http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/education-17250653

I've been astounded recently at the amount of homework kids get, but then I either don't remember getting much at my crappy schools or I'm already in old man mode

Something weird with that page.

Ernie's posting mobile links.

See here for the Desktop version: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17250653

Not seen that before, but with the patchy internet I have at the moment it could be quite useful.

I remember "guidelines". Our secondary school had its own "guidelines". 2.5hrs per night is nothing. I distinctly remember getting home for approx 1630-1645 (sometimes after 1700). Quick snack eg beans on toast. Head upstairs and work from 1700 until 2000, at which point it was time for dinner. Back up at 2030 and work until 2130-2200. That's what 4.5 hrs a night? We did that Mon-Thurs. Never did homework on Friday. Majority of homework was done Sunday, with some on Saturday if I knew there was going to be too much to do in one day.

I think 2.5 hrs is what I was doing when I started in year 7.

If that's accurate, then I'm quite surprised too. When I was 15 I'm pretty sure I spent no more than 5 hours a week doing homework.

But then, I was always quite quick at things like maths and science but didn't really try very hard with the other subjects. Perhaps if I'd studied 3 times as much I would have gotten better grades in German and History

I don't think children should be spending any more than an hour an evening doing homework, they need "down time" just like everyone else, and if they're spending every night after school doing homework they're going to get fed up with academia very, very quickly.

I imagine most of us have seen documentaries about various Asian kid's education, where cramming and summer schools are pretty normal - along with maybe 20 hours per week learning extra-curricular subjects such as playing a musical instrument? Not ubiquitous, but quite normal in a society that is incredibly competitive. Survival of the fittest in the modern day means you won't marry unless you get a good job, and a good job depends on good grades. Slackers die ronley virgins.

I also imagine most of us are familiar with kids that do no homework, and who's parents did no homework and don't particularly care. In fact, some kids would be teased to death if they were seen to be trying.

There has to be a middle ground, and one size does not fit all. Arbitrary rules are generally damaging. Some kids are more academic than others. Some kids actually enjoy learning - I honestly loved mathematics and science in a way many people would find totally alien, and read academic books for fun. When I was 11 I would much rather read a science book than play football.

Depends what you want out of life I suppose, personally I would hate to be on my death bed and think "wow, I spent all my life working, and now I'm going to die".

For many, the alternative is to find your death bed before the age of 20. Seriously, if you're hungry and unemployed in most countries then you are going to die.

The economy should serve the people, we should not be enslaved by it. In most jobs f you're spending more than 40/50 hours a week at work then there's something seriously wrong.

That's why I personally think the Working Time Directive is the best thing that ever happened to the labour market in Europe.

Only in better off countries like ours.

I think I was in a similar situation - wanted to read/learn but more concerned about peers and hence rather than actually do well at school, I slacked and became a C-grade student, when I knew I could do much better. In fact, it wasn't till I got my GCSE grades that I realised I shouldn't have listened to my "mates" and should have just worked my ass off. Hence why at A-levels, I was one step ahead of the class. It got to the point where I enjoyed science because I understood it and this came from self-directed learning. No internetz back then either!

Fixed that for you