Homework in Moderation is Good Essays

Glenda Pryor-Johnson of Concordia University says that homework assists in developing four essential qualities in children: Responsibility, Time Management, Perseverance, and Self-Esteem (Fuglei). In addition, homework fosters greater self-direction and self-discipline in students. These are the necessary qualities that will help them become high-achieving students. These skills acquired from homework will also benefit students in the real-world, and in college too. Students who regularly completed homework will be more inquisitive in life and participate in more independent problem solving (Plato). In college, professors expect that students have well-developed study habits from all those years of homework. Proponents believe that homework serves as the foundation for acquiring these qualities and study habits, however, the opposers of homework believe these benefits to be highly subjective, and cite lack of evidence as their reasoning behind refuting this

“Homework is arguably the worst punishment inflicted upon the student body.” One would think this extreme statement would come from the 10-year boys and girls who complain to their parents about the homework they have to complete. However, Rodney Jones starts of his argument against homework using this statement. He argues that homework does not help children taking up all their time. Continuing, he explains how parents should extend child’s knowledge out of school instead of homework and in the end these assignments do not help students grade. However, in contrast of Jones’ beliefs homework indeed benefits children’s learning through the small amounts of extra practice it gives to help the students excel.

Homework has been around for many years, and parents have had many questions and concerns about the impact it has on their children. Kate McReynolds states in her article Homework that, “In 1957, the Soviet launch of Sputnik challenged the intellectual and military might of the United States. The New York Times ran a series of articles describing the Soviet educational system as superior to the United States’ system. Congress passed the National Defense Education Act and America’s youngsters were charged with restoring the nation’s competitive edge” (2). This means that schools are under the pressure to make sure their students excel and work extremely hard. So by doing so, they assign homework, which will progress to other issues for the students.

Homework was a necessity because it was the only way the students were prepared for class the following day. By the 20th Century the PTA began to push their opinion in the battle of homework. They sought to have it irradiated as it was a distraction from the students learning process (Gill & Schlossman, 2004 pg. 175). There were pediatricians going as far to say that homework was the reason for the rise in health issues and the death toll. At this time educators, doctors, and scientists were all in agreeance that is was essential to educate the “whole child”. Thus, allowing time for distractions, play, and a life outside of school that was enriched. This would develop the child’s well-being in every aspect of life (Gill & Schlossman, 2004 pg. 176). During the Cold War, the issue of homework became a cause for concern. The Russians had achieved more than the American children. This began the achievement for excellence. As the curriculum in school changed homework was reinstated because the students needed to learn outside of school in order to prosper in academics (Gill & Schlossman, 2004

In The Battle 0ver Homework, Harris Cooper defines homework as, “tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are intended to be carried out during non-school hours” (27) Common homework assignments might include reading, writing, problems to solve, a school project, or other skills to be practiced. The purpose of homework is to assist in reinforcing what was taught in class. Sometimes the purpose is to gather extra information beyond what was taught that day. There are many teachers who don’t understand the meaning of homework and just give it as something to keep students busy. Homework should be given to students on a regular basis but only in reasonable amounts.

Homework has been an area of discussion for teachers, students, and even psychologists. It’s been a practice which has been used throughout the United States to help students learn material, reinforce their day’s lesson, or just as busy work to improve a student’s work ethic. Several people view homework as useless, or just plainly unhelpful; this view has been demonstrated ever since the early twentieth century, where many authors and politicians were vehemently against homework, going as far as to write whole books and draft legislation (legislation which had passed the Californian government and had been law) against homework. This opposition has ever since faded, but is now seeing a new movement around America, and there are reasons as to why that is. In an article from CNN, they quote a study from another article published by The American Journal of Family Therapy which states that: “students in the early elementary school years are getting significantly more homework than is recommended by education leaders, in some cases nearly three times as much homework as is recommended”, and, as such, students are raised within a state of stress from the first grade. Several other studies also find that homework is very hurtful; the Journal of Experimental Education published an article which had made a study that found that the average amount of time students spend on homework each night had been 3.1 hours from a sample of high-performing schools in California, when the recommended time on homework is, at most, one hour each night. Homework has been mandated work for students all around the country, and several others, and the workload seems to only be increasing, and so, how might this workload affect a student’s ability to live a healthy life, a teacher’s work plan, and a psychologist’s view of an enormous workload on a student?

On average, American high school teachers assign approximately 3.5 hours of homework each week, meaning that teens with multiple classes spend around 17.5 hours a week working on these assignments. In only 13 years, the percentage of teens that claim they spend an hour on homework each day has increased to 45%, from the 39% in 1994 (Bidwell). Parents and students across the country are beginning to spot the flaws in these homework methods, however, claiming that academics are merely being memorized instead of thoroughly taught. Is homework truly helping America’s students? To the majority of high schoolers, the answer is clear: homework is unnecessary for academic development.

Throughout their school years,children say that they hate homework and that it’s pointless. Others will say, that this is definitely not the case. Students who actually spend time doing homework will better understand and execute class work more efficiently. Source C had mentioned that children who do not achieve much do more homework because they’re struggling. But, that struggling never goes away. Instead, children still struggle, but at this point, they don’t believe that homework is important. Source D had actually shown that high schoolers had higher grades when they spent more time doing work. They take the time to study and learn how to work through problems on their own, which helps them when taking tests. Multiple sources have stated

Homework has been at the front of school reform since the early 1900’s. Debates over the benefits of homework include “immediate impact on the retention and understanding of the material it covers” (Cooper, 1989, p.86) and downsides of homework include “satiation, denial of access to leisure time and community activities; parental interference; cheating; and increased differences between high and low achievers” (Cooper, 2006, p.7) have led to a see-saw of support and objection regarding homework. There is support from several studies (Maltese, Tai, Fan, 2012; Cooper, Robinson, Patall, 2006; Falkenberg & Barbetta, 2013) that cite homework as a source of increasing students’ achievement level. None of the

For the most part, education in the United States has revolved around the idea of a “work hard, and succeed” system. Educators strongly push for this idea and are in a way obliged to extend learning by assigning more work, which they are unable to complete in a school setting. In turn, they rely on homework to expand knowledge beyond the classroom. Homework has become what may seem a positive influence on education and test scores in the United States. However, It has also become one the biggest burdens on high school students.This burden fails to reflect today’s advancing technological society. It needs to conform to a more individualized and purposeful approach for students.

In “The Trouble with Homework” by Annie Murphy Paul for The New York Times, she says that “The quantity of students’ homework is a lot less important than its quality.”-Murphy Paul. The article reveals students in this decade have more homework ever before because most of it is busy work. It can be concluded homework done just to get credit is pointless.

The stance that homework is necessary and helps students engage in the content and learn time management skills is one I concede with assiduously. Homework is given to students to help them retain the information they learned in class and leads to academic achievement. Many research studies have found evidence of a positive correlation between homework and student achievement. Since students are given homework nightly, it will help them absorb the content and they can score higher on a test or quiz. Homework also helps students develop responsibility and life skills, and prepares students in time management skills. Research claims the ability to manage tasks provides essential learning, increased motivation, and academic benefits. When students engage in homework it makes them more successful and independent in the long run. Although homework may take up time after an extracurricular and can lead to less sleep; for example, a student doing a sport after school, getting home and having to do homework on top of that. Doing an extracurricular and still completing homework are inherently important, students will gain time management skills if they are doing both. If a student can learn to juggle an extracurricular with homework it will help them learn life skills. Homework will lead to the academic growth, achievement, and the success of a student.

While the primary reason for assigning homework is to aid and reinforce instruction, there is growing evidence that the practice of homework can have additional benefits including managing distraction, self-efficacy, and perceived responsibility for learning (Bembenutty, 2009). While these self-regulation tasks, such as time management, setting goals, effort and persistence in completing difficult tasks, and self-monitoring one's performance, are important to academic success, they are also vitally important life skills, especially for successful professional writers, athletes, artists, and scientists. (Ramdass and Zimmerman, 2011). Other benefits include long-term academic benefits such as better study skills, as well as nonacademic benefits such as greater self -direction and more independent problem-solving. In addition, parents tend to have a great appreciation of and involvement in

Homework was thrown into the spotlight in 1957 when the Soviet Sputnik program occurred. “After the Russians first sent a mission into space, there was a general feeling in America that students were under-prepared, and homework was seen as a tool to improve the educational preparation of students and ensure America 's safety and development" (Maltese, Tai and Fan). Sputnik challenged America to re-examine its education system. Experts called for a tougher curriculum and more homework for all levels. The competitive drive continued into the 1980’s with Japan putting the US test scores to shame. It caused the amount of homework to rise even higher.

Can you agree that lately “homework” is being largely misguided? Can you agree that “homework” is being abused without producing its primary intended results? I highly urge you on behalf of all students operating through this system; change is needed. The current use of homework may be contributing to the decline in the motivation of students; therefore, interfering with their academic potential. Evidently, there has been an abundance of research which shows how homework is detrimental to a teen’s self-confidence, social skills, overall health, and most importantly their attitude towards school.