No-Homework Fallacy

By: Khylle Zed E. Mag-aso

When we aim for having well-rounded citizens in the country, we should also aim for
quality education. The over congested curriculum in the Philippines is the main reason why
legislators of the country proposed the House Bill No. 3611 and the Senate Bill No. 3882,
entailing the ban of homework. While the Congress narrows the reason why students are
distracted from having “quality time” with their family and the burdens they have due to the
overlapping schoolwork, they should have focused their attention on the lapses of the
Philippine Education System.

The workloads for teachers and the converging tasks of the students are never new in
the Philippine setting. The current curriculum of the country is derived from the K to 12
program; it instructs educators to give requirements to students such as assignments,
performance tasks, activities, seatwork, and tests that could be done at school and some at
home – such are believed to be necessary as part of the holistic approach of learning.

The role of homework comes in several aspects, first is that a one-hour subject with
classes held twice or thrice a week cannot physically comply with the requirements, and thus
“extra work” must be assigned. In addition, programs that are created by the government often
intervenes classes and offers extra responsibilities to the teachers. From election duties,
surveying, population census, seminars and trainings, mass immunizations, community
mapping, deworming, and feeding programs, not to mention the extra-curricular activities and
holidays that are happening every month, these are the other factors that the Congress fails to
give attention.

Second, homework is bound to instill discipline, accountability, and time management

to the learners. It is not meant to give burden to the life of the students nor deprive them from
having precious quality time for rest, relaxation, and interaction with their loved ones, but
rather aids to sustain the flow of lessons and the continuous learning beyond the campus, and
even creates cohesion with their family members when one volunteers to aid the other. The
real reasons why students are deprived from quality learning are social media, computer
gaming, drug addiction, liquor dependency, gambling, and peer pressure – all of which are
hidden and underemphasized during legislative debates.

If both the department of education and the legislative branch aimed to fulfill a better
environment for the Filipino learners, then they must focus on creating clear guidelines
regarding the quantity and the quality of homework to be given in a specific period of time for a
particular grade level. They should review the lapses of the current curriculum and its
implementation which is the root of all the other branches of problems, rather than narrowing
their view into one aspect alone.