HolyShit... Homework!

As I write this I have tonnes of holiday homework of my sister to take care of. And that includes having to search the internet for non-existent research papers, make models that I might have considered for my own major project (no just kidding :) and having to make chart papers; with some notebook work thrown in between for good measures. And I should tell you that I haven't really made any significant progress in 'my' homework yet. Time for frank admission: 

"I HATE Holiday Homeworks". OK, wait, HATE is negative word, so let me rephrase it and say, "I Do NOT like Holiday Homework" or even better "I am Not too fond of Holiday Homework" :).

When I was a kid, I needed assistance in all my homework (no, I wasn't the super coo! prodigy you read about in papers, all the time). So, somebody (usually one of my buas) would always be up my throat (I was a brilliant and adorable child :) trying to get the work done. And I especially hated Holiday HW (when you see pages after pages of instructions for HHW, neatly grouped subject wise, you kind of loose hope then & there). So, every year the pattern was to have fun the whole summer and then break your back doing holiday homework in the last week (something my sister is emulating right now :).

When I reached mid school, I knew I had to do at least the written part of homework if I wanted to have any hope of getting descent marks in First terminals. All that learning/cramming stuff was taken care of (I still don't understand why teachers give tonnes of chapters to learn when everybody knows that we do it all at the end time?). And regarding those project works and charts, I either simply left it (to hell with marks) or outsourced them to some of my elder (I was still a child you know :)

By the time I reached high school, the homework was manageable (and I had also learned that most of what I did was waste in the long run). But by now my little brothers were in mid school and they had started getting homework with those stupid little charts to make. Now I just couldn't refuse because:

a) I had got a similar privilege at my time and

b) I risked facing the wrath of the family if I didn't do it.

So, for so many years I had to do the exact same thing for my brothers that I never did for myself. You know making dozens of charts (yes, dozens and I am not being rhetorical here) isn't a walk in the park. And it was a thankless job (I never got any cookies for making those stupidities, may be pat on back sometimes).

Then I reached college and thankfully the vacations didn't accompany formal holiday homeworks here. But, I did spend considerable time making and completing files (and I had to do it, because multiple times I used to be the one on whom dozens life depended).

And today as I stare at the things to be done, on behalf of my sister, all the past (not really happy) memories of homework and back-breaking doing them, comes rushing back.

I wanted to take this moment to start a debate on how much are the homeworks (those pesky charts, projects, ‘research’ we did in school and the countess files, assignments and tutorials we were made to do in college) are necessary? I know intentions behind them is always good, but when the homework is simply copied from each other and even after submitting they are either not assessed properly or simply thrown in dustbin (by the way, what happened to your last semester files?).

I don't know if the situation can be made better or if there are any alternatives to traditional homeworks and assignments (because to an extent we as students are also lazy). But what I do know, is that a lot of time what we do is simply wasted, and if nothing else that time could be used to enjoy ourselves. To me, this practice of giving homework also seems to stem from the rote learning model we follow in our education system.

Anyways, now, go shoot your comments down below! If you particularly enjoy doing holiday homework (and I am not talking about any particular subject HHW you did one time), I especially would like to know your views.