According to Chao News, this winter holiday, Hangzhou No. 1 Primary School announced that it would completely cancel the traditional written homework and replace it with a personalized, characteristic and diversified "guide to winter vacation life" carefully tailored for students. Netizens have polarized views on this issue. Some people support it, while others oppose it. Supporters believe that this is to lighten the burden for children, while opponents believe that this move is "convenient for school".
This is not "new". Previously, many places had asked the lower grades of primary schools not to assign winter vacation homework. In 2022, the Education Department of Fujian Province made it clear that the first and second grades of primary schools would not assign written winter vacation homework; Earlier in 2011, the Education Department of Shanxi Province also had similar requirements. In 2022, the Ministry of Education issued a notice requiring local schools to strictly control the total amount of written homework in winter vacation, and encourage the arrangement of exploratory and practical homework.
Therefore, the practice of this small school in Hangzhou also has policy basis. Previously, the phenomenon of too much homework in some schools during the winter vacation also attracted attention. Many parents reported that too much written homework led to their children either doing homework throughout the winter vacation or making up homework before the beginning of school, which made the winter vacation meaningless.
From this point of view, schools with appropriate conditions may also try to "completely eliminate traditional written homework", so that children can "liberate" from written homework and enjoy winter vacation more fully.
In fact, after canceling the traditional written homework, the school does not give up, but provides three aspects of "winter vacation guide" for students to choose. Children should also share their winter holiday experiences with teachers and classmates, which can be oral, share a group of photos, or draw a picture. Such "exploratory and practical homework" may be more meaningful for children's winter vacation.
Of course, some netizens who hold opposing views also have some truth. For example, some people question that if public schools at the compulsory education stage follow this practice in a large scale, it will be unfair to those children who have poor family conditions and whose parents are busy making a living?
For such concerns, local education departments and schools should also pay attention to them, and strive to make every child have a more meaningful winter vacation while ensuring the bottom line of fairness. In this process, schools and education departments should also sum up experience and find problems in a timely manner, so as to make continuous improvement and effectively protect the healthy growth of children.
□ Sushi (media person)
