Homework wars are wearing me out.

[smoothmoniker]

Fleur, your son sounds a lot like I was at his age. I never turned in any homework, never did any of the classwork, but aced every single test and term paper. I couldn't understand why my teachers wouldn't just give me a semester grade based on my final exam, and not hassle with the homework. If homework is the tool to accomplish the learning, and the goal is being reached without the tool, why bother with it?

All that to say, we sometimes do turn out OK. When I got to University, classes started getting hard, I started getting interested, did all the work, graduated with honors, did the same with my graduate degree. At some point we turn a corner.

I'm now back teaching a few courses at a local University, and my views on homework haven't changed; the students can decide at the beginning of the semester if they want their final grade to include homework or just the exams and projects. About 70% choose to do the homework.