Q: My daughter's second-grade teacher does not correct homework but only checks whether or not it was done. I find that my daughter often makes significant errors and/or leaves many questions unanswered. When I ask why she didn't do the problem or assignment correctly the first time, she tells me it doesn't matter. How can I get her take school seriously when the teacher doesn't?
Over the past 10 years or so, I've heard this same story from numerous parents all over the country and have concluded, therefore, that not checking the accuracy of homework or class assignments must be some newfangled education "reform."
You should most definitely discuss this with her teacher, but if you get nowhere, then you're going to have to simply resign yourself to reality and begin pulling the slack.
When my children were in elementary school, I noticed that their teachers were taking a rather casual attitude toward the quality of their writing assignments. As you can imagine, good writing is important to me, so I simply informed the kids that I would be checking their writing assignments at home and making them redo anything that didn't meet my standards.
I recommend you do the same. Check your daughter's homework and class work. When you find an assignment that isn't up to par, make your daughter correct it or do it over again.
Longtime readers may point out, correctly, that what I'm recommending to this mother amounts to micromanagement, something I generally counsel against parents doing in any area of a child's life. That's true, but as we are told in Ecclesiastes 3:1, there's a time for everything.
Note that I am not recommending that this mom help her daughter with her homework, much less even sit with her while she does it.
I predict that in no time at all, the quality of said daughter's work will improve dramatically, requiring less and less micromanagement on Mom's part.
