Okay I am going to throw this one out to you all....

As a primary school teacher we not only teach children to read, write, spell, think (well we try to), add, subtract, all that jazz, uomputers, sport, health, HSIE, I could go on and on......we also teach them about sex education, child protection, road safety, interpersonal skills and all the other things that parents have requested that teachers should now be responsible for educating about. I could go on and on about how crowded the curriculum is.

Homework shouldnt be given to teach a new skill, it should be there to consolidate the skill learnt at school.

Teachers are the main educator in a childs life but parents need to play a role as well. Teachers set homework to enhance the child's learning. Parents need to take responsibility for their childrens education as well.

I agreee that some of it is not necessary but I know at my school, homework has a purpose and is meaningful.

Apologies for this being a bit rambled. I totally get where you are all coming from (and I can tell you I dont enjoy marking homework either) but just wanted to point out the other side of the story.