Why Did This Quebec School Scrap Homework?

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.

The end of homework could spell more creative play time or extracurriculars, or more family quality time—which is seriously missing in our manic schedules these days.

"Often children are away at daycare from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at night, and a lot of families are finding it increasingly difficult, and so we've decided to try this out at a school," said Desrosiers.

But what about instilling self-discipline and a good work ethic? That can come later, in middle and high school.

My son has just started grade one. I dread the advent of homework, at least copious amounts of it. In an ideal world, it would be sufficient to demonstrate an understanding of a concept with, say, three questions instead of three pages, and be done with.

You tell me: Is homework a vital educational tool in the right dose or is it high time we ditched it altogether?

Here's what happened when this first grader felt that she was getting too much homework and wrote a letter to her Senator.