This is really an interesting article and it considers not only the load of homework, but also the kind of things children and teens are taught today and how. I have always had this kind of concern. Instead of teaching how to write well, or to think critically about a text, students are asked to classify the sentences in adjectival or adverbial subordinate phrases, define parts of the speech and so on. Nothing against studying grammar, of course, but some subjects are for further studies in university and totally useless for children. This applies for other school subjects too. Why do students have to memorize all the affluent of rivers if you can get this kind of information in a second online? Why do they have to know all the botanical name of species and so on? Wouldn�t it be more interesting to teach them about how important those species are for our lives and how problematic the water issue is today? Instead of ranking the achievement in math between East and West, wouldn�t it be more interesting in teaching them something about the differences and think about how we could be more tolerant? Being good in math and science doesn�t mean being a better citizen or human being.
Assigning a lot of homework or letting the children memorize gives the impression that the work has been done. It is much easier than teaching them values that would avoid a lot of tragedy around the world.