Counterproductive For Children

One of the most controversial topics in education today is homework. This debate has been going on for decades, as teachers, administrators, and parents disagree on whether homework should be assigned, and if assigned, then what the right amount of homework should be. The time students spend on homework has increased over the years. “High school students get assigned up to 17.5 hours of homework per week, according to a survey of 1,000 teachers” (Bidwell). Recently, more fuel has been added in this debate because younger students in particular are receiving much more homework than before. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, states that “The amount of homework that younger kids – ages 6 to 9 – have

“Homework is arguably the worst punishment inflicted upon the student body.” One would think this extreme statement would come from the 10-year boys and girls who complain to their parents about the homework they have to complete. However, Rodney Jones starts of his argument against homework using this statement. He argues that homework does not help children taking up all their time. Continuing, he explains how parents should extend child’s knowledge out of school instead of homework and in the end these assignments do not help students grade. However, in contrast of Jones’ beliefs homework indeed benefits children’s learning through the small amounts of extra practice it gives to help the students excel.

The debate regarding exactly how much homework is too much homework has been an ongoing debate for years. As of right now, there seems to be no end in sight for this debate. Various adults believe that if children do not obtain homework, then they are not learning properly. However, numerous children are obtaining a substantial amount of homework per night, as well as per each class. Once a child exceeds a certain amount of homework, then it is no longer beneficial for the child’s education. An excessive amount of homework can essentially become harmful to the child’s education. As a result, teachers are struggling with finding the right amount of homework to assign to students. The National Education Association as well as the National Parent-Teacher Association endorse the “10-minute rule” for teachers to follow when assigning homework to students. If a child is assigned an excessive amount of homework, then the child might experience more harm than good when attempting to complete the assigned homework.

Homework has been an area of discussion for teachers, students, and even psychologists. It’s been a practice which has been used throughout the United States to help students learn material, reinforce their day’s lesson, or just as busy work to improve a student’s work ethic. Several people view homework as useless, or just plainly unhelpful; this view has been demonstrated ever since the early twentieth century, where many authors and politicians were vehemently against homework, going as far as to write whole books and draft legislation (legislation which had passed the Californian government and had been law) against homework. This opposition has ever since faded, but is now seeing a new movement around America, and there are reasons as to why that is. In an article from CNN, they quote a study from another article published by The American Journal of Family Therapy which states that: “students in the early elementary school years are getting significantly more homework than is recommended by education leaders, in some cases nearly three times as much homework as is recommended”, and, as such, students are raised within a state of stress from the first grade. Several other studies also find that homework is very hurtful; the Journal of Experimental Education published an article which had made a study that found that the average amount of time students spend on homework each night had been 3.1 hours from a sample of high-performing schools in California, when the recommended time on homework is, at most, one hour each night. Homework has been mandated work for students all around the country, and several others, and the workload seems to only be increasing, and so, how might this workload affect a student’s ability to live a healthy life, a teacher’s work plan, and a psychologist’s view of an enormous workload on a student?

Homework has the greatest affect on our lives, even on our teachers and parents,as well as students.The purpose of homework is to connect the gap between children’s learning at school and at home.Most children abhor the purpose of homework.Others insist that assignments are a very important factor in the life of students and that it should be maintained.Homework has a positive impact on children and may help a child’s future life and career.

Across the world, children and teens do homework after school. Many people expect homework to be a healthy educational learning tool, but is it really? No, I believe homework is something we need to get rid of. Instead of making it easier to learn, it is creating stress and medical issues with students, finally, it doesn’t affect academic success. Why exactly?

Homework is known for burning kids out. Researchers have looked into this issue and have found that homework in a way can have the opposite effect of building and teaching kids to wearing them out completely. “Some researchers have found that too much homework can lower or cancel its benefits and become counterproductive, because students become burned out”(Why do we have homework?). Even though some may

In many American households, homework is the main cause of stress. Some people think that America is not so well and adding more homework will fix that problem. A study by Indiana University found that students who do more homework tend to get higher scores on standardized tests” (“Do Kids Need Homework?”). “Plus, part of growing up is learning to balance outside activities and the demands of schoolwork” (“Should Parents Help Kids With Homework?). Teachers have their reasons as well. “Teachers say homework is important in the learning process and can help kids develop study and organizational skills. They say kids need to practice what they've learned in school so that the material sticks in their brain” (Strauss). “Having too much homework

It is a well known fact that students of various ages and schools are assigned homework, although the motive for giving said homework may vary depending on the teacher. However, the debate about whether homework is helping or hindering education is at a stalemate. Stated simply, homework is work assigned by teachers that students should complete at home or any other non-school setting. Just how effective is homework in the long run? Is it just adding unnecessary stress to students without truly adding enough positivity to make the homework worth it? Although homework can seem burdensome, it undoubtedly solidifies concepts learned in class and aids in the development of timeless skills such as time management and accountability.

“Does Homework Really Work?” by Leslie Crawford agrees with The Huffington Post and Murphy Paul. “homework (takes) precious family time and puts kids under unneeded pressure, is an ineffective way to help children become better learners and thinkers.” -Crawford. One Canadian couple took the case to court claiming their children’s academic performance was not improved after completing homework assignments and won: their children were exempt from future

In summation, homework provides students with the capacity to allow them to succeed on their day to day lives when it is not on excess. There is, of course, some questioning on whether homework directly helps student have a better academic performance. However, it is clear that homework guides children to the necessary developmental growth needed to succeed. Additionally, it contributes to a healthier parent-teacher and student-parent relationships in order to provide students with the necessary atmosphere to grow full

Homework can take away family and friend time. Children and their families can’t have fun with each other if kids have a lot of homework to get done. Parents

“Homework is like the extension of school where it is no longer kept out of family time. It’s like an imposter in the child’s life.” (wsuscholarlyediting.org) “Students are working more than the recommended amount of time on homework, and this takes away from family time and free time.” (greatschools.org). Homework is making it so kids can't spend time with their families or have some time for themselves.

Homework can cause stress for some children, leading to issues such as sleep deprivation. We start at nine and get out at three, that’s enough already. Adult come home from exhausted from work and yet they can’t understand when their kids have trouble at the end of a

According to Dennis Pope, a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, “Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good” (Clifton 2014.) Homework is intended to be a measure taken to instill responsibility and provide growth through practice. However, until an individual obtains the logic necessary to perceive the homework as it is intended, it is impractical to assign such measures. This is the case for kindergarten students.