Written by Victoria Arutunian
Let me tell you why homework should be banned...or at least reduced.
While some may call the unwillingness to do homework assignments blatant laziness or even brush it off as senioritis (which I promise is a real thing), I’m not writing this just because I may or may not have a few missing assignments right now, but because assigning too much homework to your students can actually do more harm than good. Many tend to believe that the extra work is beneficial in the long run, and if you’re one of these people, I have some news for you. It has been proven that over time too much homework can lead to extremely high-stress levels, sleep deprivation, and physical health problems.
Let me just start by saying that students attend school every day, for 8 hours a day, five days a week. Imagine everything that we get done during an 8 hour day; classwork, notes, and other assignments. Now, imagine doing that work all-day and going home to an additional 3.5 hours of homework; this means that on top of 40 hours of school every week, students also spend up to an additional 20 hours weekly on homework. What does that mean? It means that students, on average, spend up to 60 hours on school and homework combined every week for five days a week. It would be even more if I included the weekend.
It has been proven by researchers at Stanford that “too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.” Researchers surveyed a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Students reported completing an average of 3.1 hours of homework every night. The findings concluded that too much homework could be counterproductive, and here is more insight as to why.
Greater stress levels:
“56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.”
Reductions in health:
“Many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems.”
Not only can an excessive amount of homework impact a student’s health, but it can also harm a student’s social life. Research shows that “survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.” this especially is something that often happens, canceling on plans or not being able to do certain things because of the excessive load of work you have to do is not a pretty feeling.
Overall, homework is something that not many enjoy but can be made a little more tolerable. It is recommended that if schools decide to continue to assign homework, then schools shouldn’t assign more than 2 hours of homework a night, and even 90 minutes of work is enough, and most of the time, there is no reason for extra work. So teachers, next time you go to give out yet another homework assignment, we students would appreciate you keeping us in mind because good grades should not matter more than a student’s health. Too much of anything is a bad thing, and in this case, to keep everyone happy, we should keep homework limited to the least amount possible.
Sources
University, Stanford. “Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework.” Stanford News, 16 Apr. 2016, news.stanford.edu/2014/03/10/too-much-homework-031014/#:~:text=A%20Stanford%20researcher%20found%20that,counterproductive%2C%20according%20to%20the%20study.
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