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Student Opinion

Should We Get Rid of Homework?

Some educators are pushing to get rid of homework. Would that be a good thing?

petition to get rid of homework

By Jeremy Engle and Michael Gonchar

Do you like doing homework? Do you think it has benefited you educationally?

Has homework ever helped you practice a difficult skill — in math, for example — until you mastered it? Has it helped you learn new concepts in history or science? Has it helped to teach you life skills, such as independence and responsibility? Or, have you had a more negative experience with homework? Does it stress you out, numb your brain from busywork or actually make you fall behind in your classes?

Should we get rid of homework?

In “ The Movement to End Homework Is Wrong, ” published in July, the Times Opinion writer Jay Caspian Kang argues that homework may be imperfect, but it still serves an important purpose in school. The essay begins:

Do students really need to do their homework? As a parent and a former teacher, I have been pondering this question for quite a long time. The teacher side of me can acknowledge that there were assignments I gave out to my students that probably had little to no academic value. But I also imagine that some of my students never would have done their basic reading if they hadn’t been trained to complete expected assignments, which would have made the task of teaching an English class nearly impossible. As a parent, I would rather my daughter not get stuck doing the sort of pointless homework I would occasionally assign, but I also think there’s a lot of value in saying, “Hey, a lot of work you’re going to end up doing in your life is pointless, so why not just get used to it?” I certainly am not the only person wondering about the value of homework. Recently, the sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco and the mathematics education scholars Ilana Horn and Grace Chen published a paper, “ You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities .” They argued that while there’s some evidence that homework might help students learn, it also exacerbates inequalities and reinforces what they call the “meritocratic” narrative that says kids who do well in school do so because of “individual competence, effort and responsibility.” The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students. Calarco, Horn and Chen write, “Research has highlighted inequalities in students’ homework production and linked those inequalities to differences in students’ home lives and in the support students’ families can provide.”

Mr. Kang argues:

But there’s a defense of homework that doesn’t really have much to do with class mobility, equality or any sense of reinforcing the notion of meritocracy. It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background, which is why, I imagine, Calarco, Horn and Chen found that most teachers weren’t thinking in a structural inequalities frame. Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility. A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchist at this moment, but if we truly believe that schools should teach children lessons that fall outside the meritocracy, I can’t think of one that matters more than the simple satisfaction of mastering something that you were once bad at. That takes homework and the acknowledgment that sometimes a student can get a question wrong and, with proper instruction, eventually get it right.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Should we get rid of homework? Why, or why not?

Is homework an outdated, ineffective or counterproductive tool for learning? Do you agree with the authors of the paper that homework is harmful and worsens inequalities that exist between students’ home circumstances?

Or do you agree with Mr. Kang that homework still has real educational value?

When you get home after school, how much homework will you do? Do you think the amount is appropriate, too much or too little? Is homework, including the projects and writing assignments you do at home, an important part of your learning experience? Or, in your opinion, is it not a good use of time? Explain.

In these letters to the editor , one reader makes a distinction between elementary school and high school:

Homework’s value is unclear for younger students. But by high school and college, homework is absolutely essential for any student who wishes to excel. There simply isn’t time to digest Dostoyevsky if you only ever read him in class.

What do you think? How much does grade level matter when discussing the value of homework?

Is there a way to make homework more effective?

If you were a teacher, would you assign homework? What kind of assignments would you give and why?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column . Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Jeremy Engle joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2018 after spending more than 20 years as a classroom humanities and documentary-making teacher, professional developer and curriculum designer working with students and teachers across the country. More about Jeremy Engle

New York School District Weighs Banning Homework

After two fifth-graders started a petition to ban homework, the district is considering options to lighten their load.

New York School May Ban Homework

Workbook and folder on desk in classroom.

JGI | Jamie Grill | Getty Images

The school district is considering several different options for homework, including allowing parents to ask for homework for their children.

At the behest of two fifth-grade students, a New York school district is considering doing away with homework assignments.

Christopher DeLeon and Niko Keelie at Farley Elementary School in Stony Point, New York started a petition to end homework at their school. The petition gained traction in their district, but, according to WNBC-TV , their idea is part of a larger trend across the country.

In arguing their case to officials with the school district, DeLeon and Keelie said many of their classmates agreed with the proposed homework ban – and the school district did as well, WNBC reported.

"I got stressed by homework a lot, so I just – it took me a minute of thinking: I want to get rid of homework," Keelie told the news station.

Assistant Superintendent Kris Felicello told WNBC the district had already been "rethinking" homework.

"It's really not about banning homework or no homework – it's about rethinking it, and how can we do it different to better the needs of our students," Felicello told the TV station.

School districts nationwide are examining their homework policies, turning to studies that say homework in elementary school doesn't help learning and that too much homework can actually be detrimental.

Does Your Teen Have Too Much Homework?

Raychelle Cassada Lohmann March 20, 2018

Girl sitting at table and doing her homework

Indeed, students feel the pressure. DeLeon says too much homework stresses him and his fellows classmates and can cause them to do poorly on tests.

However, parents are concerned the lack of homework will leave their kids with nothing to do all afternoon or that they won't learn as much. Felicello says the opposite could actually be true, and they could learn new things in different ways or be physically active.

"I hope that kids would go home and they would read and they would discover things that they're interested in doing, and go on YouTube and figure out how to play the ukulele, or go and research what's going on with Space X, or talk to their friends or get outside and play," Felicello told WNBC.

The district is considering several options for homework, including allowing parents to ask for homework for their children. Officials hope to have the new policy enacted by the next school year.

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Tags: K-12 education , New York , elementary school

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NY School District Mulls Getting Rid of Homework

By ida siegal • published may 30, 2018 • updated on may 31, 2018 at 5:06 am, what to know.

  • A Rockland County school district is considering getting rid of homework for students at an elementary school
  • Two fifth-grade boys had petitioned for a homework ban, citing stress from the work; but it turns out officials were already considering it
  • A district administrator says it's not about banning homework, it's about "rethinking" it to help kids learn better

No homework: it's a mantra all kids want to hear. Now a New York school district is considering getting rid of it altogether. 

The idea started as a petition from fifth-graders Christopher DeLeon and Niko Keelie at Farley Elementary School in Stony Point and grew from there, but it's also part of of a bigger nationwide trend.

"I got stressed by homework a lot, so I just -- it took me a minute of thinking -- I want to get rid of homework," said Keelie.

The two boys decided to write a petition and present it to the school district making their case. They said most of their classmates agreed with their proposal -- and it turned out the school district also agreed.

In fact, the district had already considered reimagining their homework policy. 

"It's really not about banning homework or no homework -- it's about rethinking it, and how can we do it different to better the needs of our students," said assistant superintendent Kris Felicello. 

petition to get rid of homework

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National school districts all over the country are experimenting with either eliminating homework or drastically reducing it, citing studies that have shown homework in elementary school doesn't actually help with learning and sometimes can hurt. 

"If you go home and you do homework, you're just thinking about that, and then you stutter and stuff," said DeLeon. "But if you don't, then you're relaxed and calm, and if you take a test more calmly, you get a better grade 'cause you're not thinking about other stuff." 

But not everyone agrees. Many parents have asked, if their children don't do homework, what will they do in the afternoon -- and how will they learn? 

Felicello's response to that: "I hope that kids would go home and they would read and they would discover things that they're interested in doing, and go on YouTube and figure out how to play the ukulele, or go and research what's going on with Space X, or talk to their friends or get outside and play."

The district is considering different options: one would allow ask for homework for their kids. They hope to have the new homework policy ready to go for the next school year. 

This article tagged under:

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Students Propose Removal Of Homework In Petition To New York District

By Lola Jacobs

If you’ve received your early education in the New York public school system and have a school-aged sibling or child, you may have noticed that they often have little to no homework. It’s not just in your mind; teachers have decided to lighten the workload for students recently, and for more reasons than one. A New York school district is looking to formally graduate to homework obsolescence, so that children may focus on other things, and it all started with a petition initiated by two fifth graders at Farley Elementary School in Stony Point.

As our society approaches larger waves of emphasis on the individual, the institutions within it do, too. Students Christopher DeLeon and Niko Keelie created a petition with the proposal to remove homework entirely, which is on time for the preexisting trend. According to NBC New York , the district had already been considering this decision. According to the boys, it wasn’t difficult to get their classmates on board.

“I got stressed by homework a lot, so I just — it took me a minute of thinking — I want to get rid of homework,” Keelie said. They presented it to their district and hardly encountered any discord.

According to NBC, districts all over the country have considered lessening or eliminating homework to rid students of the stress that Keelie was referring to. In place of homework, students could venture toward their own interests at an early age, whether it’s reading, writing, or playing the piano. Officials have held that homework may do very little, if anything, to facilitate learning. In fact, a 2014 Stanford study discovered that students with more homework experience more stress, reduced health, and less time for extracurricular pursuits and family. They state that students find it difficult to execute the “balancing act,” no matter what their income background or community is like.

Kris Felicello, the district’s assistant superintendent said, “It’s really not about banning homework or no homework–it’s about rethinking it.” In response to parents’ skepticism, Felicello said that he would hope that children may teach themselves to play an instrument or research something in the realm of Space X .

The district is actively working on a policy and plans to have it ready to go for the following school year.

This post Students Propose Removal Of Homework In Petition To New York District first appeared on Vibe .

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School district mulling homework ban proposal from students

  • Copy Link copied

STONY POINT, N.Y. (AP) — A school district just outside of New York City says it is considering a proposal from two fifth graders to get rid of homework.

Fifth-graders Christopher DeLeon and Niko Keelie at Farley Elementary School in Stony Point say they decided to petition for a homework ban due to stress from homework. WNBC-TV reports the district was already considering how to rethink homework for district students, saying they agreed with the students’ points.

Assistant Superintendent Kris Felicello said Wednesday that officials are trying to rethink homework to make it more beneficial for students.

The district is considering several options, one of which would allow parents to ask for homework for their children. School officials hope to have a new homework policy ready to go for the next school year.

Information from: WNBC-TV, http://www.nbcnewyork.com

petition to get rid of homework

  • Improve student perfomance: Eliminate homework
  • Ashlee Schilling

petition to get rid of homework

It leaves no time for after-school activities. For the kids who do get after-school activities they get to bed late which make them not give their full potential in school and don't always have the best of grades.

This petition is to get rid of homework.

Our kids go to school an average of 7 hours a day, by the time they get home and do almost 2 hours of homework they have no time do anything else. When do they have time for themselves, there family? By the time they complete their homework, shower and eat dinner it's about bed time. Not to mention that leaves no time for after-school activities.

Please sign this petition to eliminate homework.

  • Sign the petition

GoPetition respects your privacy .

You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it

The Improve student perfomance: Eliminate homework petition to Polk county board of commissioners was written by Ashlee Schilling and is in the category Education at GoPetition.

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President Michael D Higgins calls for homework to be banned in Ireland

The country’s favourite leader has given hope to a new generation of students that the bane of their afterschool evenings could be scrapped.

  • 13:32, 20 JAN 2023
  • Updated 14:54, 20 JAN 2023

President Michael D Higgins

President Michal D Higgins has called for homework to be banned.

President Higgins argues that this would make time for young people to engage in more creative pursuits outside school hours.

The former Arts Minister believes that school activities should end at the school gate.

He was speaking to RTE’s news2day current affairs and news programme for children on the occasion of the programme’s 20th birthday.

When asked what his opinion of homework President Higgins said: “I think myself, really that the time at home, and the time in the school is an educational experience and it should get finished at the school and people should be able to use their time for other creative things.”

To mark the show’s two decades on air, students from St Kevin’s National School, Littleton, County Tipperary put questions from RTÉ news2day viewers to President Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin.

In a wide-ranging interview, the children asked the President questions like, what was your favourite sport when you were in school?

When you were nine years old what did you want to be?

And when did you decide you wanted to be President?

Irish President Michael D. Higgins speaking at Aras an Uachtarain, Dublin on September 9, 2022.

The students also asked the President about his dogs, his official trips abroad, his favourite subject in school, differences between now and when he was a child and his favourite book. The President also spoke to the children about his love of handball and the importance of friendship in their lives.

RTÉ news2day will broadcast some of the President’s interview as part of Friday afternoon’s birthday celebrations at 4.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ News channel and the full interview will be available later on Friday evening on the RTÉ Player.

In a message to the children of Ireland and the viewers of RTÉ news2day, President Michael D. Higgins gave this advice: “To stay curious about everything and I think it’s important to make sure you don’t miss the joy of sharing information.

“And I think an important thing is friendship and to make sure that there’s no one left without friendship and that people belong. And we will all do individual things... but I think friendships that you make will in fact always be great memories and that is so important.

“And also have the courage to stand your own ground and let other children be allowed the space of standing their ground too because none of us are the same.

“We’re all unique but at the same time we have a lot going for us.”

President Higgins also encouraged the children of Ireland to speak the Irish language.

He encouraged them to speak Irish in a fun way and to feel free to use whatever bits of the language that they have.

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BAN HOMEWORK! (or at least make less of it)

A petition to get rid of homework and give children their lives back., send messages to congress now.

Phone companies want to eliminate traditional landlines. What's at stake and who loses?

petition to get rid of homework

Charlene Hopey has seen firsthand why having a traditional phone landline at her house is beneficial. 

Hopey, who lives in the Santa Monica Mountains region, has lived through California wildfires and earthquakes. She had friends who couldn't make or receive a call during the disasters – both those who had ditched their landlines for cell phones and didn’t have good cell service, and friends who still had landlines but only had cordless phones which were rendered useless when they lost electricity. 

“People could not communicate in an emergency,” said the 72-year-old, who has a cell phone, but doesn’t like to use it. 

Hopey is among a dwindling number of consumers who choose to still have a traditional landline using copper wires. But they may eventually not have that choice.

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The California Public Utilities Commission is considering an application by AT&T to waive its responsibilities to be what’s called “Carrier of Last Resort,” meaning the utility has to offer the copper-wire landline service. 

The utility said in filings with the commission that the technology for the traditional landlines is old and demand is low. The utility and many of its peers have been petitioning state utility commissions and state legislators, asking to be relieved of the task of maintaining and offering the traditional landline service. 

Eliminating landlines negatively affects senior citizens 

Consumer advocates say that’s not only a bad idea, but leaves the country’s most vulnerable without a basic utility. 

There is concern especially for senior citizens who aren’t interested in eliminating their landlines for cell phones, and for consumers in rural areas that may not have good cell service, said Tim Morstad, Government Affairs Director of Livable Communities for AARP.  

“Traditional landlines have provided reliable service for over a century, and while many consumers have adopted new technologies, not all have access to affordable alternatives to landlines,” Morstad said. 

“In some instances, phone companies are seeking to both eliminate the obligation to provide landline service and no longer provide discounts to income-qualified customers on their phone bill. This would be a devastating one-two punch for these customers,” he said. 

Many senior citizens are adept at new technology, including cell phones, but they just prefer the landline – and should have access to one that's also affordable, said Susan Weinstock, CEO of the Consumer Federation of America. 

Weinstock’s 91-year-old mother has a cell phone and uses her computer. 

“She's pretty darn good, but when I call her on the cell phone, she always says to me, 'Call me on the landline,' ” Weinstock said. Her mother, who wears a hearing aid, can hear better via the landline. 

“There’s lots of concerns, particularly for older people, about how they will connect to people without having that landline,” Weinstock said. 

Alternatives to landlines, such as cell phones or Voice Over Internet Protocol (voIP) phones, cost more than the traditional basic phone service, and require good cell or Internet service and electricity, she said. 

On Thursday, the reliability of traditional landlines became clear when tens of thousands of AT&T cellular service users woke up to outages, which remained throughout the day. Some emergency service providers suggested residents find a landline to make emergency calls or someone with a working phone.

Cell service outages: AT&T outage just a preview of what can happen when cell service goes out: How to prepare

Landlines are 'antiquated,' says AT&T

In its March 2023 California filing, AT&T said it was investing in “high-capacity, state-of-the-art broadband technologies – both wired and wireless.” 

But AT&T asked to be relieved of its Carrier of Last Resort obligation, “which effectively mandates AT&T California to maintain a copper-based network through its service territory.”

The company said this obligation requires it, but not major competitors, to “wastefully operate and maintain two duplicative networks; one, an antiquated narrowband network with an ever-dwindling base of subscribers, and the other, a forward-looking, fiber and wireless broadband network.” 

A series of public hearings began this month at the California Public Utilities Commission on the matter. The commission is also taking public comments. Hopey, the landline user, is among 3,500 who have filed public comments – most opposing the waiver – so far. 

“No customer is being left without service,” an AT&T spokesman said in a statement provided to USA TODAY regarding the waiver request in California and “legislative reform” in 20 other states, which eliminated the utility’s requirement for traditional landline service.  

“Millions of people have long ago chosen modern, high-speed internet and wireless phones over outdated telephones,'' AT&T said. "We’re working with consumers who use traditional copper-based phone service to upgrade to newer technologies from us or other providers, so everyone will still be able to make their most important life connections.”

Fewer people have landlines 

The number of households nationwide with landlines is dwindling.  

Since 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey has tracked estimates of how many U.S. households have wireless services only. 

The report , based on data through the second half of 2022, estimates 72.6% of adults and 81.9% of children live in homes with only wireless phone services. 

That data also tracks with estimates from research firm Gartner, which estimates that in 2024, about 80% of all individual voice connections are through mobile phones and 20% are through landlines.  That 20% represents about 88 million lines nationwide, said Lisa Pierce, Gartner research vice president. 

The phone utilities are facing issues of equipment that is no longer being made and a shrinking number of employees who are qualified to service the equipment because they are either retiring or were previously laid off in downsizing efforts, said Pierce. 

The biggest losers, though, will be consumers, who want or need to keep that copper-line landline, she said. Many services, such as home-alarm systems, rely on the copper-line landline, she said. There are also businesses that have equipment, such as elevators and call boxes, that depend on landline service, Pierce said. 

However, even if phone companies get the approval to eliminate landlines, they won’t disappear overnight, said Pierce.  

“The best thing for anyone to do is go look for alternatives,” so they’re not surprised when they don’t have access to the landline, she said.  

Alternatives to landlines are costly 

If California allows the waiver for AT&T, it becomes a slippery slope for other states, said Regina Costa, telecommunications policy director for The Utility Reform Network (TURN) in California and chair of the telecommunications committee for the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates.

“I think the nation is watching California very closely,” said Costa. “Is there a replacement that will guarantee service to all customers and guarantee reliable service?” 

That service needs to be available to all customers at a reasonable cost, said Costa. 

“Customers really get squeezed with service offerings and price increases” for alternatives, she said. 

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Phone access during power outages is important  

Having reliable access to 9-1-1 in an emergency –and especially when there is a power outage – is also imperative, said Brian Fontes, CEO of NENA: The 911 Association (National Emergency Number Association).  

If phone utilities are going to eliminate copper-wire landlines, they need to have reliable power backups for alternative methods so those without cell service can make emergency calls, or provide other phone alternatives, he said. 

“I don’t want the consumer to all of the sudden find themselves stranded or isolated or incapable of communicating,” Fontes said. “Everybody should have access to 911.” 

Hopey, the California landline user, feels her landline is so important that she and her husband pay for both a traditional copper-wire landline and a fiber-optic line for his business through their carrier Fios. She worries that if AT&T is allowed to drop landline service, other carriers will follow. 

If AT&T and other companies that have bought up the former Bell Telephone Companies are allowed to eliminate copper-wire landlines, Tommy Steed, chairman of the Association of BellTel Retirees believes that’s a violation of the decree to break up the utility in 1982. 

There was a promise to provide landline service, Steed said, and taking that away without offering consumers a cost-effective alternative forces consumers to the phone company’s cell services. His nonprofit has 134,000 current employees and retirees of former Bell Telephone companies. 

“Landlines are lifelines,” said Steed. 

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her on X, Facebook or Instagram @blinfisher . Sign up for our free The Daily Money newsletter, which will include consumer news on Fridays, here.

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What is a discharge petition? How House lawmakers could force a vote on the Senate-passed foreign aid bill

By Kaia Hubbard

February 16, 2024 / 6:00 AM EST / CBS News

Washington — The Senate approved a $95 billion foreign aid package this week, with a bipartisan group of senators backing the bill that includes assistance to Ukraine and Israel. But Republican leaders in the House have been reluctant to commit to bringing the measure to the floor, resisting calls from President Biden and Democratic leaders.

Accordingly, House Democrats are considering "every available legislative tool" to move the legislation forward in the chamber, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said after the Senate vote. 

One option to do so involves a rarely successful legislative maneuver that allows a majority of members to bring a bill to the floor, a move known as a discharge petition.

What is a discharge petition, and how does it work?

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries holds a news conference at the Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024.

In the House, the speaker typically works with leaders to set the agenda and decides which bills or resolutions will or won't get a vote. Most legislation originates in committees, which then vote to send bills to the floor for final approval.

But lawmakers can "discharge" legislation that's been sitting in committee if 218 members, a majority of the lower chamber, sign a petition to do so, effectively bypassing the speaker to bring a bill before the full House for a vote.

"Discharge is generally the only procedure by which Members can secure consideration of a measure without cooperation from the committee of referral, or the majority party leadership and the Committee on Rules," a Congressional Research Service report from 2023 said. "For this reason, discharge is designed to be difficult to accomplish and has rarely been used successfully."

A House rule dating back to 1931 outlines the process. Any member can file a discharge petition with the House clerk, who then makes it available in a "convenient place" for members to sign.

A waiting period of seven legislative days kicks off once the petition gains the signatures of a majority of the chamber. After that, a member who has signed the petition can notify leadership that they'll bring the discharge motion on the floor.

The speaker must then designate a time for the motion to be considered within two legislative days. If a majority approves it, the House then moves to consider the underlying measure.

Discharge petitions are rarely successful, since a petition brought by the minority party requires members of the majority to buck their party leaders. In recent years, members have tried to use discharge petitions to raise the debt ceiling, increase the federal minimum wage and address other issues. In 2015, several dozen House Republicans bucked party leaders to join with Democrats, who were in the minority, to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. Before that, a discharge petition hadn't succeeded since 2002.

The waiting periods, and the fact that garnering enough signatures can take weeks, often renders the maneuver futile for time-sensitive legislation. And a discharge petition can only be brought to the floor on specific days, further complicating its use.

House Democrats already have one broadly worded discharge petition that has the support of 212 active members, and party leaders believe they can use that as a shell or vehicle for bringing the foreign aid bill to the floor. But it would still need sign-on from a handful of House Republicans to reach the 218-member threshold.

Getting members of the majority party to sign on remains the biggest hurdle for a discharge petition, according to Matt Glassman, a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. While there may be a sizable group of Republicans willing to vote for the bill should it come to the floor, they may not be willing to "make themselves targets" by signing onto a discharge petition. 

"If 218 people are hell-bent on doing something in the House, they're going to get it done," Glassman says. "You can block them, you can slow them down, but they're going to win. But nobody's hell-bent on doing this in the Republican Party."

Adding to the difficulty is the possibility that some progressives who oppose sending more assistance to Israel could remove their names from the petition.

Jeffries said he was not concerned about losing Democratic support. The minority leader explained that his caucus has been meeting to discuss the "precise steps" that members will take, saying that "all options are on the table." He added that "it's clear to me that the overwhelming majority of House Democrats are ready, willing and able to support the national security bill right now."

"We have a national security bill in front of us that passed the Senate in decisive and bipartisan fashion, and all we need is an up or down vote so we can lift up America's national security priorities," Jeffries said.

What's in the foreign aid package? 

The legislation would provide tens of billions of dollars in aid to U.S. allies, including about $60 billion for Ukraine and $14.1 billion for Israel, along with around $9.2 billion for humanitarian assistance in Gaza. On Tuesday morning, after an overnight session, a bipartisan group of senators coalesced around the package, propelling it to passage after months of disagreement about how to move forward.

The legislation notably leaves out enhanced border security measures, after congressional Republicans last week rejected a bipartisan border agreement negotiated in the Senate that former President Donald Trump opposed. But House Republican leaders have nonetheless fiercely criticized the foreign aid bill for failing to address the U.S.-Mexico border. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson released a statement hours before the Senate approved the foreign aid bill casting doubt on whether the bill would get a vote in the lower chamber, saying that "in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters." 

The Louisiana Republican added during a news conference on Wednesday that "the Republican-led House will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill that was opposed by most Republican senators, and does nothing to secure our own border."

Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, D.C.

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UK Government and Parliament

Rejected petition PETITION TO BAN ALL HOMEWORK.

I want to ban all homework. We already have to do 6-7 hours of work at school and we are supposed to relax when we get home, but no the schools just want to make our lives miserable. And all the schools are on about mental health when doing homework actually just destroys our mental health.

The reason I want the government to ban all homework is because the schools are always on about mental health and talk about this talk about that when homework completely destroys our mental health makes us tired six to seven hours after school work when we are supposed to be relaxing and it just stress as out to the point where a lot of people shut down and then as a result get a detention for not actually being able to do it.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for the same action:

Ban homework except for GCSE coursework: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/637387

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards .

  • Date submitted 29 September 2023

The data shows the number of people who have signed the petition by country as well as in the constituency of each Member of Parliament. This data is available for all petitions on the site. It is not a list of people who have signed the petition. The only name that is shared on the site is that of the petition creator.

Westlock, Alta., to get rid of rainbow crosswalk after town votes on neutrality bylaw

Only government flags can fly on public property, crosswalks must be white-striped.

petition to get rid of homework

Social Sharing

Shaylin Lussier remembers going numb and starting to cry after learning the results of a vote that will force a rainbow crosswalk brought forward by R.F. Staples Secondary School's gay-straight alliance to be removed from town property.

"It was really devastating," Lussier told CBC News on Friday. "We worked very hard to have this."

Residents of Westlock, Alta., voted in favour of a bylaw Thursday that bans crosswalks and flags supporting "political, social, or religious movements or commercial entities."

Just over 1,300 people voted, with 663 — or 50.9 per cent — voting in favour and 639 voting against.

  • Residents to vote on bylaw that would force Alberta town to remove its Pride crosswalk
  • Pride Month a success for Alberta towns this year, despite an increase in backlash

A person with mid-length hair wear a black t-shirt and a red hoodie, with pins attached to it. They stand on a faded rainbow crosswalk.

The vote means the town can only raise federal, provincial and municipal government flags on public property. Crosswalks in the town — located about 90 kilometres northwest of Edmonton — can also only be painted a standard white-striped pattern.

The bylaw, which goes into effect within 30 days, forces the removal of Westlock's only rainbow crosswalk, painted last summer between town hall and the Royal Canadian Legion in support of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

"The day we painted it … people were smiling and laughing and just having a really good time," Lussier said.

"As the plebiscite results came out, I just cried thinking about how happy people had been on that day."

Town staff received a petition on Sept. 15 from the Westlock Neutrality Team, led by Westlock resident Stephanie Bakker, asking council to make a bylaw "ensuring that crosswalks and flags on public property remain neutral."

petition to get rid of homework

Westlock town staff had 45 days to verify the petition's signatures and draft a bylaw. Under the act, council is required to pass first reading within 30 days. Councillors could then choose to pass second and third readings, or call a plebiscite.

Bakker told CBC News on Friday her group wasn't certain how Thursday's vote would pan out.

"The words 'government neutrality' aren't very exciting to people, but it genuinely is about that for us," she said.

"Council has tried very hard to say that we were against the Pride community, but for us, it is not the group they chose to promote; it's the fact that they're promoting any group whatsoever."

Bakker said her group doesn't take issue with residents promoting minority communities, but believes governments should remain neutral.

One of the residents who supported Bakker was Benita Pedersen, a former organizer with grassroots organization Take Back Alberta. She said elected representatives should serve people in a fair and impartial manner.

Pedersen said groups or communities shouldn't be elevated above others.

  • Norwich, Ont., votes to exclude Pride and other flags on township property
  • Norwich, Ont., changes its stand on ban of Pride and other flags on township property

"We're having a vote on neutrality and the irony is this council can't even be neutral," Pedersen told CBC News last week.

"Council should be listening to and respecting and — to an extent — validating the voice of the people," she said.

A man looks off to the right. He wears a grey suit and speaks to a reporter during an interview inside council chambers.

Westlock councillors voted unanimously last May to paint the town's first rainbow crosswalk between town hall and the local legion to promote inclusion. The crosswalk was painted June 27.

Kramer, the current mayor and a former councillor, said council has been in full support of the crosswalk, taking part in a privately-funded campaign that called on residents to vote no and "stand for inclusion." 

He told CBC News on Friday councillors are disappointed by the results of Thursday night's vote, but aren't discouraged.

"We know that the work of inclusion is not a straight line," he said.

"But … our commitment to inclusion is non negotiable. The future is inclusive and we know the path forward as a council."

Kramer said the town has 30 days to implement the bylaw. He said councillors are already looking at other ways to show their support for marginalized groups.

petition to get rid of homework

Alberta towns face anti-LGBTQ backlash during Pride Month

About the author.

petition to get rid of homework

Aaron is a reporter with CBC Edmonton. Originally from Fredericton, N.B., he was editor-in-chief of his campus newspaper, The Aquinian. He enjoys creative writing, poetry, photography and music. He can be reached at [email protected].

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IMAGES

  1. Students Sign Petition To Reduce Homework

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  2. Petition · Get rid of homework that’s unfair or all homework · Change.org

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  23. What is a discharge petition? How House lawmakers could force a vote on

    What is a discharge petition, and how does it work? House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries holds a news conference at the Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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  26. Westlock, Alta., residents vote to get rid of town's rainbow crosswalk

    After collecting the required number of signatures, Westlock town staff had 45 days to verify the petition and draft a bylaw. Under the act, council is required to pass first reading within 30 days.