Homework has been around for a very long time, and lately more and more kids are disagreeing with the amount of homework we have to do. Some parents think homework is good for us because it allows us to practice and understand what we were taught during the school day. However, I disagree. I think that kids get enough homework already. The fact that our brains have to work so hard for so long can really drain us out. If there were not as many homework assignments, we would have more free time, we would be less stressed and maybe even sleep better at night. Homework should be limited to avoid the negative effects on kids that spend large portions of their lives in school.
Students already spend a significant portion of time each day in school. Not only do they spend the day learning and participating in class, they usually spend 7-8 hours in the school building. When they come home, they often spend hours completing homework for each of their classes. The amount of time required to complete this work is sometimes difficult. If the work for each class was equivalent to just one hour of work each night, the total time required would be 7 hours. This would be extremely difficult for students and that’s not counting afterschool free time/activities.
Freshman Andy talked about homework. He said that it is hard to balance everything that you have to do. “I think it’s hard to do all the extracurriculars I’m in,” he said. Many students can agree with this. After a long day of school activities students still have to do a lot of work to catch up with and any homework assigned by teachers can just be the cherry on top for their workload. It can be stressful and very tiring. Some schools assign homework for every class, which can be quite difficult and stressful for students, because they may find it challenging to balance there time for school, other activities, and sleep.
Sometimes Andy complains about having to do his homework, and that’s understandable because with all the stress it can cause, it’s also not something many students look forward to. “It really helps me to remember the material we’ve covered in class,” he noted. While homework can be a useful tool for teaching and learning, what is important here is the quantity assigned to students. Homework can be useful in smaller doses, but becomes a burden to students when they are given too much to do.
I asked a couple of students what they felt about homework and the first comment was from freshman London. I asked her if she thought homework ever really taught us anything in the class and her response was: Sometimes homework will help learn the material, but other times it is like the same work all over again. When the assignments do not seem to be particularly important to understand the material for the class it makes it seem pointless.
London explains why homework can cause stress. She explains how this can make it hard for children to focus, which can then cause more feelings of frustration. She explains how children feel fed up when they walk through the front door and open their books to find work for every subject in. She says this adds up to a very stressful homework time.
In addition to dealing with all of the stress and pressure to succeed that we’ve talked about, many students find themselves struggling to get enough sleep because of their heavy workloads. Students are always being reminded to the importance of getting enough sleep in order to achieve academic success. With all of the homework and assignments they are required to complete, many kids end up staying up late into the night in order to finish it all. By the following day, they will be exhausted and find it much harder to focus and take in the information that is being taught in school. As a result, they will fall behind and this will only increase their stress levels.
Why is there so much homework? I think there should be a limit to how much homework you have to do. I think about an hour of homework at the most. Children need to play and do lots of other things apart from homework. Some students may even dread homework when coming home, or feel like they want to give up when receiving too much homework which would not be good for their academics. Students grades could even drop drastically if they feel its too much.
Teachers also have a role to play. Many agree that it is not so much the amount of homework that is an issue, but more the quality. Teachers feel that children are given too much of the same work to do over and over again. Children should be engaged in learning worthwhile tasks for their own development rather than being given homework by teachers to cover what has been taught in the classroom. Students should be using there time more wise in stuff like sports, activities or even games too get a good balance of school and no school.
So, is homework important? The answer is yes, but not too much. While homework helps students learn and practice what they have been taught in class, too much of it leads to poor sleep, high stress and less time for fun. When students get too much homework it can lead to things like bad performance in things even outside of school cause by stress or being worried. Too much homework is unnecessary and more meaningful work is desirable. Therefore, students should have a balance of school work and leisure time in order to be happy and successful in school.
