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Homework of Champions
Let's say you're a parent who is fed up with "helping" your young children complete their ridiculously-difficult homework (think creating model buildings or critiquing authors' writing styles). In this case, you will probably applaud the Calgary couple who have achieved a total ban on homework for their kids.
Part of the Calgary couple's thinking, of course, is that homework is a total waste of everyone's time. But that's true only of some homework assignments (the kind their kids appear to have been getting) - but not true of other kinds of homework. It's a bit like watching kids eat Twinkies and Coke for breakfast and then concluding that breakfast is bad for kids.
Just as a nutritious breakfast confers numerous benefits, so too do judicious homework assignments. The nature of good homework assignments is outlined here. In a nutshell, good homework is short and doable, practises newly-learned material, and receives timely feedback. When used properly, homework can leverage teaching time - doubling or even tripling the value of every instructional minute.