Why the amount of homework given should be reduced

Day  after day, students are given massive amounts of homework to do at their house, some students have the time to complete these new assignments… others do not. In high school more than two hours a day of homework are given to students all around the world, and this is a big problem.  

 

If a student has after school activities like sports, clubs, or family obligations, squeezing in homework gets harder and harder, and a simple “do it aft   er” can take away from much needed sleep, especially for students. Even if someone had an empty schedule, homework is simply not worth it, In Finland, up to 2.8 hours of homework a week is given out, that’s less than an hour a day, and students there are placed very high on tests and exams, higher than most countries. Same scenario in South Korea, they give less than 3 hours of homework a week and yet they placed 2nd in the world for their reading knowledge.

 

According to US news, polled american high school students said they get an average of 3 hours of homework- a day! It is no surprise that America has a high school dropout rate of 25% while Finland has a dropout rate of less <1%.

To fix this crisis, I call on Awilda Saavedra Reasco, head of education in Connecticut, to abolish aft   er school homework, or at least lower the amount of homework to <2 hours a week, doing this will not only save time and sleep for students, but will also save funds for the school, (paper and ink) and could benefit students grades, who might be missing homework that they didn’t have enough time to do. What’s more important, more work for students, or their mental health?

By Trevor Steinke

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5 thoughts on “Why the amount of homework given should be reduced

  1. Nice work! How strongly do you feel about this topic? We may have a discussion later about it, if you would find that helpful and productive.

  2. Great job Trevor. Very persuasive and you got your point across. A strong job with your punctuation. Two thumbs up!

  3. Amazing, I like the awkward pauses and astounding grammar and punctuation. It looks like the work of an outstanding writer, truly college level work here! Good job, Shae!

  4. Dear Trevor, I do agree that homework should be reduced, and is in fact not beneficial. I will show you an essay I wrote about why homework is non-beneficial.

    Did you know that students spend an average of 6.8 hours a week on homework? These students have hours of work forced upon them everyday. Homework is not beneficial to students, let me tell you why. Having too much homework can be harmful, low income students are poorly affected by homework, and there is little evidence that homework helps children in learning, but homework is still being forced onto students.

    Having lots of homework is very stressful, trust me. Too much homework can be harmful, and many people agree. A poll in a California high school found that 43% said that homework was their greatest source of stress and 82% said that they were often stressed by homework. An article titled “Is Homework Beneficial” states that, “Whenever homework crowds out social experience, outdoor recreation, and creative activities, and whenever it usurps time that should be devoted to sleep, it is not meeting the basic needs of children and adolescents. (2)” This is harmful to students as they have less time to do things they love and need, while spending time on homework that really isn’t that beneficial. “High achieving high school students say the amount of homework they have to complete leads to sleep deprivation and other health problems, such as headaches, exhaustion, weight loss, and stomach problems. (2)” If something starts affecting your health, then you obviously shouldn’t continue.

    Homework poorly affects students in low income scenarios. How, you may ask? Students in low income families are less likely to have access to resources needed for homework, such as pens, paper, computers, internet, a work space, or a parent to help. They are most likely to have work after school or have to look over younger siblings, which leaves less time for homework.“96.5% of students across the country said they needed to use the internet for class assignments outside of school, and nearly half reported there had been times they were unable to complete homework due to lack of access to the internet or a computer, sometimes resulting in lower grades. (3)” This shows that some students that don’t have access to these things are poorly affected by homework. “Homework increases social inequality because it “potentially serves as a mechanism to further advantage those students who already experience some privilege in the school system while further disadvantaging those who may already be in a marginalized position. (3)” Social inequality is already a problem, and if homework increases social inequality, then we as a society should do something about it.

    Many have noticed that there is a lack of evidence that homework helps children. This topic has been studied and argued for a while now, and some researchers have found that no, homework does not help children. “An article published in the Review of Educational Research, homework had no association with achievement gains when measured by standardized tests. (4)” So does homework really help? “4th graders students who did no homework got roughly the same score on the NAEP math exam as those who did 30 minutes if homework a night. Students who did 45 minutes or more of homework a night actually did worse. (4)” Homework is not the most effective tool for learning. Children are learning more when not doing homework. The University of Michigan found that reading for pleasure instead of homework was strongly linked to higher scores on tests for children up to 12 years old.

    These reasons lead me to conclude that homework is not beneficial for students. Even though homework has been linked to some achievement, helps develop study habits, and allows parents to be involved in their child’s learning, homework has still shown to not be beneficial because homework is stressful, it poorly affects low income students, and there is little evidence that homework actually helps students. These reasons that do not benefit students are stronger than those that support homework. Homework is not beneficial and that should be known.

    Sincerely, Kristian.

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