Hey, friends. I know you all want to know about the history of homework. So in today's episode, 

let us study its past and find an answer to a highly sought-after question who invented homework? 


Nobody exactly knows when, where and who invented homework. All we know is that it has been there since the dawn of the traditional education system, as the teachers from ancient India, China, Greece, and Rome always asked their students to train beyond schooling hours to hone their combat and artistic skills. But as time passed by, with the rise of the compulsory education system, other complex academic subjects became part of the modern school curriculum. That's when a German philosopher called Johann Gottlert Fichte felt the need for a home assignment more than ever before and is blamed, I mean, credited, for conceiving the modern concept of homework. But he intended to use homework as a way to increase nationalism and urge citizens to dedicate time to their country. So to demonstrate the power of the nation-state of Germany, students were given mandatory assignments to be completed at home in their personal time. And when Horace Mann, a 19th-century American politician and educational reformer is blamed, sorry again, who is credited for the invention of the modern schooling system, visited Prussia in 1843, he was very impressed and inspired by their teaching method and decided to bring homework into the American education system. Despite the compulsory education, things were going smoothly for kids. But in the 1950s, when things started to heat up between the US And Russia during the Cold War, homework took a drastic turn. Yes, at that time, the Americans and Russians were aggressively pursuing to prove themselves better than each other. So the US education authorities thought that more homework was the best way to ensure that American students didn't fall behind their Soviet counterparts. But soon people realized that putting political agendas on students' shoulders is causing more harm than benefit, and many education experts started to raise their voices against it. And as a result, today's homework is assigned to make learning easier and more effective and is limited to students' personal academic goals. So now you know the little history of homework and know whom to blame and give credit for it. But remember, my friends, although homework can be helpful sometimes, make sure not to get stressed by it. And talk to your parents and teachers if you have difficulty understanding any subject. And to my dear parents and teachers out there, we need to realize every student is different. Some may be good at academics, while others may be good at sports or arts. So we need to figure out their strong points and assign tasks accordingly. As Albert Einstein said, everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. Think about it.  

Fun Fact

Did you know? An Italian teacher, Roberto Navels, is often credited with having invented homework. However, due to the lack of historical evidence, this claim appears to be an Internet myth. Hope you learned something new today. Until next time, it's me signing off!