Outlining and editing are both essential skills, and it's very excellent that you got the opportunity to teach them to her in the context of this assignment. That's pretty-much what I did with my daughter - whatever she learned in school or from her school assignments, or whatever use could be gotten from them, was great, but school was never her primary source of education. A good thing, too, judging by what was being passed off as 'education'.
I think it's a lot better for kids to hear "Yes, this is stupid, and if it was up to me, you wouldn't have to do it, but unfortunately it's not, so just bite the bullet and get the thing done" than the sort of mealy-mouthed for-your-own-good cant they often get from grown-ups. True that children aren't always the best judges of what's in their best interests, and will invariably choose short-term pleasure over long-term advantage. Still, I think it's fair to say that anything that causes them notable distress or resentment without serious cause is not "for their good". I would define serious cause as something affecting their well-being in a major or permanent way: going to the dentist is essential no matter how much they hate it. Most things they hate are not essential, and they're subjected to them for someone else's convenience, not their own good.
If I were Supersecretary of Education, there would be no homework at all in the lower grades, and a maximum of two hours' total in High School. The little girls I look after were delighted to hear this, until they heard that I would also eliminate all these half-days, conference-days, early dismissals and Hallmark holidays, so that they would be in school from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM every Monday through Friday from Labor Day to Memorial Day except for national holidays and their two-week Winter and Spring Breaks.
no subject
I think it's a lot better for kids to hear "Yes, this is stupid, and if it was up to me, you wouldn't have to do it, but unfortunately it's not, so just bite the bullet and get the thing done" than the sort of mealy-mouthed for-your-own-good cant they often get from grown-ups. True that children aren't always the best judges of what's in their best interests, and will invariably choose short-term pleasure over long-term advantage. Still, I think it's fair to say that anything that causes them notable distress or resentment without serious cause is not "for their good". I would define serious cause as something affecting their well-being in a major or permanent way: going to the dentist is essential no matter how much they hate it. Most things they hate are not essential, and they're subjected to them for someone else's convenience, not their own good.
If I were Supersecretary of Education, there would be no homework at all in the lower grades, and a maximum of two hours' total in High School. The little girls I look after were delighted to hear this, until they heard that I would also eliminate all these half-days, conference-days, early dismissals and Hallmark holidays, so that they would be in school from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM every Monday through Friday from Labor Day to Memorial Day except for national holidays and their two-week Winter and Spring Breaks.