Who Created Homework And When Did It Happen?

For many years now, homework has a remained an integral part of academic. Today, teachers, parents and students have realized that assignments play a crucial role in academic development of learners. With homework help in different subjects online children expand their knowledge and learn new things. However, something that is vital but is often overlooked is who created homework. Also, why was homework created? Have schools deviated from the purpose for which assignments were originally intended?

Well, the magic that homework has achieved over the years paints a picture of an invention that has surpassed expectations. Despite quests by a cross-section of teachers, students, policymakers and parents to have assignments scrapped from the curriculum, a little walk down the memory should help shed light on inventions. A question of who created homework, therefore, comes to mind. Read on to learn more.

The Invention Of Homework

Invention of homework may not be as pronounced as who invented school but its place in academic remains undisputed. But regardless of how you view it, the place of assignments is deeply entrenched in the history of academia. Homework traces its origin to Roman history where several names have been brought forward as inventors of assignments.

Pliny the Younger, a Roman is especially mentioned in history books as the person who created homework. However, most publications dispute this assertion, save for admissions that he may have participated in the early stages of skill development among students.

The person credited with invention of homework is Roberto Nevilis. Most scholars who have sought to unearth the history behind who created school refer to him as the ‘real inventor’ of assignments. They argue that in 1905, he created assignments as a form of punishment to students who did not take their academic work seriously. Over the years, homework has evolved to become a popular academic task in virtually all levels of academic.

19th Century: Significant Changes in Academic Systems

With the creation of homework, many things began taking shape, especially in the 19th century. During this period, radical changes took centrestage in academia, bringing about a realization that tutors should administer more assignments to students. If you are a good student of history, you should recall that in the 19th century, things that should be invented in the education sector triggered debates among policy makers. A paradigm shift in academia, therefore, became necessary-with homework giving students an opportunity to do things independently.

Basing their policies on Roberto’s ideologies, we now have facts about homework that are hard to dispute. They include:

  1. Teachers assign homework at the end of lessons. They do it to give learners an opportunity to work and learn independently, especially in areas in which they have little understanding.
  2. Homework assignments are not complex and large. They are reasonable assignments given to students to help jog their minds about things they have studied in school.
  3. It is for feasibility study, especially to gauge a student’s performance level on topics covered in classroom.

A lot of things can be said about homework. However, the above facts remain undisputed. Moreover, with books on the history of school giving credit to Roberto Nevilis, he remains the undisputed founder of homework.