From the Atlantic: Finland's Education System is remarkably different from our own. Why? What do you see to be the major differences? Do you think that Souhegan is a prime example of a school without equity? What are your view points?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Why is Teemu So Darn Smart?
From the Atlantic: Finland's Education System is remarkably different from our own. Why? What do you see to be the major differences? Do you think that Souhegan is a prime example of a school without equity? What are your view points?
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In this article, the author is discussing the difference between the American education system compared to the Finnish system. The small Nordic country, in the past years, has been taken notice from the world because the Finnish students have been achieving some of the highest test scores in the world. Finland owes their success to one primary study, which is the PISA survey, conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey compares 15-year-olds in different countries in reading, math, and science. They have ranked at or near the top in all three competencies on every survey since 2000. But the surprising factor in their success is that Finland schools engage in more creative play and assign less homework. A leading Finnish authority on education reform, Pasi Sahlberg, is director of the Finnish Ministry of Education's Center for International Mobility. Earlier this month, Sahlberg stopped by the Dwight School in New York City to speak with educators and students, and his visit received national media attention and generated much discussion. The fact that opened my eyes when Sahlberg talked with the students is that in Finland, there are no private schools or colleges. For many Americans, they ask themselves about accountability and such, but are not grasping the whole picture. Finland counters American viewpoints have having no standardized tests; instead, they students take what's called the National Matriculation Exam, which everyone takes at the end of a voluntary upper-secondary school, roughly the equivalent of American high school. The public school system's teachers are trained to assess children in classrooms using independent tests they create themselves. The education wants responsibility and with that, no competition; just everyone working hard and working together. Just because different countries possess different sizes or homogeneity, doesn’t mean we can’t follow the Finnish educational way. In the country of Finland, their main point in education to have the entire country to all is equal in their education. As stated in the passage, “Finland's experience shows that it is possible to achieve excellence by focusing not on competition, but on cooperation, and not on choice, but on equity.” BY: JAMIE WALLISCH
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with the article and with Jamie Wallisch. In my deep analyze of the article and Jamie's well crafted respond, the ideas of education being a responsibility, and the phrase competition came to me. The author of the article basically states that Finnish students have acquired a knack for taking tests, resulting in various outstanding averages. These high marks can and should be credited to the success of the primary study composed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The fifteen year old students of Finland have came close to the top three in nearly every subject (math, science, and reading), since 2000. The tactic used by the teachers in Finland was quite astonishing, which I quickly became envious of. They assign less homework and "engage" in more hands on, creative material. Finland doesn't force pressure upon every student in their country that wants to be success in taking a standardized test. They simply offer the "National Matriculation Exam, for everyone finishing their secondary schooling, or similar to our high school levels. Jamie states, "The education wants responsibility and with that, no competition; just everyone working hard and working together." Is that just to good to be true? Does that really happen? Thinking about this, I answered my pondering questions with a direct YES. The viewpoint of education that Finland has, destroys the viewpoint on education that the students of America are raised with. Education here is something you "haved to" or "are forced to" do. In Finland, education is something people "want to" or "enjoy" doing. The statement Jamie wrote about is true in some parts of America, which is now being compared to Finland, where that is simply the standard. Who needs competition? Who needs choice? Clearly, as stated in the article, Finland doesn't. All Finland has, and is becoming successful with, is cooperation and equity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jamie and Josh. I know here in America we have what is called the "bell curve." This idea takes what the average grade of the class (anywhere from a 90 percent to a 60 percent) and sets it as a 70. Anything above the class average is given a better grade, and anything below the average, no matter how close, is then failed on the assignment. This system creates competition and stress among students, as studies have shown, whereas in Finland, the students work together to achieve their goals.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Catherine Hall. I find it very interesting that there is a connection between move creativity and less home work. I believe that this connection is true. Coming from a Waldorf school I have seen this connection in action. In the younger grades of the Waldorf schools the children would start their day with a form drawing. Form drawing is a tracing activity that helps awaken and open the brain to learning. This theory is basically being applied here in Finland. Having the student be creative before and during the lesson creates a way of accessing the brain and its power. I believe that also having a standardized school and having no private schools is an advantage. Because the children learn all of the same stuff at the same time, so if a student moves to a different part of Finland they wouldn’t miss anything. Competition in the US schools is so large and overbearing that it adds a tremendous amount of stress onto any one of the US students. Whereas in Finland wining out on top of the compaction isn’t one of the top of motivators for the students to achieve high grades
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jen when she mentions the idea that competition in school creates more stress. We harbour that stress everyday when we go to school, it builds and can make class an undesirable place to be. The lack of enthusiasm itself could be a major factor as to why American students don't score as well in school. I like the idea of a country where there are no elite schools or programs and every child is educated equally. Without competition kids can focus on the task that is really at hand, learning. The more emphasis put on learning, the more knowledgable the students will become and therefore test higher. I think right now, with economy in the toilet, it is unrealistic to think that we will drop our competitive nature and adopt school systems that offer free meals, access to healthcare, and physcological counseling. We simply can't afford it seeing as how a lack of job or education oppurtunties are creating even more competition. Although I do see examples of it here in Souhegan, what with the school lunch support funds and guidance counselors that watch over their students, i dont think wee are completley equitable. There is too much competition in programs (such as national honors society) and classes (such as AP or honors). Ihope there is a time where America can reach this equitable status, but with the economy as it is right now, it doesnt seem probable nor practical. But i could be wrong. Sahlberg stated "Finland's dream was that we want to have a good public education for every child and even many in Finland said it couldnt be done". Maybe if America can adopt a similar dream then we too can have an optimal educational system- Ryleigh Mullens
ReplyDeleteI found myself quite envious while reading this article from The Atlantic focused around the educational system of Finland. Like Josh, I would love to attend a school that assigns less homework and engages students in many creative opportunities. Here at Souhegan, we have many opportunities in our curriculums to be creative, but for me, the benefits that seem to revolve around Finland’s educational system seem to easily outweigh the “burdens” of our nation’s educational system. These visible benefits include the high focus on equity and fairness, cooperation instead of competition, no standardized testing, and the lack of private institutions (either middle schools, high schools, or colleges/universities). Looking at America’s educational system, we struggle to offer equal, fair education for everyone, because the quality of education sometimes depends on the ability to pay large amounts of money. Having the opportunity to have a private education is one the United States offers, where there is a whole level of elite attitudes added to society. We have a HUGE focus on competition here, in academics, athletics, extra-curricular activities, and there is an unbelievable amount of stress put on teenagers these days to balance many achievements along with keeping their grades up. In terms of testing, American children have standardized testing introduced to their education since the third grade. Admittance to selective colleges and universities depends largely on your ability to test well in the SAT or ACT, and the testing does not stop there. It continues throughout your whole life depending on what job you accept, as America is constantly trying to compare itself to other countries. I believe that Finland has found the interesting combination of a balanced educational system that works perfectly for them! It is not up to us to copy their system though; it is up to us to understand their points of view as well as points of view from other countries, and create for ourselves a system that works for us! As for SHS, I strongly believe that we do the best job we can to have equity and fairness at the top of our school’s priorities. We don’t necessarily offer “free school meals, easy access to health care, psychological counseling, and individualized student guidance” but we certainly try to give students help when they need it, having a learning disability or not. We offer drug and alcohol counseling to whomever may need it, as well as general guidance counselors to help with everything from problems at home to finding a career that best suits one’s skills. We constantly try to improve the meals offered by the school at reasonable prices set by the school, and always offer “exceptions” to our system whether it be the grading system, the meal plan, or the assistance needed by any given student at any given time.
ReplyDeleteLike other before me, I found myself wanting to go to Finland and finish my schooling there! I school with less testing and more focus on creativity sounds like a school for me. Also, I realize that it may be realistic to be able to have a system like that in the United States. The article states, "Finland's population of 5.4 million can be compared to many an American state." One might ask why we can't do it if education is done at state level. Sure Texas and California will have to put in more effort but its nothing impossible. I see Souhegan as a high school that tries its best to provide equity and is good compared to other NH schools. I agree with Kaitlyn in the fact that while we do not offer a lot of perks that people would love to have, we are there for students when they need help and that's all a student can ever ask for. The only setback I may see in this system is the lack of competition. While we all love to sit back and go at our own speed, competition is what pushes certain individuals to further success and greater achievements. How well can these Finish kids perform in a high intensity job that's cut throat and requires you to be the best. Maybe they will choke, maybe they won't. I suppose I'll never know...until I go to Finland and ask them.
ReplyDeleteI agree in with Jamie and Joshua when they talked about competition and how it would be good way to learn without it. But when Pasi Sahlberg said that there is no competition in Finland, he is wrong. We are talking 15 years old teenagers, of course there is competition, even teachers wouldn´t want it. The competition is just more serious here than in Finland. In the same way we compare with each other our GPA, and what school you can go after secondary school, but we don´t have to compete for a scholarship to college, because our schools are free. I think that one reason why Finnish students are one of the best in whole world is that, we start to study writing when you are 7 years old. Unlike many other countries we don´t try to teach everything right away to little kids, we give time to kids grow up and be more mature for study. Another thing is that teachers try to make school nice place to be. Finnish schools are pretty small by amount of students and all the students comes from small area. Most of the kids are neighbors and that makes it easier to get friends. When all your friends go to same school and they are in same class with you it motivates students to go to school every morning. What I have noticed here at Souhegan is that you don´t have so many tests than I had in secondary school in Finland. Usually we had test every 2 monhts, but sometimes more densely. And the studying in Finland was much more theoretical, you study couple chapters from book and you have a test about those and so on. We didn´t have lots of group things or presentations, all we did was independent study. And at lessons we wrote much more notes, which helped you a lot for a test. I don´t think that it is good for USA to try to copy Finland´s education model, but you can deffinatly learn from that. After all Finland is a small country and it is much easier to have free education to everybody with all the luxury than here where the population is 55 times bigger than Finland´s. By the way I never saw physcological counseling in my secondary school.
ReplyDeleteI think it is so interesting that a small country like Finland can achieve successful academic programs! I found it very suprising that their country does not thrive on competition. To me, competition is what drives me to want to do well. Without competition, I dont know where I would get my motivation from. I like how in Finland they are not allowed to have tuitions to their schools. I wish it could be like that in the United States. In my opinion,not having to worry about saving up for college would allow me to focus more on my schooling because I wouldnt need a job. A quote I found most interesting in this article was when it said "..schools are a shop and parents can buy what ever they want. In Finland parents can also choose. But the options are all the same." This is very true. In the United States, if your family has money you can buy your child into whatever school you would like. The competetion becomes more about who has more money rather than focusing on the students best interests.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I thought why can't we do this in America. Isn't our education system supposed to be about "No Child Left Behind." Well isn't hat exactly what they are doing in Finland? Giving every child the fair chance and the same opportunity to benefit from their education. The school is all paid for by the government, of course for that to happen they must have higher taxes of some sort but still, every student has the same opportunities and can make what they would like out of them. I can see how many students get lost in our schooling system in America. Many students, I believe, do not see the need to try in school. They don't feel like competing all of the time when they could just be on Facebook. I think that many students do not see the world as their own to take, and rather as just a raft to ride their entire lives on. They don't want to work, to compete. In America, their are the students that work very hard and value their education and others that don't see how much of an impact their decisions now will make on their life in the future, and the life of America in the future. At first, I agreed with Lenny when he asks why we do not have our education run at state levels, but then I realized how big of a difference we would have between states. If each state attempted to run their own education system than the children would all be educated at different levels, with different techniques, and values. And would then colleges be with mixed states or would we have to stay in New Hampshire to go to college too? I believe that we can learn a lot from other countries, particularly Finland but that we need to come up with our own answers to our own problems in America while simply taking suggestions from our neighbors.
ReplyDeleteThe Finnish National Education System's unique structure and emphasis on responsibility rather than accountability has obviously been proven successful, as the PISA survey shows, and although the goals stressed in Finland are very different from the educational goals in the US, I believe that if we applied the same basic structure to our own national education system, our test scores would rapidly improve. We all know that Souhegan is a bit different from other, more "standard" High Schools in the US, and yet our differences are what set us apart as one of the top performing public high schools in America. Our school policies center around respect and responsibility, much like the Finnish system, and I think it would be fair to say that we are to the United States as Finland is to the world. Both our educational systems are considered irregular, and yet we are stronger because of it. A more orthodox public high school would most likely focus on strict policy and ensuring accountability in students, whereas at Souhegan, we are trusted to hold ourselves accountable for our actions. Just like Finland, many were skeptical when Souhegan's policy was created, but amazingly, we have managed to keep our community trustworthy and reliable. Other than this, however, Souhegan's educational system still implements competition as a motivator to perform well, and students are held accountable with national tests. We are forced to compete with our peers every day to gain acceptance into our preferred colleges, and that creates a great deal of stress in students. If we as a nation were to use creative play and less homework, I believe that the outcome would be a more relaxed and intellectually stimulating learning environment, focused on providing students with everything they need to be motivated, cooperative, and independent learners. As Finnish author Samuli Puronen wrote, “Real winners do not compete.”
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Kaitlyn in that the American education system is lacking in equity and fairness. American schools differ greatly from one facility to another, based on factors such as location. The most significant factor, however, is money. When it comes to public schools, usually the highest quality ones a located in areas that are more expensive to live in. As for private schools, the tuition is an added expense to every family, on top of the taxes that they pay. Many families cannot afford these expenses, forcing them into a lower quality school system. Since all schools in Finland are equal and public, the same high level of education is available to everyone. The largest difference between American and Finnish education systems is that America often treats education as a profitable business, while Finland takes the competition out of education, and offers it to every citizen equally as a right. Today, it is becoming increasingly necessary to receive a college education in America in order to succeed in acquiring a prosperous, professional carreer. America's highest levels of education have become a luxury from their high costs, often only accessible to the wealthy. By giving everyone the same high level of education, Finland has leveled its playing field, making it easier for the talented, rather than the wealthy, to rise, and eliminating stressful competition. -Katelyn Fiebke
ReplyDeleteAs Teemu said, there is always competition between 15-years-old students. But it is true that the lack of necessity for paying such a huge amount of money reduces any kind of competition. I also agree with him when he says that would be bad for the USA to try to copy the Finnish educational system. Each country has different needs because they are all different from one to each other. I recently talked about education issues with my host family. They said that every school is different from one each other and also what students learn (including both subjects and their contents). From my point of view, it isn’t good for a country that every high school teaches something different to their alumnus. On the other hand, what is very good about the USA educational system is the opportunity for foreigners to come as exchange students. This is a great chance for both the exchange student and any other student in the high school. It is a real exchange of cultures, you learn to appreciate even more the good things in your society and it helps you to realize about its wrong things. I don’t know if this type of programs exists in Finland but not in Spain (actually, foreigners think the only thing we do is to watch soccer and have all-night-long parties). I hope they will exist someday.
ReplyDeleteTalking about private high schools and universities, I completely agree with the article at this point: “Schools are a shop and parents can buy what ever they want”. Education should never be a business, it is a right and an obligation, as it is in Finland. In Spain, there are some private schools, high schools and colleges, but they don’t have a good reputation. Studying at this kind of colleges there are people who, either come from a rich family or are not very good students who will be paying the scholarship they received from a bank for a long time. The best students are in public universities and they pay between 1,000€ and 2,000€ (1,300$ and 2,600$) only once during their careers. They can ask for a scholarship because they usually have to live in a different city from where they’re (if you live in the city where your college is, you’ll hardly get a scholarship). Besides, the scholarships are intended for people with less money instead of people with the best grades.
There are many other differences between the Spanish system and the American and Finnish systems (not as many between this last one) that I could describe in tons of pages. My points of view are exposed above. What I’d like to high light about the current situation in Spain is that the amount of school failure (people who never get to finish properly their studies in high school).Also, the government spends millions of Euros to educate students, but they hardly spend any money to hold them. The majority of the good students have to get a job abroad (when the majority doesn’t want to). In Spanish the word for “exit” and “professional opportunities” are the same, so recently people have been saying that in Spain, once you finish a career, you have three “exits”: earth, sea and air. It is indeed sad…
i agree with Josh that less homework would be a great way of learning, but still i believe that the homework should be optional and if you do it you get some benefits like being able to have a retake. In my opinion this will encourage learning by having the students be able to decide if they need all the homework that is being assigned as an athlete during season, even worse now that were juniors and not on teams. now that we have 6 different teachers that don't collaborate with each other on the workload, it can really pile up, and it discourages learning when you have other things to do in your life than study and do homework. school already takes seven hours five days a week. i do also like the idea of more creative working. you need to be innovative in the real world, if we just learn from the book then we will never make new discoveries and never advance technology. nothing will improve. i disagree with Ryleigh when she says that we should not have AP classes or honors but i will say they should not be something anyone can sign up for their should be requirements to get in. some kids just learn some subjects faster than others, like me i learn science and math very easily so i take harder classes, while in English and social studies i learn much slower and its much harder for me to grasp the concepts. for me it is very frustrating when i understand something easily while one kid is holding up the class. i will admit sometimes that kid could be me, im just saying their should be options. -brian mclaurin
ReplyDeletei wish that America was like Finland after reading the article. It is also like Jess said "Isn't our education system supposed to be about "No Child Left Behind." and I asked that same question to myself as I read the article. that one child should be offered the same options as the next child. Private schools in my opinion are just greedy educated people and i know it is hypocritical to talk about private schools when i could possibly be going to one, but with the way the economy has been going and with college students and graduates accumulating debt, it shows to me in my eyes that it makes the person worse off than other people who go to local colleges and still get the same education. people may make the argument that one teacher is better than another, but in the end they are both teaching the same material that in the end is going to amount to the same in my opinion. Getting back to Finland's education system versus the Chinese education system, they are on totally opposite sides of the spectrum where the Finnish are all about equity, but the Chinese are all about education with no creativity in there. Chinese students are just memorizing the material, but from what I have read in the article, they Finnish are actually taking the material they have learned and applied it so that they know how to apply it in the future. This just shows that even though Chinese students score higher on the test, does not mean that person is guaranteed a good life or even a job. It just shows that they can digest the material and regurgitate back the information without even knowing how it can be applied or how the information could be useful for their future.
ReplyDeleteas most have stated it would obviously be nice to have less homework and i agree with Brian when he says that homework should be optional. if i understand the concepts in class then i don't feel like i should have to spend extra time on it outside of class. he also mentioned that we already spend seven hours a day five days a week for the majority of the year in school if we cant understand what we are learning during that period of time then maybe its not the students that need extra help but the teachers that need to learn to spend their time more wisely. this is where i agree with the finnish way of doing things where all the schools are the same. if students are clearly not doing well on country level then the country will know that they need to change something. as far as the competition aspect goes teenagers will bring there own competition automatically like teemu said. we already put enough pressure on ourselves to do better then one another in school and sports and other aspects of life we don't need the school and teachers to add more competition then what we already burden ourselves with.
ReplyDeleteAmerican schools are defiantly more concerned about tests than in Finland. In America no teacher would say they don't care what the test scores are. Yes some teachers can say that they do not like the idea of testing, but they make sure that you are prepared for the tests because if we were to do poorly on them the teacher's job could be at risk. Finland seems to be more about the students. They care about what the students need and treat school as more of a place of encouragement and helpful place for students than a big competition. From the start of first grade I remember the pressure put on me to do good. In first grade there is no reason to talk about colleges. There are so many other things kids that age need to know that cannot be taught through homework. Children that age should never have that type of stress. I agree with what Brian had to say about one student holding up the class and how that can be frustrating. I believe that that sort of thing can lead to students losing interest. This is the type of thing that American schools need to change. Teachers seem to focus most on the students who struggle. If maybe one student is struggling, the other students should not be ignored while that student gets help. Yes that student needs help, but the other students should not have to miss out because of that. I like the idea that Finish schools focus on not just giving the students an education, but also on their mental health. Schools in America should stop thinking of students as a whole, but rather individuals. -Kira Zotcavage
ReplyDeleteFirst I would like to comment on Teemu's outfit -- I love it! So stylish!
ReplyDelete"Real winners do not compete." This line is quoted in the article ‘What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success’. My initial reaction after reading this line is that this is completely untrue. How can you be a winner without competing?! The line then continues to say that this idea is considered very un-American (hence my reaction) and that this mind set, though unconventional for us, has helped the Finns succeed educationally and could potentially be helpful for America as well. I really like Jess’ point where she brings up the “no child left behind” movement. If America were to restructure its school system where there wasn’t competition and learning was more interactive as opposed to textbook based, there’s a possibility we could be as academically successful as Finland. Obviously, as most of you state and Sara agrees with you all as well, it would be nice to have no homework! This being said, I don’t think the point of changing that factor of the educational system is to improve the social lives of Finland’s teenagers but it’s to give them a more relaxed and positive learning environment. It can be argued that this “relaxed” learning environment would give teenagers an excuse to slack off; if there’s no homework, no competition between other students, and no pressure for you to succeed, then why are you going to try? I think the educational system we currently have in America is working for us to a certain extent but we could possible benefit from trying something new.
-Sydney Fisher!
Congrats to Finland for having such great test scores and awesome schools! So far i've been to two different school systems in two different states. They had a few minor things that sepreated the two. But after reading the article i find it interesting that the school systems in Finland dont have any standerdized tests. I myself hate them and i don't think it really shows a persons true ability and their knowledge. The ammount of stress on the children that attend the schools in Finland is probably a lot lower than the kids who have to take those lengthy tests here in the United States. That's because so many teachers really make it a big point that you have to do your absolute best and that if we do anything wrong it doesn't quite reflect on us but more so the teachers and the school itself. Here in the United states their is always a lot of pressure saying only the best make it and usally that means you need to have a lot of money. The richer people have a better chance because they can afford the fancy schools that give you the fancy degrees. That really effects how well we do and how far we get. Not everyoe does well under pressure. And not everyone has a lot of money. But the Finnish people seem to have it a little easier in the fact that they treat everyone as equals.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic, and a great discussion. I loved reading the many intelligent and thoughtful comments. I'll add a teacher's perspective. I've been reading about Finland's educational system for a few years now, and admiring many aspects of it (and not just because I'm Finnish myself). One of the factors that I think makes the Finnish system a success is the emphasis Finland puts on teaching as a profession. Here in the US many of the "best and brightest" go to work on Wall St, or for consulting firms, where the $$ are. Very few of the top students graduating college go into teaching. In Finland, teaching is one of the most respected professions. I've read that it's difficult to become a teacher there (so much for the idea of "no competition"), and that teaching attracts Finland's "best and brightest" people. I don’t think that America should pay teachers as much as it pays Wall St traders and hedge fund managers (although I would argue that we pay Wall St people far too much, but that’s a debate for another day). I do think that America would do well to place more emphasis and greater value on teaching as a profession. Don’t we want our “best and brightest” to become teachers? I think that’s how we build a better educational system, and a better future. JR
ReplyDeleteThis article brings up very interesting points about the differences between schools in Finland and schools here in the United States. Finland clearly has a school system that works well and benefits both students and teachers. In the article the author states, “Finland's schools owe their newfound fame primarily to one study: the PISA survey, conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey compares 15-year-olds in different countries in reading, math, and science. Finland has ranked at or near the top in all three competencies on every survey since 2000…” I agree with both Jamie and Josh about competition and how it could be better to learn without it. It is very interesting to me that Finland has managed to rank at or near the top for several years because they don’t use standardize testing to keep track of their students understanding and learning. Here in the United States it is unusual to go more than a week without some kind of test or quiz, we are constantly told that quizzes and tests are a major part of our grade. Having your knowledge shown through a test or quiz can cause a large lack of motivation for students, especially when scores do not match up with their efforts or understandings. Also, Finland doesn’t really assign homework, were here we have homework every night. This puts a lot of stress on individuals when they have other responsibilities to attend to outside of school. --rachelle
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel as though the Finland education is very different than our own school district. They way they teach and their assignments differ dramatically from the not only our school but most schools in the U.S. I understand that each teacher has their own way of communicating with their students and I know there is lots of work assigned that is dependent on how much the student applies themselves, but in the article it states, “Finland's schools owe their newfound fame primarily to one study: the PISA survey, conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey compares 15-year-olds in different countries in reading, math, and science. Finland has ranked at or near the top in all three competencies on every survey since 2000” As you can see, there educational system is obviously working for them considering they are ranked at the top. In the Finland culture they assign less homework and more leisure creative time. In Finland they also believe that is not necessary to assign homework every night. This is much much different than Souhegan. I can definitely agree with Sara. We get assigned homework every night just in one class but in all 7 classes, 5 days a week! Not only do we have homework assigned we also have projects, and tests or quizzes. This puts a lot of impact on a teen individual. We sit through school for 6 hours a day and have to go home to work hours on homework. Kids need time to relax and be in sports or hobbies of there choice.
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