How Stressful Homework Can Be On Elementary-Aged Students

By not giving out homework, students will work harder in class and have better grades. Teachers have to understand that if students are tired from late nights, they wouldn't be able to work efficiently during the day. In addition, students would be much more excited to come to school because they know they wouldn't have to worry about getting any homework. In 2010, a survey was taken and it showed that about 70% of teen ages 11 to 17 get less than 8 hours of sleep per day due to the amount of homework they have to do (Logos). According to Alfie Kohen, students feel forced to do their homework, therefore they aren't learning as much as they should (Ethos). Students lose interest in the topic and do not benefit from what they’re learning. In China, a cry for change by a mother who lost her thirteen year old daughter who committed suicide due to her inability to achieve in math, the mother considers homework is a huge negative factor toward her deceased daughter's tragic ending along with the pressure of society (Pathos). Such a story should leave us wondering, how many more children need to suffer the silent epidemic of school stress. Statistics prove the leading cause for the majority of physical and emotional complaints leading up to diagnosis of depression in middle and high school due to the amount of

Jones believes that homework taking away social life and family times however homework does not take many times and it leaves the parents to focus on other aspects of their life. One of Jones’s claims states that homework, “away from free time that could be used for entertainment, work, or family time” when in reality the average students in elementary school students simply spending thirty minutes and high school student only spending fifty minutes doing homework per day (Ryan). This shows that students have much more time to do other activities and homework does not take away from their social life. Also, Jones argues that parents would supplement if teachers did not come home with homework but the average parent does not leave work till 7:00 PM-8:00 PM not arriving home till 7:30-8:30 PM not having much time to then add one to two hours of extra education for their children (Yau). Because, in reality, teachers do not give an enormous amount of homework and parents do not have the time to add to their child’s education, students benefit greatly from homework.

After a long day of school, students are tired, stressed, and overworked. This is often something that is ignored when it comes to students of all ages. Homework provides a heavy load that can add additional stress and time on a student’s shoulders. Schools should be making sure that students are receiving enough work throughout the day, to make sure kids do not have the worry of homework when school is over. Students who receive lots of homework, may not have enough time in the evenings to be around family, friends and enjoy the rest of their day.

“49 percent of students reported feeling “a great deal of stress” on a daily basis. Half reported doing three or more hours of homework per night, and 26 percent noted that they had been diagnosed with depression” (Ossola, 1). With all that is expected of students in school, some rules she be changed to reduce these crazy issues. If schools would reduce homework, start school later, changed dress codes, and extend lunches, student would thrive and succeed more in school.

High school students feel more stress than working adults, and children are beginning to feel aversion towards learning. Both adolescents and children are at risk of health issues due to anxiety and less time is spent with family, playing, and sleeping. The cause for all of this is too much homework that is suffocating students. Homework causes students to sleep less, have more stress, and even forces students to give up extracurricular activities. These negative results can be improved by reducing the homework load.

In Denise Pope’s study 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary stress. High school students are under a great amount of stress

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?

People expect so much out of teenagers, especially the students who are involved in sports and maintain a job throughout the school year. They are expected to attend classes and their extracurricular activities; they have to make it to work on time, finish their homework, do their studies, and on top of that, get enough sleep at night. This is the kind of busy schedule students uphold in their week and it’s overwhelming for them. It causes stress and exhaustion, and people still expect them to do well and keep up with everything. Is this how we want students to feel all the time? Sure we want them to accomplish goals and be the best they can be, but one way to relieve some stress is less homework. When they come home from work or sports

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.

Homework takes up most of the time you spend after school which makes you social less.

Homework takes away from a student’s ability to socialize outside of school. 70% of students have reported decreased time spent with peers in order to do homework.

Kids today have too much stressful homework. Due to the increasing amount of difficult homework, the age level of kids getting stressed is becoming lower. The homework kids have to do today can exceed to 3 or 4 hours which can affect their sleep cycle. The more homework children have, the less time they’re outside making them lazier. Kids should have less difficult homework to reduce levels of stress and other health problems.

In addition, homework affects student social life. With little to no homework, students are able to expand their horizons and to discover their passions. Homework is a culprit to disrupting bonding time. They struggle with procrastination due to various factors. One of these factors, however, is due to its difficulty and the hours dedicated in completing assignments. On the other hand, students who take easier classes tend to have little to no homework. Therefore, they have more time to socialize and more time study. When students with easier classes receive homework, it does not take them hours to complete. Therefore, they tend to enjoy their school career more than honor students. Since the time it takes to complete homework prevents students from

To many kids in elementary schools, homework is a menace. It takes away quality time from a student’s daily life and activities. In Romesh Ratnesar’s article “The Homework Ate my Family”, Ratnesar mentions about a student named Molly and her daily routine. Her daily routine consists of “spending two hours doing homework, practicing the piano, doing more than 100 math problems, labeling the countries and bodies of water and reviewing a semester’s worth of science” (Ratnesar). Molly barely has time for dinner. Ratnesar also mentions about a girl named Christina who “does not want to go to middle school, high school or college because of homework” (Ratnesar). Jonathan Keys, a parent of two boys

From putting in countless amount of hours working each day, feeling obligated to be the best student in the country, and dealing with pressure from parents and everyone else, it can all add up and severely affect students, especially at a young age. All of those issues can result in health concerns, such as sleep deprivation and stress. Many students are undoubtedly stressed. The system is taking a toll on young South Koreans: 86 percent of high school students said they are stressed because of school, and 72.8 percent said they feel guilty if they take a break (Shim, “86 percent of South Korean students suffer from schoolwork stress”). From the alarming statistic, students are evidently dealing with a lot of stress because of school. When students are not studying, they feel guilty otherwise. Furthermore, the stress and pressure can negatively affect the student’s actions and mental state. An incident occurred with the murder of a mom that was killed by her own son named Ji, who kept her body hidden for eight months before it was discovered, because of the pressure and abuse he endured for a long time. He would fabricate his grade reports because his mom wanted him to enter a top university and be ranked first in nationwide exams. Ji was already in the top one percent, but that was not enough- he had to be ranked first. When he obtained lower scores than her expectations, she did not give him food and forced him to stay awake at night to study. On the day before the crime,