homework: Watching Debate

[shoney]

my ds12's homework for 8th grade social studies is to watch the debate tonight and take notes. He told the teacher it is on past his bedtime and the teacher laughed at him!

He does go to bed between 8:30 and 9pm because he is tired!

Well, he just went up for a nap.

This kid needs his sleep!

 

[Christine]

I would love to watch it but I have to get up at 4AM so, no can do.

My son's government class will be watching "highlights" tomorrow and discussing.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

my ds12's homework for 8th grade social studies is to watch the debate tonight and take notes. He told the teacher it is on past his bedtime and the teacher laughed at him!

He does go to bed between 8:30 and 9pm because he is tired!

Well, he just went up for a nap.

This kid needs his sleep!

I am a pretty easy-going parent, and I don't think 9pm is too early a bedtime for a 12YO. A 12YO is supposed to get 10 hours of sleep, so if he's getting up at 7am or earlier, 9pm it is!

Funny though that he is the one who recognizes that he needs the sleep!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Couldn't you tape it while he sleeps, deduct commercial time and get him up earlier tomorrow. He could do breakfast while watching.

I will say that many kids have this same assignment tonight. My son and his friends are watching through Xbox and debating between themselves. (he is older though)

 

[luvmy3]

My 7th grader has to watch it too. I wasn't planning on watching so I'm going to talk him into letting me DVR it and he can watch it in the morning.

 

[ICF]

Couldn't you tape it while he sleeps, deduct commercial time and get him up earlier tomorrow.

I dont think the debate has any commericals in it.

 

[MrsDuck]

I'm a US Government teacher and my HS seniors were instructed to watch the debate tonight! They have an assignment but it's not due till Monday in case some of them need to go to bed, work, etc.

OP: this is probably wrong for me to say, but perhaps, if he needs to go to bed before it's over, you can tape it or find a transcript of the part he missed and have him read it tomorrow? Shh.. you didn't hear that from me!

 

[Coconut36]

Sounds like a pretty common assignment for kids in 7th grade and up. I know lots of teachers in middle and high school assigning similar things. I would think 1 night of wonky sleep will not be too harmful and as others have suggested DVRing it could work as well.

 

[Becky2005]

My 7th grader is supposed to watch election coverage. He told them we don't have TV (we don't!!!). I got an e-mail from one of the teachers checking to see if that is correct. They are going to find him an alternative assignment. I haven't heard what they plan on doing. I'm sure their first thought when he said "We don't have TV" was to completely not believe him as that concept is unheard of here.

Obviously, we do have internet though -- I just don't know if it will be lagging coverage on election day vs. what you can watch on a TV broadcast (sometimes those are spotty as they don't put the entire newscast to watch on video -- at least I haven't found that).

Interesting enough neither my older 2 boys said they had to watch tonight's debate & both have Government type classes. Now the 7th grader it was the day OF the election from my understanding with the e-mail I received. It is a 1/2 day tomorrow though so not sure they have much chance to talk about any of it until Tuesday anyway.

 

[aprilgail2]

I would not be amused if my daughter came home with that for homework-First, I have NO desire to have that on a TV in my house and since she has to be up at 530 for school she will be sleeping during it and not up in time in the morning to watch it before school- she leaves at 640 so between a shower, contacts, make-up, breakfast there is no time to be watching TV in the morning.

 

[Iamajoy79]

My kids are still very young. My oldest is in second grade. I feel (even in 2nd grade) that many of the teachers don't take our home lives into consideration when they assign homework. . I believe that an assignment that disrupts home life should be completed in class. This is something that the teacher can record and have the students watch together.

 

[mjkacmom]

In 7th grade, dd16 had a history teacher known to be really into elections, so she had to write these long papers discussing certain aspects of each debate (we DVR'd them - it took her a few hours for each paper). We did the math, and none of the next 3 will have him during an election year, thank goodness!

As for bedtimes, my kids don't get home from nightly activities until between 8:15 and 9:30, so early bedtimes have left our house, unfortunately. The three little ones are gone now until after 9, and the two oldest haven't made it home from school yet (sports and work).

 

[LisaR]

I would not be amused if my daughter came home with that for homework-First, I have NO desire to have that on a TV in my house and since she has to be up at 530 for school she will be sleeping during it and not up in time in the morning to watch it before school- she leaves at 640 so between a shower, contacts, make-up, breakfast there is no time to be watching TV in the morning.

Why? I understand not wanting her to stay up late but I don't understand the "I have NO desire to have that on a TV in my house." I get that you may not be into politics but this is a current event. Don't you feel kids should learn about this type of thing? One assumes these assignments are being handed out in government/history type classes. I would find it disconcerting if my late middle school child or HS age child had a class in one of these subjects and the teacher didn't tell them to watch it.

 

[Christine]

Why? I understand not wanting her to stay up late but I don't understand the "I have NO desire to have that on a TV in my house." I get that you may not be into politics but this is a current event. Don't you feel kids should learn about this type of thing? One assumes these assignments are being handed out in government/history type classes. I would find it disconcerting if my late middle school child or HS age child had a class in one of these subjects and the teacher didn't tell them to watch it.

It could be that she has to get up early to go to work and the TV blaring would keep her up.

My son now watches TV with the headset on and it has been a lifesaver. We have an open floorplan and hard wood floors and I can hear the TV right up into my bedroom.

 

[LisaR]

It could be that she has to get up early to go to work and the TV blaring would keep her up.

My son now watches TV with the headset on and it has been a lifesaver. We have an open floorplan and hard wood floors and I can hear the TV right up into my bedroom.

I didn't get that vibe from the way she wrote it but I may have misunderstood.

 

[MrsDuck]

Obviously, we do have internet though -- I just don't know if it will be lagging coverage on election day vs. what you can watch on a TV broadcast (sometimes those are spotty as they don't put the entire newscast to watch on video -- at least I haven't found that).

You can find a live streaming of the debate on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/politics) and AOL (http://debates.aol.com/).

I would not be amused if my daughter came home with that for homework-First, I have NO desire to have that on a TV in my house and since she has to be up at 530 for school she will be sleeping during it and not up in time in the morning to watch it before school- she leaves at 640 so between a shower, contacts, make-up, breakfast there is no time to be watching TV in the morning.

Why is watching a presidential debate a bad thing? The 3 Great Evils in a Democracy are: 1. Indifference, 2. Escape, 3. Resignation. If a child is in a civics/government oriented class, I don't see why someone wouldn't encourage them to participate in this election season to the best of their abilities (ie: watching the debate, seeing the ballot, etc).

Your argument for sleeping/staying up late I totally get on the other hand!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My two high schoolers will be watching it with us. I don't think it was a school assignment but it is a family assignment. We want them to know about current issues and where they stand personally as they'll be voting in the next presidential election. They've watched the previous national debates and we have the MA Senatorial debates DVR'd. Should be a fun night!

 

[Christine]

I didn't get that vibe from the way she wrote it but I may have misunderstood.

No, I probably misunderstood. It's been a LOOOOONNNNGG day. Teleworking is great but I was glued to my chair and computer screen for 9 hours. Not good for the brain.

 

[John VN]

my ds12's homework for 8th grade social studies is to watch the debate tonight and take notes. He told the teacher it is on past his bedtime and the teacher laughed at him!

He does go to bed between 8:30 and 9pm because he is tired!

Well, he just went up for a nap.

This kid needs his sleep!

Sounds like he will be watching.

As for me, I'll be watching something else.

 

[Jennasis]

I think it's wonderful that teachers are assigning the debate viewing to their students.