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Should elementary students do homework? In this Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016 still image from video, Kimberly Coleman-Mitchell, right, teaches her fourth grade class at Oakridge Elementary School in Arlington, Va. Elementary schools in Arlington, South Burlington, Vt., and Holyoke, Mass., are among those that went homework-free at the start of the school year. AP Photo Wednesday Oct 5, 2016 at 7:46 PM Oct 5, 2016 at 7:47 PM By John Darling For the Tidings You won’t have to say the dog ate your homework anymore — at least at some schools, where they’re starting to ban homework. This is being done by Cherry Park Elementary in Portland and a dozen others in Seattle in the belief that children will have more time to hang with their families, get outside and populate now-empty baseball diamonds, sleep and “read books,” meaning stuff like “War and Peace,” not “New Horizons in Algebra IV.” If you saw Michael Moore’s “Where To Invade Next,” you learned that countries in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe are taking a much more chill approach to homework, banning it in the belief that, hey, children spend six or seven hours a day in class, starting at age 5, and if they can’t learn what they need in that expanse of time, what good it is to also rob them of their late afternoon and evening time? Of his book, “The Homework Myth,” Alfie Kohn says homework is all pain and no gain. “The disadvantages of homework are clear to everyone: exhaustion, frustration, loss of time to pursue other interests and often diminution of interest in learning … Homework may be the greatest extinguisher of curiosity ever invented." Harris Cooper of Duke University, a longtime researcher into the effects of homework said in an AP story that homework isn’t very effective in pre-teen years and should be viewed like medicine — too little doesn’t help and too much can kill you. While homework has the capacity to inspire self-guided learning and time management, he adds, teachers generally assign too much. We asked Ashlanders at the Growers Market if they think America should ditch homework.  Allie Rosenbluth — I went to college at William and Mary and I come from a home with rigorous academic standards about homework. I’ve done a lot of all-nighter to write papers and it’s not healthy. It depends on the student, of course. I did a lot after school, but I’m still well-rounded, I think. We should aim for a mean between the extremes. Dustin Hall — It seems like a good thing (to ban it). A lot of kids are over-stressed. Homework is an opportunity for parents to get involved in what kids are doing. It can be a good thing and parents can help with homework. I was a terrible procrastinator. It was always painful to try and start on homework. If I could get away with it, I would skip it. The habit continued into college — postpone and do an all-nighter when a paper is due. Good time-management skills are a good thing for college, though. Emalie Kamrath — Homework is good but there are more important things to experience than homework. Some teachers say homework should be just what you don’t finish in school. I tried college but it’s a lot of homework. If it’s a subject I enjoy, like environmental studies, it doesn’t feel like homework. If it’s required, jumping through hoops, I don’t enjoy it. I went to Willow Wind here, where classes were small and you knew the teachers. They didn’t pile it on. If I had a panic attack, they would say just wait and take more time. Rebecca Wood — Yes and no. The workload in school is too strenuous and kids are very stressed. They don’t have the coping skills because they’re all stressed. You should have some homework, but … I dropped out of college. I have a family. So did my sister-in-law. It’s too hard to be there for family and school. When I’d look at the books sitting there, waiting for homework, I felt anxious. You have tons of peers in class, too many. A teacher can’t teach 30 kids.  Stephanie Balcazar — There shouldn’t be strict criteria. You should have hobbies that you want. You should study at home, but what you want. When I would look at the books for homework, I felt it was unnecessarily forced and I didn’t want to be forced to do it. Kids will turn out OK, as long as they don’t just play more video games with free time. I remember being pressured. It was stressful and I carried that into adulthood, that pressure and feeling I have to have a goal and turn in something. John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].