Homework Policy

My view on homework.

Most educational in the United States consists of lecture that no one listens to, followed by homework that no one does. It’s a broken, pointless, foolishly designed system. At Vohra Method, we take the exact opposite approach. We do everything in-session. In both tutoring and group classes, students do their work live, real-time, with careful monitoring. If a student makes a mistake, or use some silly method, we fix it live, before it becomes a bad habit. If the assigned problem is not optimal for a student, we immediately adjust. With live, real-time, guided work instead of homework, we get better, faster, and more permanent results.

The reality of homework is that it does very little good, and plenty of harm. For example, when students get answers from friends, parents, or AI, the teacher doesn’t know that the student has a knowledge gap. At Vohra Method, since everything is done during sessions, we quickly detect and fix knowledge gaps.

Also, when doing homework, students frequently stumble upon and then reinforce some bad habit. This bad habit then later needs to be addressed, taking even more time.

Homework is supposed to save time. It doesn’t. It just creates problems that later need to be fixed. In schools, those problems aren’t fixed, so you may not notice the additional time. At Vohra Method, we fix those problems, so we see directly how much extra work homework creates.

Look at it this way. If an unskilled person works incompetently on a car, that creates more work for the mechanic later on, not less. If a layperson attempts to perform surgery on themselves, it creates more work for a surgeon. And when students do homework poorly, it similarly creates more problems, more things to fix.

For these and other reasons, Vohra Method’s programs are not homework based. They are classwork based.

But Shouldn’t Education Prepare You To Learn Independently?

Yes, absolutely. That is achieved by building the skills needed, such as critical reading, logical analysis, grammatical analysis, and mathematical reasoning. Each of those skills is built at Vohra Method.

Another skill for lifelong learning is self-motivation. Homework doesn’t create self-motivation. It removes the possibility of self-motivation. Homework is externally driven. It does not come from self-motivation. Completing homework is an act of obedience, not an act of curiosity or exploration. Today, most students have all of their time monopolized by pointless assignments with zero academic value. They don’t have time to develop self-motivation.

At Vohra Method, our self-contained, zero homework classes give students more time to actually explore ideas on their own. Our classes also let students see what education can be: something efficient and self-contained, rather than a bloated, invasive lunacy that monopolizes your time while failing to educate you.

Is There Anything Students Can Do At Home?

Yes. We have several independent training tools that students can access.

The first category is our Synapse programs, including Vocabulary Synapse, Biology Synapse, etc. Synapse software helps students memorize critical information. They are AI proof and resistant to most forms of cheating. They are recommended, not required, so there is nothing forcing any student to use them. Students use them voluntarily, just as competitive athletes voluntarily go to the gym. Synapse isn’t at all required, but almost every Vohra Method student uses Synapse to train.

Also, in college strategy tutoring, I let students know what we’re going to do next. They can get a head start on it at home, or they can do it during the next session.

But Doesn’t Homework Build Discipline?

No. It builds grudging obedience. Discipline is about setting your own goals, setting your own standards, and then reaching them. A person who voluntarily works out every day is disciplined. A prisoner who grudgingly sort of moves his arms while a guard yells at him is not.

Grudging obedience is not a type of math. It’s not a type of science, a type of history, or a type of English. At Vohra Method, we empower kids to achieve excellence in math, science, English, and history. We don’t see grudging obedience as something worth teaching; we’re educating the next generation of leaders, not the next generation of slaves.

What Else Is Bad About Homework?

Homework is supposed to give parents more free time. The reality is that parents spend just as much time time nagging students about homework as they would if they spent time doing other things with students. In other words, homework just worsens the quality of parent-child time. It doesn’t reduce the amount.

Vohra Method offers a high quality, intensive, homework-free approach to education. Once you experience education without homework, you might never want homework again.