ASIANS MAKE DESK RITE OF PASSAGE?
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Date sent:      	Sat, 10 Jul 1999 11:59:14 -0700
From:           	Bruce Crawford <brucec76@ix.netcom.com>
To:             	"ClearingHouse" <education-consumers@lists.dundee.net>
Copies to:      	ClearingHouse <education-consumers@lists.dundee.net>
Subject:        	[education-consumers] Re: On the Issue of Homework!
Send reply to:  	Bruce Crawford <brucec76@ix.netcom.com>


Gloria et al,


Your daughter's school's suggestions are interesting. In The Learning Gap
by Stigler and Stevenson, they talk about a ritual that occurs in Asia
when children get old enough to start school. The family buys the child a
desk and puts it in a unique place (remember, Asian homes are much smaller
than most of ours). No one else in the family uses that desk except the
child. When the child is doing homework, the rest of the family is quiet,
i.e. no TV, radio, etc. The child receiving his/her personal desk in
his/her personal space is a rite of passage, much like our adolescent
debutante balls, confirmations and bar mitzvahs.


BC