About School Homework

Yesterday, I had an online English lesson with my teacher.
The topic was whether homework in school should be mandatory or not. My opinion was that we should not assign homework to children as mandatory because homework just prevents learning deterioration. It cannot cause/inspire/foster improvement.
I think it is most important to lead children to study independently without telling them to do so. If we want them to study by themselves, we should motivate them by doing things like giving incentives, recognition, etc.
In my opinion, the most effective ways to motivate younger children who are in elementary school is to give them questions and make them find answers.
And for children in junior high school and high school, the most effective way to motivate motivation is giving some incentives like money, presents, etc.

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There is a lot to work out here with this conversation.

I think there are two subjects you are really debating here. One is whether disincentives should be used to motivate children to do homework. The second is how we should structure what we assign for homework.

At its best, mandatory homework does exactly what you say is the best way to teach students - it prompts them to answer questions on their own. However, at its worst, mandatory homework forces children to be machines through repetitive unimaginative exercises that are not personally interesting or inspiring, and then it publicly and privately shames and disadvantages them if they do not complete it correctly.

If you are interested in learning more about different teaching styles, I would recommend researching Montessori education as well as KIPP schools (knowledge is power program). The second may be especially interesting because it assigns so much homework. 

Best of luck!
Phelan
Native English Speaker & Tutor

Well done, I hope you find those few notes below useful.

About school homework

The most common expression i have heard in this context when listening to teachers discuss their classes or students is simply "level". One way you could say the above is: "My opinion was that we should not assign mandatory homework to students as it can at best only maintain their level, but cannot improve it."

I think it is the most important to lead children to study independently without telling them to do that so. If we want them to study by themselves, we should motivate them to study by doing something like giving some incentives or recognition etc..
In my opinion, the most effective ways to motivate younger children who are in elementary school is to give pose questions and to make them find answers.
And For children in junior high school and high school, the most effective way to motivate is giving some incentives like money or presents.  and so on.