Comment by Thorrez
5 days ago
>Have you vetted the homework as worth the child's time?
If the homework isn't worth the child's time, what do you suggest? Don't do it and get a bad grade? Parent does it for the child? Ask AI to do it? (That would still take time and thus should probably be on the schedule.) Talk to the teacher to ask it not be done?
I talked to my kids' teachers about their homework and just told them I didn't believe in homework for younger kids and they wouldn't be doing it unless they were falling behind and needed practice. Some teachers were a bit taken aback but I didn't get any real pushback.
The best long term answer is to seek schooling that doesn't assign busy work. If you really want to take your child's education seriously then homeschooling, private schooling, and manipulating the school board all have to be on the table.
If the child is old enough, you could explain that the homework is not useful to them, and try to turn it into a teachable moment about manipulating systems for one's advantage. Then delegate the homework to AI, or lookup the answers online. I would be very cautious about doing that with a young child, there's a lot of nuance. Dishonesty towards friends and family is always bad, towards bureaucracies is okay.
The crucial adult skill is to not tolerate useless work. If you become complacent with doing work that doesn't help anyone, then you considerably increase your risk of losing employment, or being ineffective when working solo. AI is going to force this lesson on the next generations.