that there are a record breaking amount of people in part time jobs in the UK which my opponent drops. Point 4 I have shown that homework does not count towards sets for children. In fact class work and examination are used only. The only claims that my opponent has been able to muster are bare assertions that homework is often graded (which is irrelevant since grading homework is not the same as taking it into consideration when assessing that student’s ability - which is what general classwork and examinations are for). I concede that cheating happens however my opponent’s website regarding cheating statistics is unreliable (and my opponent drops this argument). We can conclude that since homework does not count for anything important, cheating has no effects (neither positive or negative). Whereas the students that opt in to do their homework properly receive the benefits from homework which my opponent concedes when she says that just because homework is beneficial, doesn’t mean that it should be mandatory. Once again, my opponent lies and states that I dropped the effects of HW’s drill and kill methodology. This is false. Again, I will have to quote my response which my opponent supposedly claims is nonexistent when she says that I dropped it: “Again, the review my opponent cites in an attempt to prove that homework results in the loss of sleep, self esteem and childhood is refuted by the counterplan as it once again references to excessive homework and homework taking up valuable time from children. ” The outcome of this debate is incredibly clear. The resolution is negated.

"If a student cannot handle the responsibility, they must handle that themselves." This is what the opposition just said quote for quote. If a student can't handle the responsibility, how are they supposed to "handle" it? That argument doesn't make any sense and it is contradicting itself. Also, the opposition stated that school sports do not take up much time, but you can't change how long a sport is. You just can't. You could take your kid early from a game, but then it wouldn't be all that fun and then there would be no point in even playing. Basically, the other side is going to try and convince me during this whole debate that sports are short and don't take that much time. It is an impossible argument for the opposition's sake and I therefore advise you to give up on this debate if you can. Anyway I will go on to my own points. My first argument: Time consumption A soccer game for kids is around two hours: One hour before the game to practice with your team and the other hour playing the actual sport. Football can take even longer. It is the same for baseball and softball. All of these sports I have listed take too much time and kids will not be able to have enough time to focus and work on homework. Even if they do have enough time, they will probably stay up from 9:00 P.M. to 12:00 P.M. (I know from experience. I play soccer). This isn't even that bad unless you play multiple sports. In that case, you literally might not even be able to sleep. If you don't get enough sleep, you do worse in school. You do worse in school, you go to a bad college. You go to a bad college, you get a bad job. You get a bad job, you hardly get any money. You don't get enough money, and your life is ruined. This all started with sports. Also, if you have little time for homework, your work will be amazingly sloppy and your grades will plummet. Your grades are the most important thing in life and sports will take that away from you. This was only the first round. It will be impossible on the opposition's part to continue and win. Please just give up on your feeble attempt at arguing with me on this topic. You can just say "I give up" for the rest of the rounds. If you would like to try and argue for your case and against mine, go ahead. I won't stop you. I rest my case.

Okay, so homework will prepare them, sure, which is why it should be OPTIONAL. If they do need to practice, they can, but if they don't need to, they shouldn't have to. Grade cause a great deal of stress among students.

Pro believes that Home Schooling is better than public schools. There is no interaction between students which helps to stop bullying. Home schooling gives a one on one interaction between the student and the teacher which does not happen in public schools. Home schooling is more time efficient as well.

I must disagree. Teachers give us homework to sharpen our skills with the topic we learned. To help us understand the lesson. That is why they give us homework. Because they do not have time to make sure that they have the lesson well taught and well learned for everyone. With my prior example, the teacher can make sure that everyone understands the material that is being taught. I am not sure what my opponent's point was with trying to learn 4 lessons of physics in around 30 minutes was. If he is being sarcastic I have no idea. Long periods are beneficial to society as well as the education system as a whole. And actually, let us see what happens to bully rates when the school hours increase. I am willing to bet that they will decrease. The answer to that is very simple when you look at the root cause for bullying. Why does it occur? If you increase school hours, and they reduce stress on the bully, he will not need to hurt a kid to express himself from all the stress he is under. I am not saying to increase the amount of time outside of class. I am saying to increase the amount of time in class, so that students can have a better chance of learning the material. Less wearing uniforms? This is not true for all schools. Thus, that is a school topic for a debate, not a nation-wide topic such as the school hours. Thanks for the debate. Good job! You made some good points in the debate. Although, the insults were a little much. And since you like Halo, check out the debate with me on the topic Battlefield takes more skill than Halo! Ill cya round!


Question: Is Assigning Homework Advantageous?

Homework should be abolished as it negatively impacts children's well-being and development.

Let me reiterate my stance. Despite the belief of some adults, including my parents, that homework is crucial for additional practice and college readiness, I strongly advocate for its abolition. Children would benefit from more time with their families, reduced stress, and the opportunity to pursue other interests. Witnessing children's distress, complaints, and parents' frustration is disheartening. What is the root of this negativity? The answer is HOMEWORK!!! If children were free from homework, they could spend quality time with their families, engage in activities like biking and exploring nature. Banning homework would enable children to have meaningful conversations with their parents about school and other topics, fostering stronger family bonds.

Homework causes undue stress, as it often requires long hours to complete, leading to sleep deprivation. Tired and grumpy students may struggle to concentrate in class, potentially resulting in poor grades and disciplinary issues. Students in advanced classes are particularly burdened, as each teacher assigns an hour of homework, accumulating to several hours of work each night. This leaves little time for hobbies or other interests, which are crucial for personal development.

Many students despise homework and believe it should be abolished. Even some educators agree that homework may not be as effective as intended. School districts that have banned homework report positive outcomes. Homework's necessity is questioned, as it may not contribute significantly to children's education. Some argue that parents need to be involved in their child's education and that homework serves as a communication tool between teachers, parents, and students. However, excessive homework can transform a bonding experience into a source of conflict within families. It can lead to strained relationships and cause children to stay up late, impacting their sleep and overall well-being.

While some argue that homework improves handwriting, reading skills, and provides extra practice, it can also cause significant stress and hinder a child's ability to enjoy their childhood. I am not advocating for the elimination of all educational activities outside of school, but rather for a more balanced approach that prioritizes the child's well-being. My dream is for teachers to support their students without relying on homework. I am a 15-year-old freshman, and I implore you to consider the detrimental effects of homework on children's education and family life. Let us strive for a world where children can thrive without the burden of excessive homework.

I agree mostly with what my opponent says in his first paragragh OUTSIDE of a school environment. You need to encode the information into long term memory because they won't let you make a google search on your exams. My opponent argues that you can store information in the digital realm so you can access it after your time in school is over. If your incredibly concerned with being able to have access to your 10th grade history class twenty years down the line then this argument is completely valid. However, most people are more concerned with getting high marks on their exams which requires mnemonic encoding. 1. if you lose focus on the lecture and you find yourself without an answer, chances are your class has assigned homework. if you find yourself without an answer on the homework you can look up the answer and incorporate it into the notes thus facilitating encoding. 2. yes, you can print the paper but if you learned it on the computer attempting to encode it on paper will still be more difficult. And I'm not saying that computerized learning has no meritorious traits. Simply that there needs to be a balance to ensure the most efficient learning. 3. It's not the right of the university to track the movements of its students. it's invasive. At work you can sign a contract. I wouldn't want my workplace to track my location either. This point is one of the smaller ones in both of our cases. 4. I believe these websites are great tools to facilitate learning as a supplement to what was taught in a lecture. to enforce this method of learning upon all students when many learn best from face to face instruction would defeat the purpose of these learning supplements. 5 again. these apps could be used as a supplement to learning and could be used to drill information that has already been encoded to increase the ease of access by drilling synaptic pathways. 6.7. Again, since you won't have access to google on the exam you will need the information encoded into long term memory as a result face to face communication is the best known methodology for facilitating encoding. What's actually driving up tuition are the redundant administrative positions that are growing in number. not hiring professors. but that's a debate for another day. 8. I don't think we were on the same page for the first part of this. For getting help from the teacher I was referring more to High school. Tutors were more for college. Having an online community to help you would be beneficial as long as it was used as a supplement to what was taught in the lecture. Information must first be encoded into long term memory in the lecture, then it may be supplemented with whatever means work best for you.

Freedom of homework is a type of freedom of expression. If I do not have to do homework, then I am free to express and realize my dreams regarding whether I want to do homework. Freedom of chores is another type of freedom of expression. If I do not have to do chores, then I am able to better express myself because I can better show the world whether I actually want to do chores.If a person does not freely express himself or herself, then he or she is not free. If a person is not free, then he or she does not freely express himself or herself. So by Biconditional Introduction, a person does not freely express himself or herself if and only if he or she is not free. By a property of biconditional statements, a person freely expresses himself or herself if and only if he or she is free. Therefore, freedom of expression and freedom are equivalent.

I would like to clarify my statement in which the Pro stated that i have become the pro. In this statement(which you can find in my round 2 argument) i said that technology will be useful in the future but that is not what this argument is about. This argument is about technology in schools.I believe that students won't need to learn how to use technology at school because they have or will learn at home because many students already own electronic devices. The Pro also asked the following " If you find technology pointless in the classroom setting, then why are you using it right now?" which is completely irrelevant because i'm not in a classroom setting while doing this. Also this debate is not some type of school project. THe answer to her follow up question would be yes i have used technology for school but it typically wasnt at school, which meant it was not disrupting my learning time. I would like to take this time to point out that in the studies that The Pro used many of the results could not truly be examined. for example in the first study she used she stated that Students "believed" that technology helps and i don't think i need to say this but things don't become true just because you believe in them.(millions of kids around the world believe in santa claus but..well you get the point). In another one of her surveys she stated that 16 out of 18 kids remembered animal facts "better"(remember this word) by using powerpoints But she never says what it was better than. for all we know the original teaching method could've been a teacher saying facts once then handing out a test.(we don't know).Also i would like to say that anytime you do something by yourself you are bound to remember it better, whether it was writing facts on a powerpoint or a piece of paper.(most of you know this from experience). Last i would like to conclude my round 3 argument by countering or rather going farther into detail about one more argument made by the Pro. This was the argument that students feel more relaxed while being able to do task using technology. This is a situation that i can put myself into i because if i had an opportunity to play games and goof off while i was suppose to be doing an assignment i would take (and i don' know about anyone else but i am quite relaxed while playing games). So from a teacher's view point or anyone else who has been observing these students behavior with technology it would appear that they are very relaxed and more lively too. Before the Pro attempts to use this as a counter i would like to say it right now so i won't have to in my next argument. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to block every game/fun activity on the internet.

Yeah that't simply it, I'm too stupid to figure out the basics of a computer. Well sorry to break it to your but I'm quite computer savvy, and I'm not saying that your wrong about how computers are useful at all, I actually love the idea that technologically is incorporated in schools. But I don't like it when we loose that teacher/student interaction (or "bond" if you whim) over it, the way you get the FULL experience of school is by learning from a teacher that you respect, look up to, and challenges you, my generation lacks that because kids now are learning more from a computer then from the person that's meant to be guiding them. What I truly think is programs that teachers assign students for a learning aid (such as LearningUpgrade, @Hometutor ect.) is just a way to escape the whole "Get to know you" deal. I rather learn from a person that can explain thing's that I don't get and MAKE me understand, instead of just searching a bunch of bs that doesn't even explain it to how I learn. Now once again I want to state that technology is a extremely a useful tool and I don't know what I would do without it, But I feel like we are loosing the real learning experience, I rather do everything on paper and learn from a teacher that know's how each student learns because they have some sort of communication/interaction instead of learning off of some program and not retaining any information. Or maybe I can't truly learn from a program because I'm some dumbass who can't control a computer.

"True, you are free to choose the curriculum taught to your child, BUT the same CORE curriculum is taught whether it be home school or public school. Still being free to choose your schedule doesn't really mean anything since the parent will still set a schedule for the child, just with different hours."Yes but in home school you get taught the same core. Also they get better test scores in those core curriculums: In 1997, a study of 5,402 homeschool students from 1,657 families was released. It was entitled, "Strengths of Their Own: Home Schoolers Across America." The study demonstrated that homeschoolers, on the average, out-performed their counterparts in the public schools by 30 to 37 percentile points in all subjects. A significant finding when analyzing the data for 8th graders was the evidence that homeschoolers who are homeschooled two or more years score substantially higher than students who have been homeschooled one year or less. The new homeschoolers were scoring on the average in the 59th percentile compared to students homeschooled the last two or more years who scored between 86th and 92nd percentile. [1]So bot teach the curriculum, and on average homeschooling does it better. "If you have the right teachers teaching you, then public school could be better for the child. What if the parent doesn't know English that well?"All of these are what if questions, Home schooling out preforms public schools in reading, (50% in public ve 65-75 in hpmeschool) So once again, on average the home schooling method trums a public school in all subjects, well maybe except art ad such, but your argument here doesnt work because the numbers are against you. Also the numbers here can be found in my second source. "I will agree home school can be more educational, BUT does harm by sheltering the child and not letting them experience what real life is"False! A study of adults who were home educated found that none were unemployed and none were on welfare, 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons, 79% said it helped them interact with individuals from different levels of society, and they strongly supported the home education method. [2]So in the job world t benifits to be homeschooled, and 79% of them say it helps them interact with others. So most homeschooling helps kids larn to interect (I do not know how) and they can experience the 'real world', So facts here also trump your argument. Also home schooling is cheaperAnother obstacle that seems to be overcome in homeschooling is the need to spend a great deal of money in order to have a good education. In Strengths of Their Own, Dr. Ray found the average cost per homeschool student is $546 while the average cost per public school student is $5,325. Yet the homeschool children in this study averaged in 85th percentile while the public school students averaged in the 50th percentile on nationally standardized achievement tests. [1]So home schools are cheaper, and you get better scores on average, best of both worlds, cheap ad good. Saves the taxpayer money:Home education families are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources - they likely save American taxpayers over $10 billion per year. [2]So overall they save 10 billion dollars a year in tax money for americans, so thank them. Conlusion: 1. kids learn better in home schooling, in every subject, which includes the core curriculum. 2. Helps kids interact with others when they are an adult, I do not know how but facts are facts. 3. It is cheaper4. It saves tax dollars5. Kids in homeschools get a better life compared to those that did public schooling, i.e. the non unemployed and none on wellfare statistic. I await your response. :)http://www.hslda.org... [1]http://www.nheri.org... [2]

I accept. Let's dissect the PRO's thinking. The obvious assumption of the PRO is this: Students drop out of the school because of the service learning hour requirement. However, if you look at data, this is not the case. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the top four reasons students drop out are: 1. Classes were not interesting (47 percent) 2. Missed too many days and could not catch up (43 percent) 3. Spent time with people who were not interested in school (42 percent) 4. Had too much freedom and not enough rules in my life (38 percent) (1) You probably noticed, but none of these included "service learning hours". In fact, Service Learning hours could help students graduate by: 1) Making school interesting (counters reason 1). They allow students to spend time on a project they are personally involved in and care about. There is nothing like passion to keep determination. 2) Spend time with motivated people (counters reason 3). By spending time with people who care about something and are motivated to see it though, students could, ideally, pick up some of that and change their attitude towards school. 3) Structure (counters reason 4). One reason students drop out is a lack of structure in their life. But volunteering on a fixed so-many-hours-a-week basis allows for a schedule outside of school--it gives them normalcy. This is especially true for students from dysfunctional homes. In conclusion, the PRO opening argument is invalid and, in fact Service Learning hours could help prevent dropouts. 1. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...

< > Don't you mean rant? < > Of course you would, because as I indicated above, you are too lazy to do your own work. You completely copied and pasted someone else's opinion into your own argument to take credit for it. And here I thought you were above this type of "cheating". Here are some key words from your argument in Round Two: <> You don't seem very upset to me. And it's hilarious that you're back on the site while your "story" remains undone. <<"Solo, while you debate well, I have a very hard time believe you could complete a well-thought out, full-fledged 18 page report in one night. The focus on this report is to write a miniature version of Homer's "The Odyssey", following all the specific characteristics of an epic throughout five books (chapters). Furthermore, if you could indeed such fine material in just one night, why in fact are you spending your sitting on the computer debating with 8th graders, when you could be writing illustrious novels for a living?">> Copied and pasted from below, but not an original idea from massvideogamer. <> Not the point of this debate, as the burden of proof does not lie with me. However, the reason that I'm not a best-selling novelist is because I don't have anything to write. Why would I want to write novels? It was a tedious task that I did well and left behind. Writing reports is dreadful and I hated it with a passion, but that does not mean that I was not excellent at doing it. <> Almost is not good enough and further proves that you do not manage your time appropriately. There are four people in the comments below that are agreeing with me. What does that tell you? < > Yes, lifestyles that promote rewards for hard work and not rewards for laziness. < > Your assessment of me and my life only prove, to anyone reading this debate, is that you should stay in school. Thanks for the debate, massvideogamer! I appreciate your efforts and I hope you do not take my points too personally. I was, in fact, able to write long A-worthy reports at your age, but really don't care what you do now. I just like having something interesting to do while I sit here and make money. Thanks again!

Homework is waste of time and all students hate it. People who enjoy what they are doing are more likely to give their full effort. Homework is not one of those things. People like to do things they enjoy.

Students learn enough in the classroom. They do not need to go home and do more work when it is not needed.

Explanation: As the Pro, My burden will be to show that it is more likely that grades are detrimental to a child's education in more cases than they help them either theoretically or in practice. The con Burden is to show that grades are an integral part of education, and that they are helpful to more students than they detriment. Style: This is meant to be a mainly philosophical debate, and, though direct evidence is completely fine, it is not necessary. Either side may use a philosopher, political thinker etc. as a source to back up part of a claim or contention, but not as the crux of an argument, or validation of a claim. Structure: Round 1: Acceptance (and if you feel it necessary other/counter definitions) Round 2: Introduce All arguments (no con rebuttals) Round 3: Rebuttals, Turns, extensions etc. Round 4: Final Rebuttals and Closing arguments. (No new arguments) Definitions: For the purpose of this round, grades refer to Numerical or other scaled evaluation of a students performance. Grades do not include narratives, or other text based evaluations. Side note: if My opponent wishes to argue that there are certain students to whom this benefit is more important, or that education is utilitarian (and therefore some students are more important than others) they may.


Question: Is Assigning Homework Advantageous?

The proposition that homework is futile in today's society is well-supported. Time is a precious commodity, and students need downtime to engage in other essential activities like physical exercise, play, and family time, which also contribute to their development. The internet has made learning accessible at home, with numerous educational resources and games that can supplement classroom learning. Homework often conflicts with these activities and can strain family relationships due to the pressure it puts on children to complete tasks.

Moreover, homework consumes valuable class time for explanation and review, which could be better utilized for interactive learning. Teachers also spend considerable time designing, explaining, marking, and providing feedback on homework, which could be more efficiently replaced with classwork assessments. Homework does not adequately prepare students for adult life, as it does not reflect the freedom of choice they experience in college or the structured environment of the workplace.

Stress caused by homework is a significant concern for students, who often question its benefits. Board work in class could serve as a sufficient practice, eliminating the need for repetitive homework assignments. Homework also causes unnecessary stress, especially when students forget assignments or have to make up missed work. Contrary to claims that homework fosters self-discipline and responsibility, it often leads to resentment towards learning and does not create a meaningful link between school and family. The lack of a direct correlation between homework volume and academic performance suggests that teachers should only assign homework when it is genuinely beneficial.

In conclusion, homework can detract from the enjoyment of learning and should be used sparingly to ensure its importance and effectiveness. Stress levels induced by excessive homework, especially for young students, are not conducive to a healthy learning environment.

I do not think that tests are more effective than assignments or projects. Tests are just questions that prove whether you can answer something or not. Assignments allow you to express it in a larger way. Assignments allow you to express your creativity and sometimes express your opinion. Tests freak some kids out. Especially because they usually cant use their notes. On an assignment you can use whatever notes you need. I think assignments reflect a students work more than a test does.

Umm... I don't know what this has to do with video games... Nevertheless I will debate it. Since my opponent has refused to argue in the first round he will be able to argue in round 5. 1. Learning Homework is a great tool for learning. It lets the student learn at home and get ready for the next day. Some people think "just teach it at school!" Remember that teachers are humans too. Teachers are already burdened with meetings and classes. They have to teach what they can in the short time period in class. How are they supposed to know that the kid understood what they were teaching? Homework. When the kids bring it home they need to use the tools they learned in class to answer. If the kids were listening and paying attention it should be easy, nothing to complain about. However, if the kid was goofing off or spacing out during the class, the homework would be quite the challenge. Homework can also make sure that the kids learn and know the material. 2. Judging Teachers, while giving lectures, cannot tell if their students are paying attention or if they are understanding the material. So They need to use that class time to teach the kids, then afterwards, they can give a quiz to work on at home, also known as homework. So what does this have to do with judging? The good kids will return their homework done and well done. And the kids who are not listening will return it not done, or get a lot of them wrong. This lets the teacher know who can get their work done, and who doesn't. So the teacher knows what to do next, or what kids to help. 3. Time Teachers have a schedule and they have to follow it. They only have so much class time. They have so much to teach, but they have to spread it out throughout the year, otherwise they might get overworked. The last thing they need is a quiz cutting into their precious class time, which they could be using to teach something else. Tests are ok, since those are for grades and they are required. But quizzes are for the teacher to see how people are doing. Instead, they give quizzes to do at home, also known as homework. This give the teacher more time to teach, so they don't get over worked. Plus, the kids learn more in class, since a lot of the quizzes are done at home.

My opponent appears to concede. “ It is completely true that small amounts of stress can be good for a person. While it doesn’t have the “many benefits” my opponent states, the one he brings up is valid. “ My first point stands that grades create a small amount of necessary stress. Which is actually beneficial and provides motivation thus furthering education. Furthermore my opponent is never able to fully rebut the following contentions. 2.Efficiency Not only are grades beneficial for students but also teachers greatly benefit from qualitatively quantifying the performance of students. For example letter grading systems provides teachers with concrete and effeicent ways of evaluating mastery of course content by students. Furthermore if a high school student applies to college, one major factor that the admissions office consider are grades. When college students apply to graduate school, the admissions office again considers grades. When students apply for a job, the employer considers the students grades. Without grades, post-secondary schools and employers will have no way to know whether the student learned the material well or badly. Employers would obviously prefer to hire computer programmers and lawyers who achieved top grades rather than those that received the worst grades because top grades are a proxy for learning. The students with the best grades learned the material better than the other students and are therefore likely to make better workers. UC Santa Cruz, for example, used to have a holistic rating system, where each student merely received an "essay" as feedback from each professor. The campus switched to grades so that graduate schools would have some legitimate way to measure students' performance (against each other and against other students from other schools). 3.Grades provide feedback to the student Students might *feel* that they understand the material or that they are learning. However, that subjective feeling must be tested by some objective, external measurement. A student that *thinks* has learned the material may have a rude awakening when he takes a quiz and scores 20/100. Without this external feedback, the student would never know whether he truly understood. Psychological studies have found that all people have a natural bias to believe that they are above average. For students, this translates to most students believing that they have above average knowledge of the subject matter. Without external feedback to dissipate this bias, students that don't really understand the material would not realize that they need to study more or harder. 4. The educational system would crumble without grades. My opponent would have to offer a rival educational system without grades. It is incoherent to talk about whether a student has learned a certain subject matter, without somehow grading their knowledge. Without some tangible form of knowledge, any attempt of a student or teacher to figure out how much a student had learned would be nothing more than a subjective guess based on cognitive bias (such as a teacher saying that students who he or she liked "knew" the material better). Without grades, students that did not talk much during class would likely be marginalized because the teacher would assume they had not learned anything. Thus, I negate the resolution and argue that grades are on the whole necessary and beneficial and the educational system is better with them. The outcome of this debate should be clear. To help students learn, to stop motivation from being crushed, to increase beneficial levels of stress, to increase knowledge retention, to teach kids to accept important feedback, to increase motivation, andhave a coherent educational system , I urge a con ballot.

Before I delve into my argument, I will post two definitions. School: An institution for educating children. Schooling: Education or training received, especially at school. Education: The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. Schooling and education are distinct concepts, and not explicitly congruent, but very closely related. Based on the definitions posted above, education may or may not take place in a school setting, but schools are intended to be places of education. Education may not explicitly mean that every human must "go to school" in order to be successful, but school is arguably the best source for education. Public schools provide education in language arts, mathematics, sciences, social studies, and arts. This is a tremendous resource in education that is far more accessible than attempting to find these lessons in the real world. Outside of school, you are typically forced to focus on job-specific learning, rather than true, mind expanding education. To suggest that education is nothing more than a reference of trivial facts is to confuse education with some sort of memory game. For example, keeping with Pro's Twain reference: if I ask you "what does The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn mean to you?" First, if you are not in a school program, this book will likely be unfamiliar. The only people who will have interest in this book are those who have specifically been introduced to it at some point. Second, if education is to be an "encyclopedia of dry facts," then you may as well look up the book's meaning on Google and repeat it as your own. However, being that this is not what the book means to you, the response is dishonest and void. Education is about understanding, rather than simply remembering. Being that I do not know which particular period of school Pro intends to be debating, I will focus on both high school and college education. According to the National Dropout Prevention Center, high school dropouts face exponentially more adversity than those who finish their high school education. High school dropouts are four times as likely to be unemployed as those who have completed four or more years of college. Alternatively, graduates earn $143 more per week than high school dropouts. Dropouts are also more likely to be dependent on public assistance than graduates of high school. Finally, about 75% of America's State prison inmates, almost 59% of Federal inmates, and 69% of local jail inmates did not complete high school (Harlow, 2003). All of this, in addition to having less opportunity to pursue legitimate and meaningful education. Finally, a survey was taken by an organization known as Career Connections. This survey revealed that 74 percent of high school dropouts wish they would have stayed in school, and 76 percent admit that they would happily re-enroll if they were able. Moving on to the college level, I first am compelled to tell you that, if you are hoping for real mind expanding education, then college is far more interesting than high school. College allows you to pursue your interests and choose classes that you will genuinely enjoy. However, in order to reach college education, you have to make it through high school so that you can earn the opportunity to attend. That being said, entering the job market without a wealth of experience or a college degree is simply suicidal in this current economy. Employers are only looking for the best candidates for each position, and the employee market has already saturated most positions with applicant after applicant. Because of this, college degrees, especially reputable degrees, are absolutely critical to being successful in the current economy, and to suggest otherwise is deeply misleading to future generations; this misleading concept has arguably ruined millions of potentially successful lives. This isn't difficult to believe when we consider that college graduates earn $336 more per week than high school graduates ($479 more per week than high school dropouts), totaling a difference of $17,472 per year. If the average person works from age 24/25 until retirement at this steady pay rate, then you will make roughly $700,000 dollars more in a lifetime than someone who did not attend college. School may not always be the most effective form of education, but I refuse to believe that school is a factory of facts, as you portray it to be. A school's intent should be to encourage education and productive discussion, not to cater to every interest. If your "thinking outside of the box" has legitimate educational merit, and is beneficial to the group as a whole, then teachers generally will accept and encourage it. If it is disruptive or disrespectful, then teachers have cause to shy away from it. With a group setting, and the high regulations that force schools to cram more and more into each lessons plan, school classes have little time to explore unnecessary matters. And at the end of the day, unless "thinking outside of the box" is a revolutionary approach to a tired concept, than it is unnecessary. School isn't trying to make you "just good enough for the next level." Schools attempt to provide you with a rounded base so that you are not at any disadvantage once you reach the next level. If I may ask a rhetorical question: when is the last time that you fell asleep in class? The followup that I will ask is whether this is because of the teacher, or your own lack of attention. The statistic that you posted about a student dropping out every 9 seconds is actually every 29 seconds according to Do Something. You suggest that this is because students find school irrelevant and uninteresting. I would argue that this is just as much the fault of the student as it is the teacher's. Teachers have anywhere from 20 to 400 students at any given time, and schools do not have the luxury of tailoring their lessons to each students. If teachers have a responsibility to provide students with real educational content, than students have an equal responsibility to respond with both attention and enthusiasm. Real teachers, will always attempt to engage their students in discussion, and many of those students do not lose interest, either because they make a sincere effort, or because they have no interest in the first place. Some students fail to engage themselves in any substantial learning or thought, because they do not want to have to put effort into understanding text, or precedent, or the intricacies of a subject. Rather than force themselves to participate in a class that seems difficult or uninteresting, these students would rather blame the school for not holding their interest. It is an unfortunate reality, but hard-effort is necessary in school and exponentially more-so in unschooled education. If Pro truly loves education, then my only resolution can be to endure school. The junior and senior years are both educationally and socially fulfilling, and then college is a unique educational experience altogether. If Pro's response is that education can be obtained outside of school settings, then I propose that unschooled education is exponentially more difficult and less profitable than schooled education. Finally, if Pro's position is that school is irrelevant, uninteresting, and, for lack of a better word, boring; then I will close with a few quotes which I hope will accentuate my points. He who opens a school door, closes a prison. - Victor Hugo A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. - President Theodore Roosevelt I look forward to Pro's rebuttal.

I'm just going to say right now you will most likely win because I am 13 and you are 36 (I looked at your profile). I understand why you would say reading, writing, drawing, and being creative already happen in school. However, I have read before class even started and was told to pay attention and put my book away. Doodling is something that personally helps me concentrate and I know the same for many others and as stated before I was told to put my pen down and pay attention. Even in English/Reading class I have to ask if we can write/read. The website Bright Hub Education states , "There was a higher graduation rate from homeschooled students (66.7% compared to the counterpart at 57.5%). The homeschooled students came in with a higher ACT score (25.0 compared to 14.7)." (Paragraph 8, Dr. Michael Cogan.) Clearly this evidence can show that children who are homeschooled and taught by their parents or family members have a higher success rate. Yes, school is good preparation for social issues. However, being bullied is probably not something that is going to happen in anyone's adult life. There are other ways to socialize besides school as well. Most libraries have clubs to join. Personally, I attend a youth group at my church where I have made many friends. Most schools as well allow homeschooled students in their community attend school events and dances.

I agree mostly with what my opponent says in his first paragragh OUTSIDE of a school environment. You need to encode the information into long term memory because they won't let you make a google search on your exams. My opponent argues that you can store information in the digital realm so you can access it after your time in school is over. If your incredibly concerned with being able to have access to your 10th grade history class twenty years down the line then this argument is completely valid. However, most people are more concerned with getting high marks on their exams which requires mnemonic encoding. 1. if you lose focus on the lecture and you find yourself without an answer, chances are your class has assigned homework. if you find yourself without an answer on the homework you can look up the answer and incorporate it into the notes thus facilitating encoding. 2. yes, you can print the paper but if you learned it on the computer attempting to encode it on paper will still be more difficult. And I'm not saying that computerized learning has no meritorious traits. Simply that there needs to be a balance to ensure the most efficient learning. 3. It's not the right of the university to track the movements of its students. it's invasive. At work you can sign a contract. I wouldn't want my workplace to track my location either. This point is one of the smaller ones in both of our cases. 4. I believe these websites are great tools to facilitate learning as a supplement to what was taught in a lecture. to enforce this method of learning upon all students when many learn best from face to face instruction would defeat the purpose of these learning supplements. 5 again. these apps could be used as a supplement to learning and could be used to drill information that has already been encoded to increase the ease of access by drilling synaptic pathways. 6.7. Again, since you won't have access to google on the exam you will need the information encoded into long term memory as a result face to face communication is the best known methodology for facilitating encoding. What's actually driving up tuition are the redundant administrative positions that are growing in number. not hiring professors. but that's a debate for another day. 8. I don't think we were on the same page for the first part of this. For getting help from the teacher I was referring more to High school. Tutors were more for college. Having an online community to help you would be beneficial as long as it was used as a supplement to what was taught in the lecture. Information must first be encoded into long term memory in the lecture, then it may be supplemented with whatever means work best for you.

Thanks again to Logic_on_rails. Let’s make this short and sweet. First point: Pro , The Instigator of this debate, determined his resolution and the rules for this debate. Pro has attacked me for not rebutting his arguments in my Second Round. Readers will recall the rules, as provided by Pro. Round 1: Acceptance, Rules, Resolution / Model Outline and Definitions Round 2: Opening Statements, No Rebuttals (see below on this) Round 3: New Arguments and Rebuttals Round 4: Rebuttals and Closing Statements (No new arguments) It is my opinion that in the spirit of debate we should follow the rules set by the instigator, criticizing me for not attacking his round two arguments with my round two arguments (which is clearly outlawed by the instigator) is not very sporting and is an outright misinterpretation of his own rules. This is likely an attempt to distract readers from my argument and its merits and cast doubt among readers as to the competency and validity of my arguments. Know this, my Burden of Proof is ONLY to prove that the Benefits of maintaining the status quo with regard to the current school day/homework model sufficiently outweigh the benefits of extending the school day and simultaneously decreasing homework assigned. I need not refute every one of pro’s arguments ( My arguments in Round Two were meant simply to show the merits of Homework and the potential consequences of adding time to the school day. With regard to Pro’s rebuttal of my arguments: Pro’s argument and rebuttal seems much more concerned with my inability to attack him and his policies than with stressing the merits of his own. Consider some of the guidelines written by Pro: Dropped arguments are not concessions. Logistics, on the school level, is not meant to be a crucial issue in this debate. The greatest overall good resulting from these policies is to be preferred when judging. School Day: Pro has attacked my evidence and claims regarding length of school day. He has stated several times that logistics are not the primary concern of this debate, yet he continues to retreat to the intricately laid-out School day model, supporting his claims and attacking mine by arguing logistics. It is not necessary to get bogged down in major details in this debate. Readers are challenged to consider the implications worldwide of imposing extra school hours, no matter how they are spent. On Pro’s rebuttal of my ‘Merits of Homework’ argument: Homework done at school IS NOT HOMEWORK, IT IS BY DEFINITION SHOOLWORK. It does not make sense for Pro to argue that we should reduce homework yet imply that homework can still be assigned as schoolwork. This is a waste of resources and is largely impractical. On that note, we will quickly address some additional arguments. Feasibility: School Systems in many parts of the world, including the United States of America, struggle to fund their departments and their staff as is. With a nominal increase of even one hour to the School Day, we would see Teachers laid-off because School Boards could not afford to maintain their already meager budgets with an increase of roughly 5 to 6 additional man-hours paid per employee. This would send hourly employees into overtime and would add additional unpaid work hours to salaried professors’ already gruesome worked hours vs. pay ratio. Teachers will become increasingly dis-satisfied with their work and will either voluntarily leave the workforce in favor of other jobs or will provide a lower standard of service to students or their performance will suffer because of the exhaustion of an increased workload on already poor salary. Also: More teachers cannot be hired because of budget constraints, which means that Pro’s argument regarding the benefit of School Teachers assisting with ‘homework’ (school work) means an unreasonable student/teacher ratio in most schools. (Not Plausible) It is my hope that readers will consider the simplicity of this debate. My burden of proof is not to disprove that school is good, it is only to prove that maintaining the status quo is better than making an unreasonable and less than pragmatic change. Homework offers benefits as does the school day at its current length. Neither need be changed.

Ya know, if you wanted help with homework, you could AT LEAST have gone through the courtesy of putting forth an attempt to debate me in exchange.

Thank you. Nice to be debating you too! Opening Arguments Only!!!!! Whether you home school your kids or put them in a government provided (public) school is an option you as a parent may decide as one of our precious freedoms that we as Americans have. How do you decide on which environment is better for your children to grow up in? Here are some interesting facts I have found when researching home school.•Children who are home schooled "... may be more socially mature and have better leadership skills than other children ..." - Richard G. Medlin, Ph.D. (NHERI)•Recent studies demonstrate that 98% of home taught children are involved in two or more social/community beyond the home each week, including such things as 4-H, Bible Clubs, Scouts, Ballet Classes, Music Lessons, Sports, Field Trips and Sunday School.•The Galloway-Sutton Study, which examines five success indicators, showed home schooled children (with the exception of the psychomotor) excelling above other students in the academic, cognitive, spiritual and affective-social categories.•On average, home school students, grades 1–4, perform one grade level above their public and private school counterparts. The achievement gap grows in grade 5; by 8th grade the average home school student performs four grades higher than the national average. (SADC)•Students who have been home schooled their entire academic lives have the highest scholastic achievement. The difference is more pronounced during the higher grades; students who home school throughout high school continue to flourish while in that environment. (SADC)•Kate Grossman, Chicago Sun-Times reported noted, "The number of homeschoolers receiving National Merit Scholarships has increased more than 500 percent: from 21 in 1995 to 129 in 2003." (HSLDA)Not only does home school help a child succeed socially and academically but it also provides them with a secure stable educational environment and does not force them to face peer pressure, sex, drugs, bullies, and all other immoral things the secular world has to often. Although they may face it in the future, It is proved that if faced with these these things while the child is still ageing, they are almost 6 times as likely to give in as if they were faced with it as an adult.Home school gives parents more say in how their children grow up, and what kinds of things they are exposed to. It also gives more Religious Freedom. Many families feel their religious and spiritual beliefs are an important part of who they are. Home schooling provides the opportunity for parents to incorporate their beliefs into their daily lives.Well-Rested Kids. As more and more studies are illustrating, sleep is vital to the emotional and physical well-being of kids, especially teens and preteens. The effects of early morning classes can be devastating to many children, especially those who are not morning people. After realizing that lack of sleep and hours of busywork often left her boy in a zombie-like stupor, Haya has decided to try home schooling: "My oldest (age 13), is up at 6:30 in order to catch the bus at 7:15 and start school at 7:30. He comes home at 3:00 and does homework — sometimes until midnight. He's often exhausted. I'm hoping that when we home school next year, the dark circles under his eyes will disappear and his real personality will emerge again."This also provides parents with a better schedule as they don't have to work around the public school schedule and are free to go on vacation or go to public places during the week where otherwise it would be prohibited or discouraged.Hopefully, in my argument I have disproved the false theories that home schooled children lack academic and social skills and home schooling is far fetched for the average family.I am interested in Cons point of view. Remember this round is only for opening arguments. You may rebuttal in the next round. Thank You!!!!

I'd like to say I'm glad that you're not trying to be rude. In the following argument, if anything is perceived as rude, I am not trying to be, just like you said. Anything that seems insulting honestly isn't, because I see that we are both trying to be mature about this, and I respect that. It's not always easy to find on a website like this. I disagree that the wording is awful- I just didn't go into description. When I said "School sports are taking up too much time" I meant that we are arguing about how much time kids have to do it. I wasn't focusing solely on the sport itself- I was talking about a sport participant's personal time (meaning sports are taking too much time in their personal life). Were you ignorant on this topic? The reason I did not provide statistics was because I supposed the debate was not going to continue. If we both agree that our points were "bad and atrocious" (I don't think mine are, and I'm sure you don't think yours are), I'm sure we can agree to disagree. It's only fair, of course. I thought of "Kids should be able to handle the time consumption. It is their choice to quit. Sports are a good way to use time- they can help a child stay healthy" as something that was describing my argument- that sports were not taking up too much time (it was explaining why they should continue, which was describing continuing, which was describing the sports, which I am fighting for. I suppose that is an argument in the past, so we can put that behind us). Now I suppose we can get back to just arguing points. I will argue your points and I will also state my own. Arguing Opponent's Points: 1. "Kids won't do their homework." I think that if sports are taking up a kid's homework time, they should be punished. I do not think that this is a reason that it takes up too much time. Many students can find time. There are ways that they an be punished for not doing their homework that isn't making them quit sports. They can find time to do their homework. In fact, many schools have study halls- some even let students have an extra study hall in place of P.E. or another additional activity. They can also find time to do their homework on days they don't have sports (because they don't have it every day, and if they did that would be solved by the school, because they can solve it interfering with schoolwork), such as going to school on the weekends (or if they're at home, they can do it there). My Points: 1. Sports can actually help students with school. Let me explain. How many kids have had problems because of social issues at school? A lot- so many you can't count. Think about it. Sports are an excellent way to find new friends and bond with teammates. This will help a student make friends, which is a social problem solved. 2. Sports can help a student make friend, which can stop bullying. Many students think that they are alone in bullying. With a friend, they can have someone support them. I get that you were not trying to offend me. We're okay on that now. Instead of saying attack, maybe we can use terms such as argue? It would seem more friendly if, say, instead of saying "You're arguments are bad" we could say "I don't agree with them." Hopefully we can both agree to be friendly while arguing! To readers: I think you should vote for my (con) side because I thought I had very valid arguments. There are no problems and we can continue this debate in a friendly, non-offensive way! :-) Go Con Side!