Homework has always been an important element of the education process. Whatever subject you study, it’s more likely you get a lot of home assignments to work on in your spare time: you have to complete tasks, write essays, read books and lectures, etc. While most teachers believe that homework helps to deepen knowledge and practice theoretical skills, the majority of college and university students and their parents know that spending days on assignments at home also leads to stress, headaches, and worries.
Today, more and more people wonder whether homework could be banned. To make the right choice, it’s important to know the roots of the problem, so knowing who invented homework and why is essential.
The question is controversial: The first mention of homework dates back to Ancient Greece, but most people agree that the formal father of homework is an Italian pedagog Roberto Nevilis who lived in the 19th century.
Let’s find it out why this idea has united so many people around the globe!
Three Main Historical Facts about Homework Assignments:
Table of Contents
Out-of-Class Reading was the First Form of Homework
Homework and education go hand in hand. Although schooling wasn’t widespread in ancient times, children learned skills from their parents or educated by a private tutor at home. Once people started learning, they had to work on obtained skills in their free time. The term ‘homework’ didn’t exist in those times, but the first mentions of home assignments go back to the times of ancient Greece.
And here’s what Quora’s online users think about the invention of homework; most of them believe that students were obliged to do their homework in ancient times:
Today, there’s no evidence that homework was invented by Plato. However, many people believe that the roots of working on assignments out-of-class dates back to Ancient Greece when students had to read books in their spare time even though students had no experience in doing homework assignments.
Roberto Nevilis is Considered to be The Father of Homework
Education had major changes in the 19th century. During the period, the first official mentions of the homework and its creator appeared. Roberto Nevilis was an average pedagog who worked in Venice. He taught children of different levels and he wanted to help them obtain quality skills. Once the performance of his class dropped, he started thinking about ways to improve it. In 1905, he invented homework assignments as a punishment for students who didn’t work well during the classes so that they were obliged to complete tasks and read lectures in their free time.
Later, more and more teachers gave this idea a try, so the concept of homework gained in popularity all over the world. And Roberto Nevilis became popular, too.
Today, an Italian pedagog Roberto Nevilis is the only one individual who is associated with the homework invention on the Internet and people discuss his personality online.
Home Assignments Were First Abolished in the USA
Although many people agree that doing homework is beneficial for children, there are many doctors and parents who think that it negatively affects children’s physical and mental health. The idea of assigning homework has always been controversial and people are wondering whether it should be banned.
This idea first appeared in the United States of America when the legislature in California passed an act that abolished homework for all students from kindergarten up to the eighth grade. Based on different studies, having too much homework destroys creativity and leads to a lack of motivation, so people are arguing whether it should be a part of the educational process or not.
In a Word
It’s no secret that most students hate working on their out-of-class assignments, so they just want to blame somebody for their suffering. Students have always been wondering who invented homework, but it’s the question nobody knows the answer: Too many ideas, too little evidence.
Luckily, laughing at their problems is a great way to deal with them and get back to homework faster, so it’s no wonder that there are many homework memes dedicated to the fictional person who invented home assignments. A logical question appears: Was it worth it?