The Negatives of Homework
Homework is something all students receive and are forced to think is necessary in order to succeed. I am a student at East Leyden Highschool in Franklin Park, and have lots of experience with loads of homework. After sitting in class for 8 hours a day, homework is the last thing I want to do when I get home. Teachers say homework will help students better understand what they learned, which might be true, but I believe there needs to be a balance.
Balance
What do I mean by balance? There are around 6 core classes a day, which means 6 times the amount of homework a student could possibly get. When teachers assign their homework and students start to complain, the teacher will respond with, “This is not even a lot of homework.” They forget that their students have many other classes; it adds up. There should be a limit on how much a teacher should give a student because too much is unnecessary and just busy work. Small amounts of homework to check a student’s understanding of what they are learning is important. This is what I believe is balance, which does not include hours of homework a day, but just simply enough for a teacher to know what you understand.
Day in my life
School is not the only important thing students have to do daily. Let’s say I have six core classes where homework is normally assigned. Imagine each teacher assigned 30 minutes of work; that’s 3 hours a day. Here’s a run down of what one of my days can consist of: when I get home, I grab something to eat, help with chores, and cook. After this, it is about time to go to the gym for strength training. Next, I head to my softball practice where I get home around 8:00. To end the day, I take a shower and eat dinner, meaning I don’t start my homework till around 9, on a good day. Students are forced to stay up way past the recommended bedtime and unable to get the full 8 hours of sleep needed. All of this cramping causes stress. Today, 70% of students report being “overly stressed over their work being given on a daily basis.”
Health effects
Clearly, homework helps students remember what they’ve learned during class and can help grades. Too much homework is proven detrimental to some students’ mental health, well-being, and even familial well-being. Going home to work on school work after an 8 hour day and not knowing how to complete the assignments is very stressful to many students. Stressing over multiple assignments a day causes long and hard nights affecting sleep schedules. Everybody knows how important sleep is, without the correct amount, students will not be able to perform at their best.
Alternatives
Demolishing homework altogether is unreasonable. The type, amount, and timing of homework given is the problem. The only way homework is effective and valuable is if it’s something that has already been taught and not just busy work. Pages and pages of homework daily are definitely unnecessary and stressful for many. This is known as busy work and takes up time from your day when you could be doing other more productive activities. Timing is also a major issue to me. When teachers cram quizzes, tests, and assignments before a break, students are left with multiple tests and exams on the same day. This requires a ton of studying and preparation because of how important they are to students’ futures. There is definitely no time for out of school activities.
Teachers should communicate with each other. There are multiple different options on spreading out homework in an efficient way. For example, each subject could have their own day of the week. Math assigns homework on Mondays, Science on Tuesdays, ect. This will help students space out their work, in return they would be able to put more effort in their work. The more effort a student gives the better they understand the material.
Do better
Overall, there is no homework balance in the school education system. Students have lives outside of school and need more time to just relax and do the things they enjoy. It is a full-time job to be a hard-working dedicated student. A student should be able to get most, if not all of their work done with the amount of hours they attend school a week. If 40 hours a week isn’t enough, there is something wrong with the education system.