Student Pressure Subject of Debate

As another school year begins, a new crop of highly publicized books depicts American students as overburdened with academic demands, many of questionable value. But some experts contend that such a portrait distorts the truth: Most students, they say, are not particularly challenged in school.

The latest debate about schoolwork is being fueled by three recent books: The Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn, The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish, and The Overachievers , by Alexandra Robbins, which depicts overextended high school students in a wealthy Washington suburb. The books’ messages have buzzed through the national talk-show circuit and snagged headlines in major publications. Newsweek ’s Sept. 11 cover story, “The New First Grade: Are Kids Getting Pushed Too Fast, Too Soon?,” is accompanied by a picture of a schoolgirl horrified by a massive stack of textbooks.

But landing virtually unnoticed in the swirl was an Aug. 24 finding from a Pew Research Center poll showing that most Americans think parents don’t put enough pressure on students to do well in school. Most Asian respondents, by contrast, said parents put too much...