To the Editor:
One aspect of homework that is rarely mentioned is that it worsens educational inequity. Think of the home with educated parents helping their children with the homework or, as The Times pointed out in a recent article (“Push for A’s at Private Schools Is Keeping Costly Tutors Busy,” front page, June 8), hiring a tutor to help. Then think of the single parent with four kids working a job and a half just trying to hold the home together. It is not hard to imagine where more learning will take place.
At a minimum, homework should be a supplement to the classroom, not a substitute for the classroom. If we want to narrow the gap in educational achievement, homework, too, must be factored in.
STEPHEN SCHREIBER
Princeton, N.J., June 17, 2011
Note from KBJ: There are two ways to equalize things, assuming that homework is to be retained rather than abolished: first, prevent "educated parents" from helping their children with homework; second, force "single parents" to help their children with homework. Which is the letter writer advocating?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 