Two Perspectives on Homework

In a study General Society conducted, 16% of teens viewed themselves as workaholics, 39% said they felt under constant pressure to do more than they can handle and 64% cut back on sleep to do the things they need to do. As these tasks are quite time consuming, students state that homework is the most out of all the unpaid activities they do throughout the day, as 60% complete 2 hours and 20 minutes on average each day (CBC news, 2007). The amount of homework students receive on average daily has greatly increased in the past 15 years, which concerns parents. Homework interferes with students’ lives outside of school, a student’s overall health, and consumes countless hours, which is why it should be limited to a reasonable amount.

The debate regarding exactly how much homework is too much homework has been an ongoing debate for years. As of right now, there seems to be no end in sight for this debate. Various adults believe that if children do not obtain homework, then they are not learning properly. However, numerous children are obtaining a substantial amount of homework per night, as well as per each class. Once a child exceeds a certain amount of homework, then it is no longer beneficial for the child’s education. An excessive amount of homework can essentially become harmful to the child’s education. As a result, teachers are struggling with finding the right amount of homework to assign to students. The National Education Association as well as the National Parent-Teacher Association endorse the “10-minute rule” for teachers to follow when assigning homework to students. If a child is assigned an excessive amount of homework, then the child might experience more harm than good when attempting to complete the assigned homework.

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?

The quality of students’ homework is much more important than the quantity of students homework and data collected during recent studies has proven that homework is not making the grade. “. . . American students are entangled in the middle of international academic rankings: 17th in reading, 23rd in science, and 31st in math according to the most recent results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)” (Murphy-Paul). Students should not be given an excessive amount of homework because the pressure of having to complete excessive amounts of homework every night is quite daunting for most students. Knowing how much homework is the right amount correlates with age and grade. An 8th grade student should not be given a myriad of homework that would keep her awake past midnight completing assignments. In any case, there should be a limit on the amount of homework all teachers give to students because an excessive amount of homework would eventually cause students to become uninterested in school and learning, which could result in poor test scores and low ranks in international academic rankings. In order for students to carry out daily activities throughout the day restfully, teachers must be able to provide homework that does not exceed the appropriate amount of time needed to complete it, which is based on grade level. If teachers are too clueless of a students health due to excessive amounts of homework, many students will develop cases of sleep

Some believe homework is just stressful. Students should not be given homework on a nightly basis. Article 3 states “It was reported in a study that 89% of American students in grades 3 through 12 felt stressed about homework”.

The next reason too much homework is harmful to students is that studies show more homework to cause lower test scores. One to two hours of homework a week does not cause a major change in test scores (Wolchover). There is no evidence of homework having any academic benefit in elementary or middle school, and the academic benefit found in high school is very weak (Kohn). Homework is not shown to help students academically until grades ten through twelve (Wolchover). There is also no proof that homework increases good study habits in students (Kohn).

The survey of 1,000 K-12 teachers found that on average, they assign 3.5 hours of homework each week. For high school students who typically have seven classes with different teachers, that’s approximately 24.5 hours each week. Students spend approximately 35 hours a week at school and around 25 hours on homework. This lengthens each school day from around 7 hours to 10 hours. Now add the time students spend on extracurricular activities and sleep. They are faced with such packed schedules, and yet we wonder why they are struggling. Homework consumes an excessive amount of their time, and if we banned it, their schedules would be far more tolerable. The questionability of homework causes it to be one of the most

Homework is proven to be slowly cutting into students time leaving them less time to sleep which is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. According to National Sleep foundation going from ages 13 to 17 students should be getting at least eight hours of sleep but only 15% of students are actually getting that amount of sleep. Homework should not be assigned due to it cutting into students sleeping time. This part of the issue is very major because sleep is something that gives humans energy and it also is a time for the mind to relax so that the next day the student can be fully

As teachers excessive amounts of homework there is limited time to finish work for another class or study for another class. Whenever students actually do the unnecessary work and turn it in, it doesn't always get graded and it just causes stress on top of stress. Students are already not getting enough sleep with all six classes that they have. Yet homework is great for students it is very helpful for students for their classes, but at the same time they have so much excessive work that they have to finish it in such little time. CNN conducted a study last year that the impact of excessive homework on high schoolers included high stress levels, a lack of balance

One of the major reasons as to why homework is unfavorable is because it causes high levels of stress. Studies “conducted at Stanford University found that students… who spend too much time on homework experience for stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives, and alienation from society.” This shows that homework has many negative qualities that are not

In one study, 82% of students reported they experienced feelings of depression and hopelessness in the last month caused by stress over homework (Connor et al. 30). Every day, students receive an increasing amount of homework, yet research suggests that students are getting more than what is recommended (Levy 4). In addition, homework has been required to help enhance a student's learning. Research shows that it helps with developing self-regulation skills and creating positive academic attitudes, on the other hand, they are finding that homework and academic scores do not relate to each other as well (Katz et al. 406). Excessive homework has been found to negatively affect high school students by causing stress and anxiety, therefore, teachers should reduce the amount of homework by doing more of the work in class.

centered on questions of how much homework at which grades produce what kinds of learning

Ample research has been done on the correlation between homework and academic success with many opposing views. Research has shown that homework can be linked to better grades, improved standardized test scores, and more prepared students entering the post-secondary arena; however, this correlation is weak and the opposition has equal ammunition to support that there is no correlation between homework and academic success. There have been movements to abolish homework as well as movements to increase homework. Research has been done to show how homework has a negative effect on students as well as how it has a positive effect. Homework may be beneficial to academic success, but must have meaning to the student, must be measurable by

Over the years there has been question about whether or not homework is beneficial for students throughout elementary and high school. The opinions on this topic often change with the times. For a period of time, homework is perceived as harmful for students. Then the opinions change and the consensus is that homework is indeed beneficial for students. The documentary Race to Nowhere looks at the stress that is put on American students to do well in school. All of this stress is coming from parents, teachers, administrators, even the government. Students are expected to perform well on classroom tests as well as standardized tests. On top of the pressure to do well on these tests, students are given a large amount of homework to complete every night. If students do not have the homework completed, they are reprimanded or given a zero on the assignment. Many students work, participate in an after school activity, or have family obligations outside of school. This leaves little time to complete the homework. The video Waiting for Superman looks at how schools are failing our students in their education. Homework is one way in which schools are failing our students. It causes the students to become stressed because of the amount of that they are assigned each night. Changing the way teachers use and give homework can make a difference in the stress that students feel from school.

Every prosperous person has attained their goals via this privileged activity which has been practised for generations. Homework is beneficial for children of all ages; to learn new strategies and theories. All schools give homework to enrich their students' learning and to prepare them for their soon to be successful futures. Vehemently, homework is an essential requirement for children, adolescents or even adults! Generally speaking, according to research (Cooper, Robinson & Patall, 2006), studies are showing us that academic achievement is improved in children who partake in some after school work at home. Homework familiarises new concepts and encourages students to strive for their highest. It gives them a sense of responsibility as they need to organise their time to fit all activities. In that way homework would only be a minor, every day routine. If students want to have a privileged lifestyle, they need to do their homework. Having helpful homework here, is the key to victory, inviting us through a door to various opportunities in life! “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”