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At This Hour

Study: Kids Have Too Much Homework; Tom Brady, Roger Goodell Back in Court Over Deflategate; Chief: Officer Broke Protocol in Shooting; Poet Richard Blanco to Take Part in Havana U.S. Embassy Opening. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired August 12, 2015 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[11:32:32] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's back to school for millions of kids. Many are not happy about getting up early and doing any homework at all after the summer off. A new study finds kids are getting way too much homework. In some cases, three times as much homework as recommended by the National Education Association. So much, the report says, it's causing behavioral and even health problems and stressing parents out at the very same time.

CNN's digital correspondent, Kelly Wallace, is here with me right now to discuss.

Every kid hates homework. Let's lay that out there.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: How much homework does the study say they're getting?

WALLACE: They looked at first-graders, kindergarten through grade 12. First-graders were getting 28 minutes of homework a night. And the standard is really 10 minutes a night. That's nearly three times as much homework as the recommendation. And the recommendation is the so-called 10-minute rule. Think of it this way. It's 10 minutes of homework per grade. 10 for first grade, 20 for second grade, up to 120 minutes for a senior year of high school. But clearly, this study found that even kindergartners, not recommended to get homework, were getting about 25 minutes a night, way too much for little kids.

BOLDUAN: Is this new or is this just being addressed now?

WALLACE: I've talked to experts who say we've been complaining about homework for years. But what's new here is the volume of homework. And also the mindset that kindergartners have to do homework so that they're ready for first grade. Seventh grade has to be ready for eighth and ninth grade. Where the research is mixed about how much homework is effective for student achievement.

BOLDUAN: That's what I was going to ask you. We also hear often that other countries are out-educating our children. Leads me to wonder, is the standard off or is there too much homework? Who's getting it right? Do kids just need to accept it or is it too much homework and it's not benefiting them? WALLACE: It's a little bit of both. Part of it is what kind of

homework. If it's interactive homework where they're out exploring and learning, that's exciting. As opposed to worksheets that mean nothing to them.

BOLDUAN: Right.

WALLACE: The other thing is, in terms of student achievement, studies show there could be impact between homework and achievement but more for middle school and high school. And if kids have four, five, six hours of homework a night which has been reported in some communities, that is completely ridiculous.

BOLDUAN: So it is actually hurting them in some way. What do parents do about it if it's not going to change?

[11:35:08] WALLACE: Parents can do a couple of things. Number one, make sure there aren't distractions. How much are your kids looking at their smartphone or listening to music or talking --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Or watching television.

WALLACE: Exactly. Monitor that. If you find as a parent that the homework is taking them too long, go to your teacher. But don't do it in an accusing way. Say, hey, it's taking my son 40 minutes for homework that should take 20 minutes. Can you work with us? And give kids ownership over their homework. Let them decide when and how and where to do it. And don't step in as parents and try to do the homework for them or correct it. Kids need to take ownership of their own work. That leads to motivation and that will allow them to problem-solve when they're older. Not calling mom and dad to solve their algebra problems.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: I should probably admit, thank you, mom, for doing half of my essays as a child.

WALLACE: Right?

BOLDUAN: I'm not a good example of the study.

Kelly, great to see you. Thanks, Kelly.

Coming up for us, face-off in court. Tom Brady, Roger Goodell in front of a judge at this very hour. Will the star quarterback have his suspension reduced? What's happening there?

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[11:40:00] BOLDUAN: AT THIS HOUR, the Deflategate scandal heads to a federal courtroom. New video in to CNN of Quarterback Tom Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell -- almost looks like they're twins right there -- arriving at the courthouse. Brady is battling his four-game suspension over his alleged role in Deflategate. The judge in this case asked that both parties settle the issue out of court. But reports show that neither side is budging. So they are back in the courtroom.

Joining us now for a little bit of insight on this is CNN's Rachel Nichols.

What are we expecting in court today?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: We're expecting some good old- fashioned arm-twisting by a federal judge. Tom Brady and Roger Goodell have been entrenched here. Neither side wants to settle. Both sticking to their guns. And this is a judge described by his colleagues as a settlement judge. He tells them it is better for them to craft a nuanced compromise than for him to come in with a hammer. That is what he will be telling these guys as they sit across from each other today. But it is tough because Roger Goodell feels like if he gives any ground, he is ceding not just in this case but his authority overall as the NFL commissioner because this will be used as precedence. And Tom Brady is saying, if I give at all, I'm not just giving a game or two or three r o four of suspension, I'm saying, I'm a cheater. And I don't want to do that. So it is going to be tough for this judge to get them to the middle where he wants them to be.

BOLDUAN: Honestly sounds like there is no middle ground at this point. Goodell says he's going to enforce this four-game suspension. Brady's legacy is on the line here. He doesn't want to say he's a cheater. Any chance this is going to be reduced? How is this going to turn out?

NICHOLS: With lawyers, there's always a middle ground. Someone can always come up with some sort of language. But it is tough because there's a couple of issues here. There's, does the NFL commissioner have the power to do what he did? Even if he does have the power to act as, quote, judge, jury and executioner, can he railroad someone the way the NFL players association and Tom Brady are accusing him of? They're basically accusing the NFL of making up evidence as they go along for changing the rules as they go about what Brady should or shouldn't have been allowed to do. Meanwhile on the other side, you've got the NFL saying, hey, you guys agreed to this, you agreed to Roger Goodell being the overall lord of discipline here and we don't want to give on that either. So there's lots of different nuances to this case. Maybe you give on one issue and you don't on the other one. But since this is all public, that's the other wrinkle of this. Neither side wants to give up any face here, too.

BOLDUAN: Seems when it's as public as it is, nuance is not something that is going to be appreciated by either side.

NICHOLS: Right.

BOLDUAN: Nuance is lost here just like it is in television.

Rachel, thank you so much.

You do not want to miss this week's episode of "The Seventies." Here is a little preview for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You look to the horizon that you want to move toward and that horizon was here in L.A.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's where the record companies were and lots of sun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way I got to California is just really simple. I got there in a '57 Chevy by skipping finals that year in college.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Virtually no one was from southern California. They're all drawn to the light and the light is the Troubadour Club.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: From disco to punk and everything in between, this week on "The Seventies," Thursday at 9:00 p.m. eastern, right here on CNN.

We'll be right back.

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[11:47:19] BOLDUAN: "Exercising poor judgment," those words coming from Arlington, Texas, police chief describing why he fired an officer who fatally shot an unarmed teenager. This all stems from the deadly confrontation between Christian Taylor and a rookie police officer during a suspected burglary at a car dealership. You see some of the surveillance video here. The police chief says that Officer Brad Miller broke protocol when he approached Taylor on his own without communicating with other officers. The chief also revealed that the teenager did not come within seven feet of Officer Miller and had no physical contact with any officer on the scene before Officer Miller fired the first of four shots.

Christian Taylor's family has been demanding answers since his death, asking why deadly force was ever used.

Joining me now is Alisa Simmons, president of the NAACP chapter in Arlington.

Thank you so much for joining us.

This news coming out from the Arlington police chief, it's very serious. This man is now fired. You've met with the family. How are they reacting to this news that the officer has been kicked off the force?

ALISA SIMMONS, PRESIDENT, NAACP, ARLINGTON, TEXAS CHAPTER: Well, I spoke with the family this morning. And they're reacting how you would anticipate. It doesn't bring Christian back. Right now, that's their position. They're planning a funeral. And that's where they are.

BOLDUAN: And that's understandable. The grieving process still obviously ongoing and made only more difficult because of the circumstances of how all this went down and all the questions I'm sure they still have. What are their outstanding questions now? Are they hearing anything from the police? Are they communicating with the police? Or are they helping them out?

SIMMONS: Well, of course, the police department did communicate with the parents yesterday in advance of his decision. So they're appreciative of that. And the NAACP, we are supportive of the chief's decision. We believe it is the appropriate decision in this case. And we look forward to criminal charges being filed.

BOLDUAN: That's obviously a huge question in this situation -- will criminal charges be filed? What are you hearing -- the police chief says this case is now going to go to the district attorney. The district attorney will consider what to do moving forward. You want to see criminal charges. What does the family want to see happen to this officer?

SIMMONS: Well, right now I've asked them that and, again, they said we are in the funeral planning process, but they would like changes. If changes are appropriate with regard to training, diversity training, tactical training, they would like those things to occur.

[11:50:16] BOLDUAN: Now, the police chief in his announcement last night, he also gave -- tried to give a little more detail into what was happening before the shooting took place. He said that Christian had told officers that he was at the dealership to steal a car. The family has said they don't know why he was acting the way he was, what he was doing there. Are you getting in I better understanding of why Christian was there? Why he was acting the way he was?

SIMMONS: I can't speak to that and I have not pressed the family for that information. What we do know is that if this child was committing a burglary, if he was dui, arrest him. If he was committing a burglary or crime, arrest him. If he were ill or sick, get him help. But at what point do you make the decision to shoot him?

BOLDUAN: Alisa Simmons, thank you for your time.

With all of this happening, the family is planning a funeral, the officer is now fired, and the case is now before the district attorney. Much more to come on this.

Alisa, thank you so much.

Another big story we have been following, the St. Louis County police have released new surveillance video. They say this tape right here shows a teenager pulling a gun from his waist band just before officers shoot him. This disputes claims made by the family of Tyrone Harris who said that he was unarmed before his confrontation with police. Officials say the 18-year-old began firing at an unarmed car carrying detectives. All of this taking place near the protest marking the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Meanwhile, police believe this is a photo of Harris from his Facebook page showing him holding two guns. Harris is in the hospital in critical condition after that confrontation with police. He is facing four counts of first degree assault among other charges.

Coming up for us, a historic moment in Cuba. For the first time in over 50 years, the American flag will fly high at the U.S. embassy there. Up next, we'll talk to poet who will take part at the ceremony, the same man who read a poem at President Obama's second inauguration.

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[11:56:22] BOLDUAN: Happening now, the Obama administration is making final prep Russians for Friday's historic ceremony in Cuba. Secretary of State John Kerry will do the honors, raising the U.S. flag over its embassy in Havana for the first time in more than 50 years.

Poet Richard Blanco will also be on hand, taking part in the historic ceremony. Blanco made history at President Obama's second inauguration. You probably remember when he became the first immigrant Latino and openly gay poet to be chosen as a presidential inaugural poet. And he'll be making history once again, this time in Havana.

And Richard Blanco is joining me from Miami.

It's great to see you, and especially on this moment that you're about to undertake.

You were launched into the national spotlight, as we discussed, when you were asked to read a poem at the president's second inauguration. Now you're back in the spotlight for another major moment. What do you want to convey in this moment when you take the stage, if you will?

RICHARD BLANCO, POET: It's just a dream come true. It's so amazing. You know, for all my life, I've sort of always had these two pieces of my life come together and, finally, they're coming together.

BOLDUAN: How do you ask this of a poet? Are you prepared? Is it already written? Where are you in that process?

BLANCO: It was written quite a few weeks ago. It's one of the most complex and emotionally complex poems I've ever had to write but certainly it's been done, I've been rehearsing it and I can't wait to be there and read in the that moment which is just going to be for me so emotional, for so many reasons I can't even begin to tell you.

BOLDUAN: What's the theme? Can you give us any hints?

BLANCO: Sure, you know, the 90 miles between the U.S. And Cuba have always been sort of a Berlin Wall, in a way, and so it takes -- the poem takes that as a -- as a metaphor. But it's divided us but it's also in a way united us so seeing how that division is now a moment of coming together at the same time. So that's kind of what the poem is taking off, the sea that means so much to both the -- both our people and especially to the Cubans in the United States and the Cubans on the island. So it's -- it's a very evocative poem and I think it brings in a lot of the life story much like the inaugural poem -- little slips of family and real people and real -- the lives of real people and what that's meant emotionally for us for these decades.

BOLDUAN: As someone who was born to parents who fled the Fidel Castro regime, you know very well this decision by President Obama to reopen the embassy in Havana to normalize relations. It's been met with a healthy dose of criticism. Folks saying the Cuban regime has shown no progress regarding their human rights record and offering citizens political freedoms. Is there any hesitation for you in taking part in the ceremony?

BLANCO: You know, I think it's an emotionally complex issue and it took me several weeks to wrap my head around it. But at the end of the day, as an artist and what I feel my role is, is to open up more of an emotional conversation. There's been what I call an emotional embargo, not just an economic embargo. And what I see what's happening I think is really this is isn't like one side wins and one side loses, but this is an emotional truce. It's the idea we're at least going to begin to talk. Certainly, there's changes that we all have to keep an eye on and keep on advocating for, especially my generation, in particular --