How did teachers come up with homework?

Answer 1

Although homework seems unnecessary, it is needed for most students. Teachers give out homework since it helps students remember the topic and stay focused on it. For the most part, students who do homework, usually do better in school.

Answer 2

Although students today believe "the government" mandates homework, the concept actually began with the earliest teaching. In England and in Colonial USA days, education was as important as churches although education at first focused only on males. Girls rarely had schooling. There were typically three (3) types of "degree" among males: doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Interestingly, most educated males had at least 2 or all of these professions as "learned men". (In this case, "learned" is pronounced "learn-ed.")

By the late 1700s to early 1800s, private "institutes" of learning and the first colleges were opened in various small towns throughout the States and Territories. Because of their educations, doctors, lawyers, or teachers created the first schools. Elementary classes had students of all ages. If we trust television shows and movies, "homework" was often done in class, while the teacher worked with older students, and while older students did their lessons the teacher worked with other students.

Preparatory institutes (pre-college) included numerous subjects, including Latin as the primary language and English Literature. As subjects were added, students needed to devote some of their own time to studies. If we consider the idea that children do love to learn (and they do at early ages), children from elementary grades through preparatory grades "practiced" for the sheer fun of achievement.

But students also had tests. Many were done orally, that is, verbally. The teacher would call on a student and they needed to give the correct answers to pass. Each student was "tested". Paper and pencil tests were not in all schools from the beginning because paper and lead (for pencils) was not widely available. Students did have slates and chalk to do their "figuring".

By the early 1900s, take home work was becoming more standard. Because the work was assigned by a teacher but done at home, the term "homework" stuck.

Still, many children before the 1930s never completed high school and often ended formal schooling by the 3rd to the 5th grade. Government regulations sought to mandate the number of years of schooling, the number of hours per day, and the subjects that schools needed to cover.

Answer 3

Homework is a vital part in any children's education. It may not seem it but it reflects on what your children have been working on through the week or day. It can also give a head-start to what your child is going to be doing in the week/lesson so the teacher can reflect on the homework set to determine how the child is with the particular subject. It really helps them improve their knowledge on that particular subject chosen every question.

Answer 4

The idea of school goes all the way back to Ancient Greece and they were started to prepare people to learn how to think and solve problems. In the American colonies the first schools began in 1635 and Washington wrote that education was needed to keep a democracy going and was an equalizer. Many people from many countries came to the colonies and didn't speak English so educated proved important in teaching how a democracy works and to speak English. Homework is an outcome of school and teachers use it to see if you learned anything in class. Plus, in a normal classroom there are 8 different subjects taught each day and there is not enough time in the school day for everyone to finish an assignment. In my classroom the homework was work students didn't finish in class, so if a student used the time they were given they didn't have homework.