Too
Much Homework?
“Man, I
have so much homework today. How am I ever going to get through it all?” Every
day, high school teenagers across
After working hard for seven hours each day, five days a week, why should students have to go home and engage in even more work? While school is a very important part of a teenager’s life in order to help prepare for the future, it is not the only important element. Teenagers’ social lives and experiences outside of school and work also play a major part in their development as the adults who will someday lead this country. With the hours of homework teenagers receive every day, it is often hard to be strongly involved with and dedicated to a school club or sports team after school. In this day and age where getting into college has become a major competition, being dedicated to after school activities is crucial and the amounts of homework students receive can limit their participation. In addition, teenagers need time to rest and relax after school in order to be ready and in optimal condition for the next day of school. With this fits the fact that with the large amounts of homework students receive, it is often hard to get to sleep at a decent hour. It is not unusual for a teenager to have to stay up past midnight a few nights a week in order to get all their homework done. When having to get up around seven o’clock in order to get to school on time, it is nearly impossible to get the nine and fifteen minutes of sleep that studies show teenagers need per night. Furthermore, if homework was not mandatory, not only would students have more time for after school activities and to rest, but they would also have more time for other work. This would give students more time to study for and do work in subjects that they need help in while giving less time to subjects that they are already proficient at.
Not only does mandatory homework take up valuable time, but it also adds much unneeded stress to the already stressful lives of teenagers. With the amounts of work students are facing these days, they are also experiencing far more stress than ever before. Although stress may be beneficial to some extent, in pushing a student to work hard and do their best work, it can also have a detrimental effect on both the student and his work. With hours of work still ahead of them and as stress builds, students often rush to get through their homework as fast as possible so they can just lay down and relax for a little while. This rushing causes teenagers not to absorb as much of the information as they could have if they did a slower and more thorough job. The quality of the work being done also decreases when students rush so they can get through all of their work. The stress created by excess amounts of work can also cause students to loose interest in their work and school in general. With this comes an overall decrease in performance in school. If students had less work there would be less contempt for both it and school and the general morale would be higher. Students would be more eager to work and thus the quality of their work and their academic performance would increase. When teenagers also have other priorities in their lives such as sports, SATs, and clubs, the level of stress they experience will be even higher. This change in mental state is detrimental to both students and their work.
Aside from taking up much time and adding excess amounts of stress, homework is also something that is not needed by all students in all subject areas. One of the main goals of homework is to reinforce what has been learned during the day in class, often through repetition. As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” While homework is certainly beneficial in this way, not every student needs practice in every subject. While some students need more help in subjects such as social studies and English, others may already be proficient in these areas and need reinforcement in the sciences and math, and vice versa. If homework was still given but not made mandatory, it would allow students to focus more on the areas they needed help in by freeing time by not doing as much work in the other areas in which they were already proficient. Of course, tests, papers, and quizzes would all still be given periodically to test how well the students know the material and see if they are keeping up in their studies. Why should a student who is exceptionally gifted in an area or who is just strong in a specific area have to dedicate valuable time to do work that will be in no way beneficial to them? Instead, allow them invest their time in something that will increase their understanding of a subject they are weaker in. If homework were mandatory, students who were once good in some areas and worse in others would be able to raise their worse grades up to par with their better ones.
Overall, although homework is most definitely beneficial, mandatory homework assignments are not. This is in no way saying that homework should not be given and should not be completed, rather, it is saying homework should be given and it should be taken advantage of by students as necessary. Tests and quizzes should still be given periodically to insure that students are keeping up with their work and to help identify areas in which students need extra help. Not only would this system allow more time for students to study for their weaker subjects, but it would also give them more time for other important activities as well as help reduce the often overwhelming amounts of stress that teenagers these days face.