JerseySmarts.com

On Saturday mornings, I generally try to get a lot of “work” done whether it be cleaning my room or cleaning up the kitchen or doing work for my job or the website business, etc. Generally, I have a show or two on that does a recap of the week’s events in the business, social, and global worlds. The other morning, I overheard some of the talking heads have a conversation about eliminating homework for young people.

The argument was that young people are saddled with two or more hours of homework each night and it is too much for them to complete the homework and develop a cogent social image. The talking heads went back and forth with all of the usual arguments in this debate (blame the teachers’ unions, blame the “teach to the test” mentality, blame parents, blame the kids, etc). Lots of blaming going on.

Then one of the guests said something along the lines of, “Kids become smart by getting engaged in math, reading, the arts, physical education – all of it!” And that made me think about what – in my view – makes a young person grow “smart.” I think I figured it out.

In my book, reading is the base of intelligence. I’m sure that most of you would agree that being literate is the base of the learning experience, but in terms of growing and expanding your knowledge on all issues, I think reading is the stimulant. However, reading is not alone in this effort. There are two other necessities which I believe are closely related to reading that ultimately lead to an increased intelligence – comprehension and writing ability.

It does no good to read all of the books in the world if you’re just acting as a computer and processing words on a page. This is where I believe teachers have their greatest impact on young minds. On the very same dime, this is a scary part of the education process as teaching comprehension is one of those areas where an inherent bias from a teacher can shape a child’s future views. Very scary.

The writing process is also one that encourages learning because it takes reading and comprehension to a different level. In other words, students can learn how to read (and read a lot) and then learn how to understand what they are reading, but going through the process of writing a piece that someone ELSE will have to read is putting all of these intangibles together. Writing is the culmination of this process (though at the professional level, getting published is the culmination!).

That’s how I believe a student can become smart – reading (a lot) and understanding what the student is reading and then ultimately producing a written work that others will read and have to be able to understand. And, for the record, this applies to literature, math, science, arts, etc. I would also think it is obvious that students should be engaging in this process both in and out of the classroom (in other words – YES, there should be some homework for students).