Would the real parents please stand up...

I am officially old fashioned. Yes, at the young age of twenty nine, I accept my outdated belief system. The belief that I hold that has forced me to recognize my lack of relevance is the one I hold about homework. I believe that students, even as young as elementary school, should have homework.
CNN has an article that discusses the homework issue, a new hot topic among educational theorists. Apparently, four out of ten parents surveyed believe their child has too much homework for one night--in fact, the report claims that the average parent provides two hours and forty five minutes of help per week, a whopping 30-35 minutes of help per night.
Forgive me, Mr. and Mrs. Jones; I thought my job was to educate your child; I thought that educational practice at home was at least equally important as soccer; I thought that you, as a parent, might not mind spending 2% of the total minutes in a day helping your child succeed.

I know it is not your problem, this NCLB law that requires every student to be at grade level in the core skills, but could you at least take a bit of interest in you child. I know that you view my classroom as free daycare, and that you view me as a quasi-professional because I can't drive a Mercedes or live in your gated community, but would you please accept the humble assignment as a token of my interest in your child's future?
Sometimes I sit amazed at the current population of parents--so focused on making sure their kid likes them, that they are unwilling to remember the work it took for them to get where they are.