I have been sitting here thinking about a time when my children were small and in elementary school. Today they are having babies of there own. One day they ,too, might be sitting here day dreaming. I remember a time when one of my daughters came to her mother crying pitifully. "Mommy, there is too much homework. I can't do it. I can't finish it. I'll be up all night and I'll get an F if I don't turn it in." Does this ring any bells with you? So what did my creative and beautiful wife do when faced with such a dilemma? She called me! Yes, she dragged me out of my comfortable chair where I was lazily watching a ball game, news or favorite tv show and made me snap to attention. " You know that you are the only one who can solve this problem," she would tell me, "please go up there and help her." I had my marching order. I was the rock of the house. I was the one with the dominating brain who could solve the third grade dilemma. Why was it that I always felt that it was my wife with the dominating brain. I could swear that my comfortable chair was always warmer when I finally was able to return to it much later in the evening. I would reluctantly drag myself up the stairs and gaze into the expectant eyes of my daughter. She would calmly and patiently explain what she had to do. She would show me the work she had to do, which books she needed to do the assignments and then when I was clear on what had to be done- she disappeared!

Now I always thought that homework was actually the practice of skills learned in the classroom. If done properly the attentive student would learn valuable lessons that would prepare him for the test. Grades would be determined by the test grade for the units, chapters or material being learned. At least that is what I thought. Why was it that my daughter had just found a sucker to do the work and probably joined my wife at my favorite station? Every night like the good dutiful father I would do my best to pass 3rd, 4th , 5th grade again. I did this for years! When we discuss the old days, my daughters ( I have two) would laugh and tell me that I was a really good dad for helping them out of a jam. After all without my help, their social life would have been the pits, their grades would have suffered and the sleep they would have lost would have ruined their still blossoming complexions. Am I wrong to be angry at the education system which had forced me into this situation? I can't blame my children. They were told that all of the homework, 3-4 hours of it nightly, was a requirement of the class. The teachers felt that this workload was justified based upon the requirements that they were under by the Board of Education. The Board of Ed. was only carrying out the requirements of the State Board of Education which was following the guidelines of the Federal Department HEW. So whose fault is it? I guess I am still looking for someone to blame. I probably missed a lot of good TV!