Cardinal sin of answering own question.

In industry I have seen bosses with spare ppl. They give them stupid jobs to do because they dont know what to do with them.

Tonight my daughter is still doing homework at 11pm.

Can someone explain to me why she is doing homework at 11pm?

it's very important. though they give too much in china. it's the reason they are terrible at p.e. i never ask anymore what they did at the weekend. the answer never varies. the chinese gov did try to change it but the parents resisted. they justifiably remember the biterness of poverty. but it clouds their judgement from a sensible approach

in the u.k they give too little. our students are well behind the tiger economies now. the gap will only get wider. we reward mediocrity, and are too p.c to say these kids are more able, these kids are less able. though the chinese system is brutal, darwinian systems always pay dividends in the end

The brain is sleepy when the body is tired. it concentrates on keeping the kid's motor skills fuctioning rather than the intellect skills by 11 at night. That means whatever homework the kid is doing after 10  is a waste of time for everybody. And why are the parents expected to correct the homework? Most of the kids in school now are smarter than their parents. (so much for intellegence). The teachers are just as sleepy as the kids. I have seen homework that was marked correct when the answer was wrong. I don't see any organized sports in high schools like they have in the west. Everything is about obedience. no time to think. keep them doing homework so they can be good subjects. NO initiative, no imagination for the vast majority of high school kids. No, all this homework isn't neccessary. Most parents like this bcause it keeps the kids in school so the parents don't have to raise their own kids. Unlike the west.; the teachers in China are left babysitting the kids.

Homework, if assigned with some thought and directly linked to the class work can be extremely useful. I teach in an international school, using the British system (Cambridge, IGCSE) so we have our textbooks and workbooks provided.The workbook builds on the class textbook and correlates nicely, so today we did the present simple vs the present continuous, loads of dicussion in class, varied activities with speaking and listening and the homework relies on reading and writing skill. We also pre-teach, so I know in a few lessons time we will have a new vocab list, I use wordle or word art to create a themed word cloud, they take it home, translate and when we do the class, boom! Its easy for all the kids, even low ability. So, as long as there is thought put in, it is very beneficial. Some days we have none. As for checking, peer checking or self correction with the answers on a PPT allows them to read, correct mistakes themselves and respond to those errors. It boils down to whether the teacher knows how to make use of students time efficiently, in short bursts. I have seen assignments critiscized where a teacher has asked kids to count a million grains of rice! Insane. And a waste of time. Then on the otherhand, Finland has hands down the best education system in the world and they dont do homework...

Homework is no longer used back home, at least not until high school. No grades, no pressure. 

Ha ha ha. The wife has paid for a phone app to do English lessons. It is American English, and for some reason the teacher has an anoying squeeky voice. Its pretty clever tho. Teacher speaks, student speaks then voice recognition picks up the students voice and gives a good or again grade.

Being a native English speaker, I tried to help. Nope. They have yet to invent AI that understands the Scottish accent

Chinese kids are made to work hard, but they're not necessarily working smart.

From what I understand a lot of the homework these kids are doing is pointless rote memorisation of chapters from the textbook. There's probably little understanding of the actual content or ability to apply it but they can parrot the text back at the teacher when required.

Ex STEM teacher here: The Boffin academics say that subjects like Maths, physical sciences etc need repetition to learn it and one of the best way to retain this is to learn something, relearn it a minute later, then an hour later then 1 day (or approx).  So homework that is relevant to work completed that day, is beneficial if done relatively soon afterward.  But definitely not at 11pm.  I think Donnies statement on the brain shutting down, except for motor skills is spot on.

I've been a native english speaker for over 40 years, and I try to help with english too, but my girl often tells me that my english is wrong, because her teacher says it differently or google translate isnt the same!  I'm not going to argue with that!

I tell my students that there is a secret that teachers keep. We can not teach them anything. In fact, all we can really do is give them information and introduce new skills. Therefore, I impress upon my students that they must become their own teachers, if they want to learn the information and skills. With that said, one of the best ways of learning the information and skills from the teacher is practice, practice, practice. Part of that practice is homework. But, the homework need to be beneficial to the students learning the material. It needs to thoughtfully designed, and follow-up is a must.

Of course there are other ways for students to learn the material being introduced. Each student learns a different way. While some students can learn from just sitting and listening to a teacher, others are more saavy through book learning. Others are visual learners, with videos and classroom demonstrations working best. Others are tactical learners, needing a hands-on experience. For young learners, games and repetition is important.

The fact is, as teachers, we need to address as many of these methods of learning as possible. Regardless, practice, practice, practice is required in ensuring that the students understand and have mastered the skills and information you are presenting.

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As an ESL teacher for 8 years, I have found that homework should only be assigned to evaluate the student's skill level of the information that was being taught. I teach reading and writing. As such, I will assign a writing assignment to verify that the students understand the skills I had taught them. For example, when I finish teaching how to write an introduction paragraph, they will write one for me. If 70% of them do well on the assignment, I know I can move on, while helping those students who still need help. If not, I know I need to reinforce my previous lessons with a review class or two. The exams we give our students monthly allow me get an overview of how well the students are doing in my class as well.

One Key to learning is repetition. Homework as long as it is not done by the student and not by parent, serves this purpose. The ability to recall information on what was learned in the classroom and how to to apply it without supervision. 

This is one of the steps to learning.

I have taught for over 30 years and I have seen quite a difference in what schools will allow in the area of homework. The better schools allow homework, yes you read that correctly.

The better schools did not have stipulations in place where homework was concerned. The not so great schools assign certain days that each subject can assign homework. This was to prevent all nigth homework sessions. My child did stay up late when she did homework when she went to a private school. As soon as she went to a public school that time dropped to zero. Had the private school included high school grades she would have stayed.

The school that I retired from did not have textbooks for academic subjects and those subjects never seemed to have homework. I taught beginning band and yes, I had homework. My students were practicing finger movements. If they did not practice we would not be able to move forward. 

I do see homework as an opportunity for students to practice what they learned in class.  

Overall the schools where I am are terrible. The educational system does not appear to promote excellence because they are too busy testing. The schools teach to the test and the students do know anything except what they did on the test.

Common core seems to be the wave in my country. I think the reasoning for this that students would not learn all the multiplication tables. Since they do know the tens we  will base everything on the tens. Common core adds steps onto what is already being done. I think it is a horrible cop out. 

  I do not understand why most schools no longer use textbooks.