The Afterschool Aftermath

Introduction

For most, students, parents and school staff, the day begins a little after dawn and ends way ahead of dusk. Preparation of breakfast and snacks for schools and getting ready for the day are just a few of the tasks that most have to accomplish first thing in the morning, with few also having the additional load of preparing dinner and other household chores such as laundry and cleaning. Ensuring a healthy breakfast for their children and a timely drop off at school with all necessary belongings are amongst the many tasks on the checklist for parents before they head to office.

A Regular School Day

Commencing with a morning assembly at around 7:45 a.m. and ending with an afterschool lineup that can last almost half an hour from around 2:00 pm to 2:30p.m, students approximately spend seven hours in school. Keeping in mind that they must wake up an hour in advance, eight out of twelve hours of the day are dedicated to learning-that is 67% of the day.

Afterschool Life

Exhausted , most students greet their parents with a surge of complains. Parents, who are already running late on a tight schedule (as in most cases both parents are working these days), feel overwhelmed and disappointed. Not being able to do enough for their children results in guilt. Getting children to change and have lunch is a gruesome task, but what follows afterwards is nerve-wracking. A ‘homework’ diary filled with assignments and tests, one of the main reasons why children come home unhappy. With only a few hours of the day left to accommodate numerous tasks- homework, meals, rest, leisure time and bathing- there is hardly room for anything else.

Homework For Parents

Parents have complained of how quarrels over home assignments and tests have adversely affected their relationship with their children. Opening the diary itself is one of the most unpleasant tasks (no less than unveiling the electricity bill).  For parents who are working, the only choice left is to hire a tutor or enroll the child in a tuition academy for completion of homework!  The day really does not end for the student, does it?  Ofcourse parents have to pay an additional fee to get the homework done.

While some parents reach out and complain about excessive homework, others feel it lets them keep track of what the child is doing in school. Parents are pacified by the school administration and the justification for assigning homework is provided. Schools claim that in the early years home assignments prepare them for senior grades (when there will be more homework) and sometimes they claim that ‘other parents’ demand regular homework. Young students guided by tutors or parents at home get confused because of the difference in teaching approach and style.

Assigning homework early on will do nothing more than creating an unnecessary burden and a feeling of resentment from a young age. Students reach the ‘burnout’ stage by the time the homework tasks are necessary in senior grades when they do not need parental guidance. Many do not care to complete their assignments, despite detention and other forms of punishment.  Similarly, a scheduled test, particularly for younger students, is only a test for the parents- a test to see how much a child can rote learn perfectly at home rather than assessing what the child has actually understood at school.

The Impact of Homework on Classwork

For teachers, assigning homework means allocating at least fifteen minutes of their forty-minute class (almost half and sometimes more) to writing the home assignment on the board, checking each diary carefully and distributing the books and notebooks. An explanation of the task also has to be provided, leaving hardly any room for classwork-the reason why they all came to school ! Failure to comprehend on the students’ part or having overlooked a notebook or book on the teacher’s part, has serious consequences for the teacher. The following day, the same homework diary is filled with complains such as not having the notebook or the child did not understand the task. The school administration is answerable to the overwhelmed parents, while the teacher is answerable to the school administration. This again affects a teacher’s ability to give his/her best, as he/ she is unable to concentrate on the new day’s schedule and tasks.  At the same time, the teacher will be required to give her ‘free’ time (which is the time dedicated to checking and planning) to help students complete the work. Students, who only have a few minutes of leisure, unwillingly give up this time.

The Bigger Picture

If parents want to know what their child is dong in school, talking to their children and spending time with them is the key. This will enable them to gain an insight into not only what they have learned, but also help them see what values they have gained.

A child who has to spend endless hours afterschool studying will never be able to learn. It will seem more of a punishment. Love for reading will diminish as it already has. Parents and children will certainly not be able to spend quality time with each other. The parent’s appearance will be nothing short of a warning sign, reminding them of their assignments. The only entertainment that children have energy left  for  at the end of the day are gadgets  with unproductive and sometimes extremely harmful online games and content. Unfortunately this is where they find peace, drowning in a virtual world and this is the most unproductive activity that can adversely affect the child’s mental and physical well-being.

What Afterschool Life Means

The afterschool life must be dedicated to activities that nurture children’s minds. Spending time with loved ones, looking after elderly relatives, accompanying parents to events or grocery shopping and helping in household chores, watching sports or any television programme with other family members, playing outdoors, walking and other activities are required to raise happy children who know about the world they live in.

A clear line must be drawn between teaching and parenting. We must realize that ‘afterschool life’ starts after the child comes home from school.