School’s back, and for many families, that means late nights, exhausted kids and stress. Lots and lots of stress. One teacher in Texas is doing something about it.
‘I ask that you spend your evenings doing things that are proven to correlate with student success. Eat dinner as a family, read together, play outside, and get your child to bed early.’That’s how Mrs. Brandy Young, an elementary school teacher, concluded her “new homework policy” note, which initially garnered viral acclaim on Facebook FB, +0.32% back in 2016 after she sent it home to parents.
“Brooke is loving her new teacher already,” one mom wrote at the time.
Two years later and the concept clearly still strikes a chord. The note was reposted Wednesday, and it quickly surged to the top of Reddit’s home page with 171,000 upvotes and more than 6,000 comments.
Here’s the full text:
The idea was roundly cheered on Reddit, as the comments section buzzed with those reflecting on the demands of their childhood.
“It’s just crazy to think back now and imagine doing a full school day, sports and then two hours of homework. That’s literally like a 12/13 hour day for a CHILD. Madness.”
“It’s a bitch and a half to fit that into your schedule when you get to band practice at 6am and leave swim practice at 6pm. Would be up till 12am every-night, just slaving away my whole day like this ape for things others wanted me to do, and never something I wanted to do. I cherish adult life because at least half my day is for me.”
Doing away with homework, while not commonplace in U.S. classrooms, is gaining traction elsewhere in the world. Finland, for example, is credited for leading the charge with its success implementation of the approach.
“They should have more time to be kids, to be youngsters, to enjoy their life,” Krista Kiuru, Finland’s minister of education minister, told Michael Moore in his film, “Where do we invade next?”
Watch the clip:
As for Mrs. Young, she’s still doing her thing:
Alligator mouths ready! I love their enthusiasm! We’re ready to munch BIG numbers! pic.twitter.com/UgxHLcCikJ
— Brandy Young (@MrsYoung2nd) August 23, 2018
