Homework has been part of us for many centuries. Many articles in the internet allege that Roberto Nevilis, an Italian teacher invented homework as a punishment for students who are weak or misbehaved in the year 1905. So the million dollar question is “Who invented homework?” “Was it invented as a punishment for students?” In this post, I will explain the origin of homework and whether it was invented as a punishment for students or not.
No one knows who exactly invented homework. Many nations did not have what we know as a school today and many people learned through informal education. People learned along at home by helping specialists. For instance, a person will learn medicine by spending time with an herbalist and cooking was taught at home. This implies that lessons were taught at home! Meaning it was Homework!
The Greeks taught outdoors and there was no homework unless scheduling time to speak with a tutor at specific hours.
All this indicate that homework has been with us for a very long time and it is hard to date when homework was invented. The first evidence where a teacher gave homework to students is in 1905. Robert Nevellis, a teacher in Venice is believed to have introduced the concept of homework in the year 1905. There is no evidence of any other teacher assigning homework to students before Roberto Nevellis
Many researchers point out that Robert Nevellis gave homework as a punishment to students who were lazy or misbehaved. I believe that homework was not invented as a punishment for students but as a tool to help students explore what they learn more and understand the different concepts related to the subject. Homework is important as it can help students to develop study skills that are very important for students long after the completion of their studies. Homework is not a punishment as students are allowed to seek homework help from friends, parents, tutors or even online homework help for college students companies such as Fast Homework Help.