Lavallee seemed to be the lone voice in the room, saying he didn't mind homework being assigned on weekends or over holiday break.
Gasp! Including one from yours truly.
In his latest essay, "Protecting Children, published on his website, Bent Spoon Media, Lavalle admits: "I had made a passing comment to the district superintendent that maybe I was too much of a hard ass, thinking kids almost don't have enough homework."
Like me, that meeting prompted Lavallee to reflect, not so much on the debate surrounding school work that's assigned to kids to do at home, but on the bigger questions it provokes--about education, society, parenting, and family life in America.
"Bottom line, what do we expect public education to provide?" Lavallee asks. He goes on to say that he doesn't think that "public school is the place for [his sons] to learn right from wrong, or how to resolve conflicts, or how to be a child. ...
He continues:
"Focusing on the expectations that parents have of today's public education system may help right a few of the ills in today's ailing schools. For me, I try to remember why public education was even created in this country. We are supposed to be preparing our children for life outside of the home, life as an autonomous person. Where I know my thoughts greatly diverge from some of my parenting peers is that I fully believe we have come to a point where we overly coddle our children. The modern concept of childhood – of sheltering children from difficulty, and immersing children in a sugary-sweet start to their upbringing – is very recent, and very Western, and in my opinion is adding to the slipping test scores in our system."
Lavallee also provides some interesting historical on the concept of public education in America, a notion that goes back to Thomas Jefferson, and on how some see public education as fulfilling a nation- and economy-building role in the United States.
