Busy work - Definition and Overview

Busy work is a critical term for schoolwork or homework that keeps students occupied without teaching anything constructive or interesting. Examples might include crossword puzzles featuring lists of specialized vocabulary words: While learning jargon or terminology may be important, the method of a crossword puzzle is unlikely to help students appreciate and comprehend vocabulary words.

Some critics have charged that busy work can cause problems for teachers: "When busy work becomes 'institutionalized,' among other teachers or the entire school, it creates such an overload of work for the slower students, that they have to 'buy out' of the system. They will always have more work than they can do because the work is assigned for control and not learning." [1] (http://www.teacher2b.com/discipline/busywork.htm)

People often have a negative attitude toward busy work, and some high school teachers have gone so far as to pledge to avoid the practice: "Homework is given to practice, review, preview, or simply provide more exposure to the topics covered in class—you will not be given homework for homework’s sake or as busy work." [2] (http://www.elcaminohigh.com/jcarter/accsyll.htm)

Workplace busy work

The term has also been used by employees who feel their assigned duties are useless or unproductive, and intended only to occupy their time. Busy work of one form or another often features in workplace humor, such as the comic strip Dilbert, or the movie Office Space.

Example Usage of Busy