Homework

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

You've cruised Valley Boulevard through Alhambra and Monterey Park, hitting all the culinary hot spots: 101 Noodle Express for the Shandong-style beef roll, Savoy Kitchen for Hainanese chicken rice or Taste of Chong Qing for Sichuan baked fish in pickled peppers. A few miles east might lie less-explored territory, Rowland Heights. The neighborhood's a trove of Taiwanese and other delights, including its bakeries, noodle shops and theme restaurants (cave women and elementary school among them)

In "PINEAPPLE EXPRESS," he plays a visibly unwashed hippie pot dealer on the run from mobsters: a THC-addled naif with a crinkly smile, a curtain of lank, dark hair and a heart of gold. But don't get the wrong impression about James Franco just because of his spot-on performance in the most anticipated stoner action-comedy of the year. He's no dope, even though he smokes plenty on-screen. To wit: Dude can almost carbon-date his experiences making certain movies by recalling what literature he was reading at the time.

After extensive study, the Los Angeles Unified School District last year unveiled a new draft homework policy that looked like the product of some very badly done homework indeed. Flexible in the wrong ways, inflexible in the wrong ways, self-contradictory and at times simply muddled, it would have mandated that homework count for no more than 10% of a student's grade - meaning that it would make very little difference even if a student blew off half of it. At the same time, it failed to set appropriate amounts of homework based on students' ages and grade levels.

Re "Some School Advice for Parents," Voices, Sept. 25: Having completed 42 years of teaching in the public schools, there are some points with which I agree. I must take exception to Jeff Lantos' position on homework. Homework should not necessarily be on the top of the priority list. I believe music, sports, organizations designed for young children and religious instruction should take priority. My wife and I are grandparents. If we had the resources we would start a national movement and call it "Grandparents Against Homework."

Rachel Bennett, 12, loves playing soccer, spending time with her grandparents and making jewelry with beads. But since she entered a magnet middle school in the fall -- and began receiving two to four hours of homework a night -- those activities have fallen by the wayside. "She's only a kid for so long," said her father, Alex Bennett, of Silverado Canyon. "There's been tears and frustration and family arguments. Everyone gets burned out and tired."

Scenes from a public school childhood: The second-grade teacher sends home a pile of worksheets almost every night. Mom is trying to coax her child through the pages once again, until the 7-year-old has a meltdown and screams, "I hate school!" That fourth-grade rite of passage — constructing a model of a California mission — is beyond the abilities of most 9-year-olds, so Dad works patiently for hours erecting miniature white walls and red roofs. When father and child proudly deliver the finished product to the classroom, they see other models so sophisticated that only professional architects could have glued sugar cubes together so artfully.

Consumers are getting better at consuming. Or so the latest numbers from the Better Business Bureau suggest. Consumers checked out the BBB's statistics on millions of companies a record 103 million times last year, up 18% from 2010. Meanwhile, complaints lodged with the bureau fell about 7%, to 927,000. That tells us that more people are doing their homework before making decisions that affect their money. And as a result of such due diligence, they're finding less to gripe about.

Re "Homework Driving Parents Nuts," Nov. 22. Your article points out that the problem begins with the parents, not the children. The parents are setting a bad example beginning with their narrow perspective of education as a whole, diminishing the authority of teachers and school administrators, and with misguided expectations of both their children and the school system. Parents too often don't set priorities in their own lives (fun, sports, ballet override homework, chores).

I get lots of emails. They generally break down like this: People telling me I'm brilliant and the reason print media is hanging on; people telling me I'm a moron and the reason print media is dying; people trying to get me to write about their book/cause/personal gripe; people asking me to read something they wrote about their book/cause/personal gripe; and people asking for help with their homework. That's right. Not a week goes by that I don't hear from at least one high school student who's been assigned a paper about my writing and wants me to tell her what to say. They come from every region of the country, and from private schools and public schools alike.

With daily headlines about online bullying, unsafe apps and Internet addiction, what's a harried parent to do?  The last thing they want to do is read a book. But that's just what Scott Steinberg hopes they will do. The technology consultant and founder of TechSavvy Global in Seattle on Wednesday came out with "The Modern Parent's Guide to Kids and Video Games," the first in a series of books. Why read Steinberg's book when there are 712 titles on Amazon under "technology parenting"?

Consumers are getting better at consuming. Or so the latest numbers from the Better Business Bureau suggest. Consumers checked out the BBB's statistics on millions of companies a record 103 million times last year, up 18% from 2010. Meanwhile, complaints lodged with the bureau fell about 7%, to 927,000. That tells us that more people are doing their homework before making decisions that affect their money. And as a result of such due diligence, they're finding less to gripe about.

Dressing an actress to play a global icon is tough. However, watching Michelle Williams channel Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn," you're seeing not the sex-kitten public film star but the private woman. It was this public versus private persona that helped costume designer Jill Taylor overcome any trepidation about tackling such a singular figure for this film, which recounts the tumultuous days of a young assistant on the set of "The Prince and the Showgirl," which costarred Laurence Olivier.

J.C. Penney Co. has stopped selling a shirt for girls after shoppers expressed outrage over what they called an inappropriate and sexist message. "I'm too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me," said the message scrawled across the white, long-sleeve shirt, which was intended for girls ages 7 to 16. The shirt was available only through J.C. Penney's website. Customers immediately criticized J.C. Penney for promoting girls' looks over their brains. "This shirt is insulting and offensive.

Even though the recession has been officially over for some time, getting a small-business loan hasn't gotten any easier. In fact, fewer loans backed by the federal Small Business Administration were made during the first half of this year than during the same period in 2010. In Southern California, the amount lent in this type of loan declined 7% to $922 million in the period that ended June 30, compared with $988 million a year earlier. That's more than double the 3% decline nationwide.

The superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District suspended a new homework policy on Wednesday, saying it went into effect without enough public input. The policy limited homework to 10% of a student's grade; the rest would have been based on such measures as class assignments, tests and essays. The homework rules, which did not have to be approved by the Board of Education, went into effect July 1 by administrative order. The Los Angeles Times wrote about the policy June 27, the first public discussion about it. The policy drew nationwide attention and swift reaction: from praise to denunciation to confusion.

The story so far: Harley's teacher has made a homework assignment. He must draw a picture of someone in his family doing what he or she likes to do best, and he doesn't know where to start. * Any time I have a problem I can always ask Gramma. She's kind of old, but she has lots of good ideas. She listens and then makes little comments like, "How splendid!" or "That's cool" or, sometimes, "Bummer!" Then she stares me right in the eye and says, "OK. What are you going to do?"

Free-trade battles Re "GOP balks over job provision in trade proposals," Business, June 29 The Times' headline insinuates that Republicans are to blame for the trade pact with South Korea not going through. In fact, Republicans have been pushing free-trade agreements for years, especially with South Korea and Colombia, and the Democrats and the union lobby have been stonewalling them. Now that the Democrats have inserted a piece of pork into the bill — a very expensive, ineffective worker retraining rider, which the Republicans rightly oppose — The Times seems to blame the Republicans.

As of Friday, homework can account for no more than 10% of a student's grade in the Los Angeles Unified School District — a change that drew national media attention. "The phones have been ringing off the hook," district spokeswoman Judy Elliott said. She sounded surprised, but many parents won't be. Homework is a hot-button topic, and though the new policy doesn't limit how much can be assigned, some students and parents hope that the change will reduce what they see as homework overload.