ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 TAG: 9608060067
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
HERE IS a refreshing prescription for raising the scores of Roanoke's public-school students on national standardized tests: Study.
More precisely: Study, study, study.
Joe Nash couldn't say it enough times in his reply to a newspaper question about specific proposals to bring up student scores.
Nash, who ran a promising, though unsuccessful, independent campaign in the last City Council race and now is seeking appointment to a School Board seat, seems a sensible, down-to-earth sort. Few things are more sensible than his suggested route to academic success.
It is not so uncontroversial as it may seem, though, because Nash extends the thought to include home study. No, not as in home schooling. As in good, old-fashioned homework.
Nash notes, correctly, that homework is valuable reinforcement for lessons covered - but not always fully absorbed - in school. While homework is widely viewed as a virtue, the actual doing of it is something else again.
Home life, these days, is often too busy for homework.
Children are enrolled in so many enriching activities, and engaged in so many unenriching ones - such as TV-watching or unnecessary jobs - that many hours once spent "hitting the books" are otherwise occupied. But kids' busy schedules are only part of the problem.
The bigger part is the grown-ups. They're tired. Evenings spent making sure that homework is done, and going over the results to make sure it is done well, can make for a tough second shift.
But the effort is essential. It's pretty basic, but students must work to learn. That's their first job, and the one that will affect all the others they ever have.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB