Instead of Homework, School Assigns “Acts of Kindness” To Their Students

• Irish elementary school Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Uí Choileáin has scrapped formal homeworks for a month and replaced it with “kindness acts.”
• Students are asked to do good deed each day, which culminates with a team service project.
• The initiative has received a lot of praise from parents and netizens.

Ask a bunch of students to name one of their most-dreaded things about schooling and we have a feeling this one will probably come out on top: the endless homework. Most children do not enjoy doing extra schoolwork at home as they would much rather relax and just spend time with their loved ones.

Well one elementary school in Clonakilty, Ireland decided to launch an interesting alternative to homework that has since been praised by many – they junked assignments for one whole month and instead replaced it with asking children to perform “acts of kindness.”

For the month of December, students from Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Uí Choileáin have been assigned different “kindness tasks” for every weekday.

Mondays are for helping out the elderly, Tuesdays are for doing home chores without being asked, Wednesdays are for random good deeds, while Thursdays are for caring for their own mental and emotional wellness. The students then recorded their experiences in a Kindness Diary.

Aside from that, the school also has a Kindness Bucket. The children write positive things they’ve observed in their schoolmates and write the on pieces of paper to be placed on the bucket. Every Friday, notes are randomly picked and read in front of everyone.

Finally, the students have to come up with a service project for the community as a team.

According to reports, the unique initiative has been started last year and it was so successful that the school did it again this time.

As Vice Principal Íde Ní Mhuirí explained it:

“We are encouraging our pupils to think of the real spirit of Christmas… Unfortunately not everyone is in a position to be able to enjoy Christmas, some are lonely, some are sad, some might yearn for what they do not have and some might simply not enjoy the festivities.”

Through the students’ kind acts, the school hopes more would be able to have a joyful and meaningful yuletide celebration.