When you get home from a long day of school or work, all you think about is your time to finally rest. Instead, students in America have to stress over the fact that they’re teachers assigned them with pounds of homework. I know I struggle with this problem. I have stayed up till 12 pushing myself to finish some lengthy assignments, because I had to balance schoolwork, soccer practice, dinner, showering, flute practice and just generally resting. Schools are putting excessive pressure on kids. We need breaks in life to help our mental health and we time to get outside for our physical health.
Did you know that American Students have 3 times the amount of homework they’re supposed to have? Studies and research demonstrate that homework doesn’t improve test scores and grades, it’s just making students more stressed and sleep deprived. In fact, “More than 60% of students say that homework is a major reason they stress about school,” states an article by Grade Power Learning.com. It’s time American schools reduce the amount of homework they give students.
This comes down to the fact that homework may not even benefit us, and our studies. People may argue that homework teaches students valuable study skills that they will use long after they finish school. I agree with this, but teachers can actually educate these values in school. If students have extra time, they can study and learn about things that interest them.
Other countries’ education systems and test scores are thriving without less homework. One example of a country that is using this value in their education system is Finland. Finland very much cares about the wellness, happiness and health of their citizens. By accomplishing their beliefs, teachers give no homework! In addition to not giving homework students only have 20 hours of school a week. Whereas America trapping students in school for an average of 32 and half hours each week. This is unbelievable because Finland’s test scores are some of the highest in the world. In the PISA 2018 ranking summary, Finland’s scores were sky-scraping the United states.
You may ask how Finland ranked so high. The answer is simple. Teachers interact with the students.
According to a New York Times article, ´Children and Homework´, ¨Homework overlooks the children. Research consistently shows that rote homework is not engaging, with little to no benefit to young children.¨ We need kids to be engaged with school. This means less 10 paged packets for homework, and more interaction from our teachers. If we want our country to rank higher on testing scores, homework is not the way to go.
