Dissecting homework

I finally finished with all of my med school board exams (barring failure of course, which I won't know about for weeks or months) yesterday.  I was planning on blogging about that first, because I don't think that many people understand the brutal beasts of becoming a doctor- otherwise known as the Step exams.  More on that later.

While trying to relax after my 9-hour exam last night, I stumbled across an article: Homework overload gets an 'F' from experts.  Ironically, this has recently a point of contention between me and my fiance (mostly because I keep bringing it back up).  We both had very different childhoods: he did his homework between classes and played outside after school; I had 3 hours of ballet or music lessons and then 4 more hours of homework (this is MIDDLE school).  We both agree (I do, at least) that there's probably a middle ground that's healthiest (mentally and physically, highlighted by the article "High school kids don't exercise enough, CDC reports" which was posted near the other article).  Four hours of homework in middle school is excessive.  My high school homework experience was even worse.

The other problem with making kids competitive academically is that the parents become crazy as well.  See article: Police: Mom hacks school's computer system to change kids grades.  She changed her kids grades from like 98 to 99, WTF?

I had a unique experience with schools; while in kindergarten, my parents researched top high schools in the area, and figured out I had to go to a certain elementary and middle school to get into that (yes, public) high school.  So I did the "academically gifted" classes, making rhomboicosidodecahedrons (see picture) out of construction paper in 2nd grade instead of doing connect-the-dots. My first grade science fair project compared the efficacy of using dish soap on dishes rather than just water (I swabbed them and plated them on petri dishes, and found that using dish soap didn't reduce the number of bacteria growths- probably a reason why I slack at cleaning these days).  I was in Key Club, Battle of the Books, National Honor Society, All-State honors bands- you name it.

And as predicted, I'm now in medical school.  No big surprise.  I attribute some of my success to the ridiculous measures I was put through early on, but a lot of it was pure drive.  I wanted to be a doctor, so I did everything possible- and 99% of it was just stupid hoops to get where I needed to be.  Sure, you learn good study habits.  But 4 hours of homework does that just as well as 2 hours.  And busy work just results in burned-out children who lose the energy to follow their dream.  Had school been longer than 13 years I probably wouldn't have made it this long.

I would like to point out that some work is definitely necessary.  No work means no structure, essentially.  The article points out that requiring homework "takes the fun out of it."  That lady was obviously smoking pot.  Homework has never been fun, required or not.  If not required, it wasn't done.  Even if your career doesn't require an ounce of academia, having been forced to sit down and complete a task as a child sure sets you up to be more successful (unless you smoke pot and don't have a job, like the aforementioned woman probably does).  It's all about responsibility.

Just a summary of modified milestones to shoot for if you want the next nobel prize-winning offspring: