Educational Rant: Busy Work

The Wind, the Notes, and My Rising Blood Pressure

I’m sitting here getting mad.

My daughter is outside, trying to take pictures of her math notes with her school laptop. The wind keeps blowing the pages around, and she’s getting frustrated. I finally ask what she’s doing, and she says she has to take a picture of her notes and send them to her teacher — for a grade.

For. A. Grade.

Copy the teacher’s notes. Take pictures. Email them. Done.

And I’m sitting here thinking — wow, the State Standards must have really changed since I last looked. I can’t seem to find the one that says, “Students can take photos of copied math notes and submit them for points.”

Wait—Since When Is Copying a Skill?

So I looked it up. The actual standard says something like: “Use parentheses, brackets, or braces in numerical expressions, and evaluate expressions with these symbols.”

That’s clear. That’s measurable. That’s an actual goal. Copying notes? Not so much.

Now listen, I get the point of taking notes. I do. It’s part of the process — a way to help students understand and organize their thinking. But when the notes become the assignment? When we grade the copying instead of the learning? That’s not education. That’s compliance.

Getting It Done or Giving a Shit?

Watching my daughter fight the wind and her own irritation over something that has no value… it just made me stop and think.

It’s Sunday. Sure, she could have done it Saturday, but she didn’t. And honestly — who cares? She’s spending her weekend doing something that doesn’t teach her a thing. She’s not applying knowledge, she’s not thinking critically, she’s just trying to get it done so she can finally relax.

Those notes aren’t a learning tool. They’re a compliance tool. And that’s what I keep seeing: kids being taught how to comply instead of how to think.

The BS of “It Teaches Responsibility”

Now, I know what some people will say — I’ve heard it a thousand times: “It builds discipline.” “It teaches responsibility.” “They need to learn to do things they don’t like.”

Okay, fine. But here’s the thing — kids already learn responsibility and resilience through life. Through people. Through experiences. Through figuring stuff out, messing up, fixing it, and trying again. Not through copying notes on a windy patio.

Busywork doesn’t teach responsibility. It teaches tolerance. Tolerance for meaningless tasks. Tolerance for being bored. And that’s what worries me.

Jumping Out of the Hoop of Compliance

Because when kids start believing that school is about jumping through hoops instead of learning, we lose them.

If the goal is to help them understand math — to be able to use it, explain it, and think with it — then why are we grading the tools instead of the thinking?

Years ago, I let that go. I stopped grading the busy work. I started focusing on what really mattered — could they show me they understood? Could they apply it? Could they use it? The shift changed everything. The kids relaxed. I relaxed. Learning actually started happening again.

Data vs. Knowledge — Which Is Better?

The hardest part wasn’t the kids — it was the system. The system that demands grades on a schedule. The one that equates progress with data entries. The one that says, “If it’s not graded, it doesn’t count.”

Learning doesn’t follow a calendar. It doesn’t happen in perfect, equal increments. And it definitely doesn’t happen just because something was due Friday at 11:59 p.m.

Kids are smart. They’ll comply, they’ll check the boxes, they’ll find the shortcuts. They always do. But if they don’t understand, what have we really taught them — besides how to look like they’re learning?

And teachers — honestly — do you really want to grade all that busywork anyway? Didn’t think so.

From Busywork to Actual Work That Matters

Here’s the thing. The problem isn’t notes. It isn’t even homework. The problem is intent. Somewhere between the standards, the grading software, and the endless list of “required tasks,” we forgot to ask the most important question: Why are we doing this?

If school is supposed to prepare kids for life, then everything we give them should connect to thinking, to solving problems, to curiosity. Instead, we’ve taught them to hurry, to finish, to check the box.

I don’t want compliant kids. I want capable ones. And I don’t want exhausted teachers stuck in grading purgatory. I want inspired ones — building learning that matters.

When we start designing lessons that value understanding over appearance, process over product, curiosity over compliance — school starts to feel different. It stops being busywork. It starts with a purpose.

Educational Rant: Busy Work