Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recent years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on his educational ritual. Unfortunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student's academic grade.
家庭作业从来就没有受到学生甚至家长的真正欢迎，但最近几年来，家庭作业却受到人们的鄙视。全国的学校，最近的是洛杉矶学区都在修改这个家庭作业相关的教育惯例做法。不幸的是，洛杉矶学区通过了一项不可变更的政策：除了高等课程，家庭作业在学分中所占比例不可以超过10%。
This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes might have in completing their homework. But the policy is unclear and contradictory. Certainly, no homework should be assigned that students cannot do without expensive equipment. But if the district is essentially giving a pass to students who do not do their homework because of complicated family lives, it is going riskily close to the implication that standards need to be lowered for poor children.
这个规定旨在提出：来自贫穷家庭或混乱家庭的学生有困难，不能完成家庭作业。但该政策是不清晰的，是矛盾的。显然，没有哪个家庭作业是在没有昂贵设备就无法完成的。但如果该学区因为学生家庭复杂而不做家庭作业就给他通过的话，那么这就意味着对于贫穷孩子，标准要降低。
District administrators say that homework will still be a pat of schooling: teachers are allowed to assign as much of it as they want. But with homework counting for no more than 10% of their grades, students can easily skip half their homework and see vey little difference on their report cards. Some students might do well on state tests without completing their homework, but what about the students who performed well on the tests and did their homework? It is quite possible that the homework helped. Yet rather than empowering teachers to find what works best for their students, the policy imposes a flat, across-the-board rule.
区政府官员说，家庭作业仍将是学校教育的一部分：老师允许布置他想布置的作业。但家庭作业算入他们成绩的比例不能超过10%的话，学生就能逃避一半家庭作业，成绩报告单上看不出差别。有些学生可能不做完家庭作业也能取得好成绩。但想想那些做家庭作业并取得考试好成绩的学生吧，家庭作业完全有可能帮助了他们。但是，老师没有得到授权去寻找什么作业最适合学生，该政策给老师强加了一条无聊的一刀切规则。
At the same time, the policy addresses none of the truly thorny questions about homework. If the district finds homework to be unimportant to its students' academic achievement, it should move to reduce or eliminate the assignments, not make them count for almost nothing. Conversely, if homework does nothing to ensure that the homework students are not assigning more than they are willing to review and correct.
同时，该政策没有处理家庭作业真正棘手的问题。如果该学区发现家庭作业对于孩子的学业是不重要的，它就应该减少或者免除家庭作业，而不是减少所占比分。相反，如果家庭作业重要，它就应该在成绩中重要比重。同时，该政策没有确保学生做的家庭作业是否是有意义的，或者是否适合他们年龄和所上学科，或者老师是否不过量布置作业。
The homework rules should be put on hold while the school board, which is responsible for setting educational policy, looks into the matter and conducts public hearings. It is not too late for L.A. Unified to do homework right.
学校董事会是教育政策的制定者，在它调查此事并进行公众意见听证会的时候，家庭作业的规则应该暂停实施。洛杉矶学区要处理好家庭作业这件事还是来得及的。
