Is Homework Really Necessary?

Students are drowning with heavy amounts of homework given by teachers daily. They are given projects, quizzes, tests, and classwork that they have to finish for six classes. Somehow they manage, but it can be extremely stressful. There’s also something else that they have to work on: homework.

According to Peter Drucker from Huffpost, homework is the main reason students go to bed late and develop stress and anxiety. Most days, kids go to bed around midnight because of all the homework they have. Keep in mind that some kids don’t have a healthy home environment. Not having a healthy home environment can also affect how kids work. When kids don’t have a healthy home environment, that means that they might not be well-fed, well-rested, and they aren’t in the best mental state. Kids need to be ready to learn when they go to school, but it isn’t possible when they aren’t being taken care of properly. Some kids have to worry about their home life as well as their academic life and that can be stressful. Sometimes students aren’t able to complete their homework because they don’t have access to a computer. Students do have access to computers at school, but there could be some things preventing them to work at school, like having extracurricular activities during nutrition, lunch, or after school, or they might have certain religious beliefs that prevent them from doing certain things. The point is, they might not have enough time to complete their homework assignments and when they try to finish it, it’s already late at night. When students are tired, they’re more likely to do poorly on their assignments and have trouble focusing in class.

Teachers want their students to succeed but with large amounts of homework in every class, it feels impossible. It’s almost impossible because most students need time for extracurricular activities and sports. If teachers are to assign homework, it should be a small amount to the point where it won’t take you an hour to finish. The homework should be challenging, but there shouldn’t be anything you can’t figure out by yourself. Parents have their own stresses and they may not be able to help you. Students can also be in foster care, or there might be a situation where they don’t have a parent, which means they don’t have the same support and help as others do. When someone is helping you one on one, you can ask them as many questions that you want and they are with you every step of the way. That isn’t the case for most students though because some don’t have parents who are able to help and some don’t have enough money for a tutor.

Why Homework is Bad for Students
Teachers tend to give more assignments than students can handle. Those assignments can take up a lot of a student’s time and energy. According to Peter Drucker from Huffpost, extra assignments can lead to unhealthy levels of stress. As seen from the chart below, it also shows that 31% of students feel that homework doesn’t help them learn. So why are we still giving students homework, when the people effected the worst by it aren’t sure it’s even helping them?

Overall, learning in the classroom should be a top priority when it comes to the environment in which students learn, but they also need to keep up with their social life. As reported by HuffPost, it’s a proven fact that students need time to rest and take time to free their mind off of school work. Students are already tired by the end of the day because of hours of schoolwork, but not all students are the same so some things could be more difficult for others which can add to their stress. Giving them work to do at home when they should be relaxing can lead to burning out. Excessive amounts of homework can make students less committed and make them not want to do their best because they don’t have the time. Homework decreases the amount of free time students have, which means less creativity and new ideas. When kids are going places with their friends and having a good time, they are happy and energetic, but they can’t have a good time if they’re piled with homework. Working at home for students should be banned and if not that, limited to a small amount.