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From one coast to another, Canada is handling back-to-school very differently. While parents in British Columbia are tearing out their hair over the ongoing teachers' strike, those in Quebec are rejoicing over a pilot program that will see homework scrapped for an entire year.
What? No homework? Are they taking a tip from Sharon's no-homework handbook? The seemingly harebrained scheme is being rolled out, paradoxically, to boost grades in the province. And yet doing away with homework isn't such a novel concept—it's happened in Germany and France, and a school in Barrie, Ont., went light on its students back in 2008.
Did the Barrie kids fall apart academically? Quite the opposite. The dearth of homework actually resulted in improved performance (not to mention less frazzled, wine-addled parents).
The kids in grades one through six at College de Saint-Ambroise will still have some reading and study assignments, but according to Jonquiere School Board spokesperson, Marie-Eve Desrosiers, they won't be stuck wading through "four pages of math problems."
And it's not just kids who are sick and tired of homework. Cue the collective sigh of relief from parents who, after prolonged whining, wind up doing said math problems to put everyone out of their misery.