features top spot academically , however , in wellbeing Hong Kong is second to bottom . So what is more important ? Is it their ability to matriculate or is it their ability to lead healthy , happy lives ? Academic success is passing , [ a child ’ s ] mental health is not . We have to come to a balance ,” encourages Howdle-Lang .
Creating strong habits : Proponents Valuable skill sets such as learning how to set goals , time-management , and self-discipline can be attained from doing homework . Weekly accomplishments such as completing one ’ s assignments gives a child a sense of accomplishment and in turn builds their self-esteem .
Opponents Homework may discourage selfdiscipline as , usually , it is a parent forcing a child to complete it . In the end , self-motivation is lost . Positive education , the basis of Renaissance College ’ s policy , seeks to improve self-motivation by helping a child evaluate and determine their character strengths . Howdle-Lang further argues , “ The nature of our curriculum is such that there is a lot of guided inquiry that they need time management skills for . But they ’ re taught that in class because that ’ s what schools are for . We still teach skills such as resilience and timemanagement , we just don ’ t do it in the same way . Homework does contribute to that , but so do a lot of different things .” The sentiment is shared by Chan who affirms , “ Homework can help students develop [ the skills ] but I think other things would be better . Students setting their own schedules and learning how to pack their school bags would help more .”
Conclusion Homework can have benefits in attaining certain skill sets and those same skill sets can also be achieved through other means besides homework .
Mandarin learning : Proponents The difficulty of Mandarin proves
that school hours alone would not serve optimally in developing fluency , supporting the need for homework . Chan speaks as a parent , “ A certain amount of copying characters is required . Having said that , it is only effective if students are given between 10-15 characters to learn at a time . I actually had a fight with my daughter ’ s primary school as she had been given 30 characters a day to write out ten times each . I think it is too much for young children .”
Opponents While accepting the difficulty of the language as well as the challenges faced in Hong Kong not being an immersive environment , Renaissance College still boasts a strong Mandarin programme . Howdle-Lang describes , “ Our current expectation is that Primary students practice Mandarin characters for five to ten minutes daily , although we are in communication with language professors at Universities to understand the best approach to learning Mandarin in and out of the classroom and that is still being studied .”
September 2018 41