Homework is a recurring dilemma in all of high school and college. Pursuing academic success via AP Courses and College Courses, coupled with volunteering and extracurricular activities, doing a large amount of homework for seven different classes is severely detrimental to the body and the brain. Getting rid of tests was next to impossible. The recurring dilemma of homework has grown into a severe problem. This problem is unethical due to causing stress to young adolescents. This problem can be eradicated by merely giving less homework and more time in school for students to do their homework. This solution frees students from the pressure they are put in each night to finish homework.

Students suffer from the immediate problem of homework and snowballing into stress. As researchers from the NEA and NPTA collected data, they undermined the astonishing data of “When it came to stress, more than seventy percent of students said they were ‘often or always stressed over schoolwork,’ with fifty-six percent listing homework as a primary stressor.” The number seventy stings like a bee. Imagine twenty-one students in a classroom of thirty getting a B on an assignment rather than an A. That is a considerable number of students per class unable to be as successful as possible. Why? Because despite the teachers having pure intentions, the raw amount of homework assigned causes students an overload of stress. The very thing that was supposed to help students do well on tests is now causing them to drop whole letter grades on exams. The well-renowned college Oxford conducted research and found, “Homework is an important part of being successful inside and outside of the classroom, but too much of it can have the opposite effect. Students who spend too much time on homework cannot always meet other needs, like being physically and socially active. Ultimately, the amount of homework a student has can impact a lot more than their grades.” Teachers justified in giving students homework plays the most significant role in a student’s life by making them successful. Although homework is beneficial to students, the extensive amount of homework given in one class magnifies seven times, and that amount of homework is purely inhumane to do. Too much homework is harmful to students because it takes a severe toll on their mental and physical health. The stress of homework causes students to be diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Not only that, but homework causes students to disengage from society. These severe problems are all caused due to homework stress.

Stress can be eradicated by giving less homework and more time in class to complete the assignment. Psychology and neuroscience professor, Harris Cooper, studied homework for around twenty-five years and found that when given homework lasting sixty to ninety minutes total, junior high students achieved higher grades than other junior high students who were doing two-three hours worth of homework. Reducing homework from “two to three hours” to “sixty to ninety minutes” will positively affect both sides. The short homework will teach the students and help them be successful. Still, it won’t put unnecessary stress placed if the homework was 3 hours long. Elementary school teacher, Karen M. Ricks, talks about her experience with her students and says. “I believe in eliminating homework… (motivates) children to dive more deeply into activities which most interest them.” As seen, even teachers agree that homework elimination or reduction can make a change. The extra time can be used for the children to engage in activities they enjoy. Investing time in something the students love and are good at inherently causes the students to be successful and become professionals. Thus, removing homework piece by piece or complete elimination naturally allows students to succeed.

Sources

Hobbs, T. D. (2018, December 12). Down With Homework, Say U.S. School Districts. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/no-homework-its-the-new-thing-in-u-s-schools-11544610600.

Oxford Learning. (2016, October 4). Infographic: How Does Homework Actually Affect Students? Oxford Learning. https://www.oxfordlearning.com/how-does-homework-affect-students.

Levy, S. (2019, August 22). Why Homework is Bad: Stress and Consequences. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-more-homework-means-more-stress-031114.

Sokol, R. (2017, September 10). Should Schools Eliminate Homework? FamilyEducation. https://www.familyeducation.com/should-schools-eliminate-homework.