Matthew Kayser
When Kim Kardashian recently argued that homework should stay in schools and not follow kids home, I found myself nodding in agreement, but with some major concern.
While I agree with Kim that homework should ideally be contained within the school day, I stop short of discarding it altogether. Homework serves a crucial role in education, not as a tool for introducing new material, but to reinforce, repeat, and strengthen what has already been taught. The question isn’t whether homework matters, but where and how we administer it.
As “The Math Woman,” an educator and innovator who has spent 20 years revolutionizing how Norway approaches math education, I have logged the evidence: students who do more math than what is delivered at school get better grades and deeper understanding than those who don’t, and homework plays a central part. Through my tutoring company, which has helped tens of thousands of students achieve measurable results, I have seen firsthand how structured learning can change lives.
To guide learning and to make sense of why homework is pivotal for mastering math, I developed the Base, Build, Burn Model (see info below). This framework shows that effective learning occurs when students move between reinforcement (Base) and challenge (Build), while avoiding overload (Burn). The key is placing students where success is achievable, where confidence and mastery grow. The model gives clear guidance on how homework should be administered.
The Base, Build, Burn Model
The model divides learning into three zones. The Base Zone is everything you already know, knowledge and skills you master and can use without support. This is where you grow on your own, using your foundation to unlock further understanding. The Build Zone is where you tackle new material but with support from external sources like videos, podcasts, books, teachers or mentors. The Burn Zone is where topics are too far away from your current knowledge base, so the gaps become unmanageable: progress stalls, frustration grows, and learning breaks down.
Smart Homework is Power, Ill-Considered Homework is Damaging
Even in the land of equality, Norway, we have found that building a school based on parents’ ability to help creates wide learning gaps. On average, the range between the strongest and the weakest student in the Norwegian classroom is five years.
The essence of homework is repetition and revision, work in the Base Zone and lower Build Zone. Basic math problems on current topics, learning formulae or lingo are examples of smart homework that strengthens the student and sets most in a position to succeed. Learning new topics on their own, complex math problems, and tasks that demand parents be heavily involved are Burn Zone activities. These create frustration, failure, and a lack of belief in ability. Homework should build confidence and leave students feeling good about themselves.
Training Independence and Problem-Solving
Homework should also teach children to work independently. In class, they learn with guidance; at home, they must wrestle with problems on their own. When assignments match their knowledge level, this struggle fosters grit, problem-solving ability, and self-reliance, all qualities essential in higher education and the workplace now conformed to AI.
But when tasks are set too far beyond reach, in the Burn Zone, the opposite happens: motivation collapses, and students begin to believe in the strongest living math myth: “I’m just not a math person.” The line between constructive challenge and destructive overload must not be crossed.
Parents Shouldn’t Be Co-Students
When schools outsource learning to parents, they aren’t assigning homework, they are assigning inequality. I often hear parents more or less doing their kids’ homework, just to make sure they can show the teacher it is done. This is a huge mistake. For one, the kid doesn’t learn what they need, and the teacher loses the opportunity to map and understand what the student requires.
Over the 20 years I built Norway’s leading tutoring company, I saw ambitious families with strong support systems thriving, while disadvantaged students fell further behind. Over time, this creates a widening gap in achievement and opportunity, one that affects access to higher education and jobs. Schoolwork cannot hinge on the assumption that every child has a parent ready to reteach the lesson each night.
Personal Help 98% Better than Classroom
A 1984 study by Benjamin Bloom showed that students receiving individualized tutoring performed on average 98% better than those in traditional classrooms. Homework that depends on parents or private tutors essentially reserves success for those who can afford extra help. Smart homework, by contrast, ensures all students can complete it successfully on their own.
This does not mean discouraging ambitious families from going further. Extra learning will always benefit those who want to excel. But every child deserves access to success if they work for it, and that requires homework that is in the Base and lower Build Zones.
The Skill of Learning How to Learn
Education is about more than passing tests; it is about preparing for life. Repetition and revision are vital to mastering any subject, especially in fields like mathematics. But equally important is cultivating the ability to learn independently.
In a world where professional demands shift constantly, learning how to learn may be the most valuable skill of all. Homework provides one of the best arenas to practice that skill, provided it is designed to be done by the student, not the parent.
Shaping Homework for Success
Homework doesn’t need to be erased; it needs to be reinvented. As “The Math Woman,” I have seen firsthand how the Base, Build, Burn Model transforms frustration into mastery and inequality into opportunity. Homework should never be a test of parental patience or knowledge; it should be a training ground where students themselves grow grit, confidence, and independence. When we design homework that belongs to students, not their parents, we stop perpetuating the myth that only some kids can succeed at math. The truth is simpler and bolder: every child can thrive when given the right kind of work, in the right zone, at the right time.
It’s time to stop treating homework as a burden for parents and start shaping it as a superpower for students.