Do Your Homework @ The Library

Do Your Homework @ The Library Parent-teacher conferences at the Lab School are similar to what I imagine speed dating to be like. Each conference is three minutes, and parents can attend an afternoon or evening session. The conferences are strictly first come, first served. At noon, my wife and I sit in chairs outside each classroom waiting our turn, sometimes for as long as 45 minutes. I suggested that parents’ meeting to discuss their children’s education was generally a positive thing; we merely chose to have our meeting in cyberspace instead of the school cafeteria. My daughter has the misfortune of living through a period of peak homework. This algebra unit, on polynomials, seems to be a matter of remembering a few tricks. Though I struggle with converting from standard notationâ€"for example, converting 0. A student is supposed to be timing each conference, but the students often wander off, and the teachers ignore the parents’ knocking after three minutes. He disagreed, saying the teacher felt threatened. And he added that students weren’t allowed to cyberbully, so parents should be held to the same standard. As the person who instigated the conversation, I was called in to the vice principal’s office and accused of cyberbullying. She explained that this sort of cross-disciplinary learningâ€"state capitals in a math classâ€"was now popular. She added that by now, Esmee should know all her state capitals. She went on to say that in class, when the students had been asked to name the capital of Texas, Esmee answered Texas City. I sneak in and grab her copy ofAngela’s Ashesand catch up on my reading, getting all the way to page 120. The hardship of too much homework pales in comparison with the McCourt family’s travails. Still, because we are sharing our copy ofAngela’s Ashes, I end up going to bed an hour after Esmee. The co-op board meetsâ€"and over my objections makes me secretaryâ€"before I can start on Esmee’s homework. It is now time for me to struggle with Earth Science. The textbook Esmee’s class is using is simply calledEarth Scienceand was written by Edward J. Tarbuck and Frederick K. Lutgens. My older daughter’s homework load this evening is just seven algebra equations, studying for a Humanities test on industrialization, and more Earth Science. After a few minutes, replies started coming in from parents along the lines of “Thank God, we thought we were the only ones,” “Our son has been up until 2am crying,” and so forth. And over the years, I have noticed that the amount of homework does let up, slightly, after the conferencesâ€"if enough parents complain. However, there is always a clique of parents who are happy with the amount of homework. I tend not to get along with that type of parent. “Minerals have crystal systems which are defined by the # of axis and the length of the axis that intersect the crystal faces.” That’s how the notes start, and they only get murkier after that. When I ask Esmee what this actually means, she gives me her homework credo. When I arrive home, a few minutes ahead of Esmee, I consider delaying my week of homework, but then I realize that Esmee can never put off her week of homework. That is the advice of my 13-year-old daughter, Esmee, as I struggle to make sense of a paragraph of notes for an upcoming Earth Science test on minerals. “The termsynergisticapplies to the combined efforts of Tarbuck and Lutgens,” says the biographical note at the beginning. By late afternoon, I am tired after filing a magazine article on deadline. Half the class’s parents responded that they thought too much homework was an issue. The teacher was unmoved, saying that she felt the homework load was reasonable. If Esmee was struggling with the work, then perhaps she should be moved to a remedial class.