Is Homework Really Helpful?

How does homework affect students in academic and nonacademic ways? Both educators and students ask this infamous question throughout the course of their education tracks. Teachers and administrators often believe that homework is necessary; whereas, students often question the legitimacy of homework. However, due to new studies and research about homework, it has been proven to be insignificant, oppressive and pernicious to the student's wellness and success.

Have you ever wanted to just shred up your homework or throw it out the window and have no consequences? Kids are assigned daily homework from the time they start kindergarten at the ripe young age of five. Is it really necessary? Does it even help better learning or even higher test scores? The amount of homework we do wastes time, money, paper, and trees because it’s practically the exact same thing we did in class that day. Homework causes kid’s and teen’s frustration, tiredness, little time for other activities and possibly even a loss of interest in their education. It also keeps everyone up; it has kids and teens staying up until they finish it, the parents trying to help them and the teachers grading it. So, I think that homework is

We all view the benefits of homework differently. Homework can have many effects but it’s not as helpful to everyone as one may think. It can prove to be more stressful than beneficial, can confuse you more than help you, and doesn’t 100% help standardized testing. People need to understand what homework really is and how beneficial it actually is. They need to understand that homework doesn’t always help and that it can prove to be less helpful than

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.

Homework not only takes up time but it pressures and stresses kids out. “Fifty-six per cent of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives, despite the fact that most U.S. students' homework load has remained relatively stable since 1984, according to the Brookings Institute's 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education”(Daily Mail Reporter). “Fifty-six per cent of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their

The driving force behind homework is to reinforce taught concepts from classroom instruction. Homework provides students opportunity to practice targeted skills without taking up valuable classroom instructional time. Students benefit from the routine homework establishes and the responsibility it promotes in children at a young age. This helps develop essential practices in turn setting them up to become lifelong learners. Beyond the academic opportunity homework provides, it additionally encourages positive long-lasting lessons for future success in life. Homework supports students to develop responsibility through managing materials, prioritizing tasks, and balancing time management of assignments.

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

What the public is concerned about is if homework should even be assigned? Homework was contrived to prepare students and help them engage them in the content being taught. Homework also enacts time management skills and responsibility of growing young adults. Although the debate about if homework should be given minimally or in discretion and that homework has no verified benefits still stands. Homework is necessary for causing students to be engaged in the content taught and delivers time management skills for the future.

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.

Homework needs to be smarter. In the article “Research Trends: Why Homework Should be Balanced” it is stated that “the goal shouldn't be to eliminate homework, but to make it authentic,meaningful and engaging”. I could not agree with this statement more. If we want homework to help students why do we worry more about the amount we give rather than what we give? As students, we deal with countless amounts of homework on a daily basis and much of it is just busy work. The truth is we aren't learning much from it either. There is little or no evidence that suggests any benefits amongst elementary kids, and there are only small benefits to our secondary students. In fact the opposite can be true. “Assigning too much homework can result in poor

Homework has negative health effects and only wastes the students time when they could be doing more important things. Most of the time it doesn't even improve academic achievement at all. It's a burden that no student enjoys doing and no teacher enjoys giving out. Everyone needs to come together to help stop the excess amount of homework given out. That’s why I'm certain that schools should either ban or limit the amount of homework given

In almost all schools, teachers assign homework assignments to students starting in elementary school. When students begin to grow older and are faced with more challenging classes in junior high and high school, the workload begins to pile up. Students are now becoming more stressed and have anxiety because of the amount of work that is placed on them which is even taking a toll on their family life. Many students end up completing the assignment in order to just get credit for it without a regard for learning. But over the years, homework has begun to lose its purpose. Instead of the students focusing on only completing their homework in order to get good grades, they should be more focused on learning the material that they are studying. Without truly understanding the material in the classes that students might be taking, school is essentially a waste of time. The effects of mass quantities of schoolwork on students that are given by teachers leads students to underperform in school due to the mental stress and anxiety.

Historically, homework has been an essential aspect of the American educational system because teachers assign homework to enhance students’ learning outcomes. According to Cooper, homework involves tasks assigned to students by schoolteachers; these tasks are meant to be carried out during noninstructional

Homework has been a topic of conversation in elementary education for the majority of last decade, the pros and cons have been argued and researched time and time again. While most professionals in the field agree that homework is needed and helpful in middle and high school, when it comes to younger grades the information strongly shows that it is a waste of time. At its core homework has two possible effects in the home. Homework can be seen as a rule over parents from the school to manage their children’s time outside of school or as a way to inform parents on what their children are currently and allow them participation in their children’s education (Wright).