Do you feel like you are always stressed as soon as school starts but don’t know why? Well, it might be the loads of homework that you are getting.
Most kids have always hated homework but never really had a valid reason to. I think we just hate it because we don’t want to do more schoolwork after already having so much to do Monday-Friday from 7:30 to 3:00, if not later. Did you know that homework is actually bad for you, probably not all that bad, but this is what the article below is claiming. I’m going to go over all the reasons why homework is bad for you so you can decide for yourself once and for all if homework should be banned.
A poll of California high school students found that 59% of students thought they had too much homework and 82% of respondents said that they were “often or always stressed by schoolwork”. When some teachers are giving homework, they don’t realize that’s not the only homework you are getting for the day. The other seven to nine classes that you may have are probably also giving you homework. If each teacher hands you one paper of homework that adds up and can take you hours that you don’t have to complete their work. It’s even worse if you are a student athlete because you may not be getting home until 9 or 10 in the evening, then you have to do your homework, and the next thing you know it is 11 or 12 o’clock at night and you can’t get your 8 hours of sleep, which can lead to even more stress.
The excessive amounts of homework not only causes stress but also creates bad habits. A survey of middle school, high school, and college students found that 90% of middle school students and 67% of high school students admit to copying someone else’s homework, and 43% of college students engaged in “unauthorized collaboration” on out-of-class assignments. Even parents take shortcuts on homework, 43% of those surveyed admitted to having completed a child’s assignment for them. Under pressure to finish at-home assignments, many students resort to copying others’ work, plagiarizing, or using creative tech “hacks” in order to hand something in. Cheating on a homework assignment isn’t going to help one learn, but in most cases every student has to or else they are going to be doing homework all night. Then it is possible that when the student goes back to class they are going to be lost because they cheated on their homework and didn’t learn anything in the process so they won’t be prepared for upcoming tests.
Not only is the completion of homework difficult, it might be harder for some to access the homework. It’s no secret that our world is becoming very reliant on technology, leading to most homework assigned online. A Hispanic Heritage Foundation study found that 96.5% of students across the country needed to use the internet for homework. This can cause many problems because a lot of students don’t have easy access to the internet. Nearly half reported they were sometimes unable to complete their homework due to lack of access to the internet or a computer. 30% (about 15 to 16 million) public school students either did not have an adequate internet connection or an appropriate device, or both, for distance learning. This leads to not being able to do the homework which then leads to grades dropping and needing other accommodations so work can be completed.
Too much homework can even cause health problems. A study showed that higher-achieving students (those who have typically more homework) are at higher risk for stress-related health issues including sleep deprivation, weight loss, stomach problems, and headaches.
Ironically, there are students end up doing better in classes that assign no homework, than in classes where homework is assigned. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, stated, “I interviewed high school teachers who completely stopped giving homework and there was no downside, it was all upside.” Even when some were assigned homework, he explained, “just because the same kids who get more homework do a little better on tests, doesn’t mean the homework made that happen.”
With how many downsides there are to homework, it is hard to think of any good enough reason to still be assigning it. Teachers reading this should consider their stance on assigning homework, since it has glaring negatives, in their classes going forward.
Works Cited:
- britannica. (2022, February 25). Homework Pros and Cons – Should Homework Be Banned? ProCon.org. Retrieved September 12, 2024, from https://www.procon.org/headlines/homework-pros-cons-procon-org/
- Lathan, J. (n.d.). Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students. University of San Diego Online Degrees. Retrieved September 12, 2024, from https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/education-inequity-and-homework/
