Homework: A Helper or a Hindrance?

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

Imagine having a full time job where you did not get paid, could not quit, and have at least a few hours of paperwork to complete each night. This is what students go through everyday with homework. Homework is assignments sent home from school for students of all ages to finish by a certain due date, for a grade. In the past decade, controversies over the amount of work kids and teens are given has lead many to study the benefits of homework to see if the work teachers assign is actually helping students academically and improving test scores. It has grown to an extreme amount, prevents kids and teens from getting the things they need in life, gets in the way of a good childhood, damages relationships, and has not proven to actually aid

“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.

Everyday, when the school day is over, students are most likely to get homework to do when they get home. This can be a lot or a little amount of homework, but it can still effect the students the way they are. These effects can be good, bad, or nothing, so today, we take a look whether homework should be assigned or not.

David Mills’s article published in Healthline, “Is Too Much Homework Bad for Kids’ Health?” is a piece focused upon the extensive amount of time consumed by homework by students of all ages as well as the subsequent health effects that typically result from the issue. With the assistance of multiple studies, Mills argues that current students are highly exceeding the national standard of allotted time for homework and instead recommends several alternatives to the problem, such as primarily focusing upon the assignments that they deem as of appropriate and beneficial quality. Although he specifically asserts that refusing to do the work altogether is one of the best methods to easily relieve the increasing pressure felt by students in vigorous schooling systems, it actually has the opposite effect: by delaying the work until later, students fall into an endless cycle of being

The dreaded topic of homework is discussed in this article. Students in EDU 360/560 will use ERIC online to access the following document for this reflection assignment and post using the template below. Gill, B.P., & Schlossman, S. L. (2004). Villian or Savior? The American Discourse on Homework, 1850 - 2003. Theory Into Practice, 43(3), 174 - 181.

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.

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?

On average, American high school teachers assign approximately 3.5 hours of homework each week, meaning that teens with multiple classes spend around 17.5 hours a week working on these assignments. In only 13 years, the percentage of teens that claim they spend an hour on homework each day has increased to 45%, from the 39% in 1994 (Bidwell). Parents and students across the country are beginning to spot the flaws in these homework methods, however, claiming that academics are merely being memorized instead of thoroughly taught. Is homework truly helping America’s students? To the majority of high schoolers, the answer is clear: homework is unnecessary for academic development.

Roberto Nevilis, a teacher in Venice, changed history when he created the first use of homework in 1095. Since then, students’ opinions of homework haven’t changed. Roberto Nevilis started homework as a way of punishing his students for not doing their work. Nowadays, homework is assigned to help students receive more practice for what they learned in school that day. Despite the good intentions that homework is supposed to provide, it actually proves more harm than good. In the twenty-first century, the increase of homework negatively affects American teens’ sleep schedules, stress levels, and after school opportunities. Parent involvement in homework can turn into parent interference.

There is an important debate in education over the issue of homework. While experts on the use of homework have slightly different views, they ultimately come to the same conclusion. They believe homework should not be inefficient busy work. Homework should only be given if it is efficient and beneficial to the student.

Homework has been at the front of school reform since the early 1900’s. Debates over the benefits of homework include “immediate impact on the retention and understanding of the material it covers” (Cooper, 1989, p.86) and downsides of homework include “satiation, denial of access to leisure time and community activities; parental interference; cheating; and increased differences between high and low achievers” (Cooper, 2006, p.7) have led to a see-saw of support and objection regarding homework. There is support from several studies (Maltese, Tai, Fan, 2012; Cooper, Robinson, Patall, 2006; Falkenberg & Barbetta, 2013) that cite homework as a source of increasing students’ achievement level. None of the

Homework can become more closely monitored to assure that the work being assigned to students is useful and engaging. Parents and students are unhappy with homework assigned as busy work which offers little depth and instead just consumes the student’s time (Melvin). If the High School could keep a closer eye on what teachers are assigning students, this would help to alleviate students who are stuck performing monotonous tasks night after night that do not contribute to their overall educational experience. To elaborate on this, different forms of homework impact certain students differently and good teachers will be able to deliver educational value through different types of work. (Terada). Teachers who always assign only a single type of homework will inevitably be unable to engage their entire class. In order to fully get everyone to become involved and engaged in the work allotted, the school system should make sure that the homework teachers assign to students is constantly

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.

Stress and anxiety in students is mainly caused by homework (Galloway 3). Excessive Homework can cause a variety of health problems and “Studies that have explored the relation between homework and well-being indicate that number of hours of homework is negatively associated with psychological well-being, physical health symptoms, and sleep.” and these health issues can be very detrimental to students (Galloway 4). According to Galloway a “study of 1,457 students…found that academic demands [were the main reason] students gave for their sleep-deprivation.” and a lack of sleep can be detrimental to learning and engagement in school. A study of Australian high school students showed that doing more homework led to “more mood disturbance (…and fatigue) (Galloway 4). More time spent doing homework, the