Guest Deadbolt Report post Posted January 25, 2005 MILWAUKEE (AP) - A student whose vacation plans were spoiled has sued to end summer homework in Wisconsin, claiming it creates an unfair workload and unnecessary stress. Peer Larson, 17, had lined up a dream camp counsellor job last June, but honours pre-calculus homework turned his summer into a headache. "It didn't completely ruin my summer, but it did give me a lot of undue stress both at home and at work," the high school junior said Thursday. "I just didn't have the energy or the time for it." Larson and his father sued in Milwaukee County Circuit Court seeking the end of summer homework across the state. They argue that homework shouldn't be required after the 180-day school year is over. "These students are still children, yet they are subjected to increasing pressure to perform to ever-higher standards in numerous theatres," the suit said. School administrators have told the family that honours courses require some summer work. Whitnall School Supt. Karen Petric told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the district did its best to address the Larsons' concerns. "I strongly believe the district acted appropriately and didn't do anything wrong," she said. "Court is not the place to solve it." While students will probably root for the Larsons, lawyers contacted Thursday questioned the suit's legal grounds. Larson and his son had acted as their own legal counsel. "This is the sort of thing that has been traditionally handled by school boards," said attorney Thomas Schrimpf. Another attorney, Timothy Baldwin, predicted the case would be dismissed. The Jan. 10 lawsuit names a math teacher, three school administrators and the state's superintendent of public instruction. Wisconsin's attorney general's office will assign a lawyer to respond to the suit, said spokesman Brian Rieselman. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2005.../906067-ap.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Never understood summer homework -- you kids today and your wacky schooling. My only summer homework was when I went to summer school in 7th and 8th grade because I was a slacker... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbondrage99 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Well apperently you CAN sue anyone for anything these days. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cosbywasmurdered Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Summer School. ah...the memories. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jingus 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 This is yet another lose/lose situation. On one hand, I think everyone would agree that summer break is not the time to be doing math homework. On the other, they really shouldn't have sued because of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Czech Republic 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 I had reading assignments over the summer, The Great Gatsby in 2002 and Brave New World in 2003. Neither of which I really object to since I would've just read the books eventually anyway, for the heck of it. But I don't think anyone should be saddled with pre-calc over break. At any rate, having gone through Wisconsin schools from 6th grade to high school, I can tell you if the plaintiffs win, they'll just find a way to skirt the state laws and do it anyway. We had twenty minutes for lunch but we were supposed to be allowed at least thirty, so they counted the passing times bookending the 20 minutes as the "lunch period" though there's no way one could conceivably get from the west end of the building to the east, go through the line, and finish their food in the allotted time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Highland 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 How are you supposed to get a summer job or just enjoy the summer at all if you're saddled with homework? Heh, I bet school will really screw him over now. He'll be lucky to get into even a decent college. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 My dad got his MBA while working his full time job. A little math homework won't kill the kid. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingPK 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Peer Larson, 17, had lined up a dream camp counsellor job last June, but honours pre-calculus homework turned his summer into a headache. "It didn't completely ruin my summer, but it did give me a lot of undue stress both at home and at work," the high school junior said Thursday. "I just didn't have the energy or the time for it." My advice: Don't take honors pre-calculus if you can't handle it. Believe me...I know. I think I got a D out of pure sympathy. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Smues Report post Posted January 25, 2005 This lawsuit is total crap and if he wins it'll be a sad sad day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Masked Man of Mystery 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 I agree it is silly to sue over summer homework, but at the same time pre calc homework over the summer should be against the Geneva Conventions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DerangedHermit 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 I agree it is silly to sue over summer homework, but at the same time pre calc homework over the summer should be against the Geneva Conventions. Then Alberto Gonzales would be an honors pre-calc teacher? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarvinisaLunatic 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 The obvious thing would have been to put it off, try to cram all of it into the last week before school, then go to school the first day and ask for an extension due to the stress and stuff of wasting your whole summer not being able to figure out how to do it with no one to ask for help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
the max 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Or just do what I did. Don't do the homework and claim that you left it at the beachhouse that you were staying at. Then, before every weekend, tell the professor that you're driving out to the beachhouse to get it. Repeat this until the end of the semester, where you just admit that you didn't do it. He'll give you a D if you do one worksheet. Done. Easy D. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lil' Bitch 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Peer Larson, 17, had lined up a dream camp counsellor job last June, but honours pre-calculus homework turned his summer into a headache He's completely and utterly justified. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dr. Tom 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 I only had summer reading, which was usually 2-4 books over the course of the summer. Of course, one of them was The Origins of Totalitarianism for AP European History. The other one for that class was pretty light: Yertle the Turtle, by Dr. Seuss. We even got to pick which one to write the book report on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ripper 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 I don't know. if I was going on vacation from my job and they were all, "Oh yeah, while you are at it, take these files with you while you are on vaction and finish those up." Its a fucking BREAK. You don't do work over a fucking BREAK. Man...that got me riled up. I think I will sue for the stress this thread caused. *sues* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 I don't know. if I was going on vacation from my job and they were all, "Oh yeah, while you are at it, take these files with you while you are on vaction and finish those up." You're saying this sort of thing doesn't happen in the workplace?... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Loss Report post Posted January 25, 2005 This is the most lazy, ridiculous thing I've read in ages and I agree that it would be a sad day for America if he won the case. Academic standards should be increasing with every passing year because that symbolizes *progress*. Ah well. Survival of the fittest and all. There are millions of college students who manage to work and get an education simultaneously, and if he doesn't think he can handle the workload, he simply shouldn't take the class. Rational people don't have issues with this sort of thing. I worked a full-time job in high school and still managed to become an honor graduate with a 3.9 GPA. My first (and only) year of college, I worked a full-time job and carried 15 hours each semester. Welcome to life, kid, where the world doesn't stop spinning for three months out of the year so you can take a breather. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eclipse 0 Report post Posted January 25, 2005 Summer homework is useless. If I had, I probably wouldn't end up doing it. NEVER. Though when I was in grammar school and high school, I NEVER got summer homework. My sister ended up getting it, since some of the older teachers left, and new ones replaced them, who LOVED summer homework. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SamoaRowe 0 Report post Posted January 26, 2005 The only summer homework I ever had was the summer reading list (which I typically did the very last week of summer and breezed through two essays to earn an easy A). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest LooneyTune Report post Posted January 26, 2005 Pfft... any REAL student would've said "fuck this" and gone on Vacation instead of being a whining bitch about the thing. I think I'll sue my local super market because they refuse to stock my favorite items on a regular basis. If this fucking kid can win a lawsuit over THIS, I think mine can hold water. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Vitamin X Report post Posted January 26, 2005 You know, with at summer homework, and especially being at an age where it's not necessary to have a job to maintain things (like a car or house), he could get the summer homework done right away and still have most of the summer vacation to himself. Don't know how it works in the context of a lawsuit, though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Loss Report post Posted January 26, 2005 And I guarantee you that there isn't a summer job out there where he'll be working 24 hours a day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted January 26, 2005 Here's a question from an old-timer. What grade does this summer homework affect -- the grade a student is graduating from or enrolling into?... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Vitamin X Report post Posted January 26, 2005 Summer homework from my experience is assigned only in honors classes that you're about to start taking for the upcoming semester, so it would the grade of the class you're enrolling into. It's usually because there's so much subject material to cover for the limited amount of time you're given in high school for classes as compared to the college level courses that these happen to be, that they do this to spread the work out a little more and show up on the first day having already done much of the work necessary. At least this happened to be the case with AP English (I was in AP everything except for math, because I have a severe mental deficiency with numbers apparently), but I'd assume honors calc would be to keep the brain fresh instead of forgetting everything you had worked on the previous semester. Oh, and The Great Gatsby sucked. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted January 26, 2005 That makes sense. Problem is schmoes like me who were nowhere near AP classes don't know nothin' about no summer homework unless it's to justify me advancing to the next grade... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
