The Effects Of Homework On The American Educational System

I believe, as a student, that homework is just a tool that teachers use to keep us busy. Being a student who has received homework for various years, I have found that homework causes me a lot of stress (Ethos). Homework causes kids to get very stressed out, it causes stress in their families, and studies show that it does not improve test scores. Harris Cooper, a worker at Duke University (Ethos), found out that, doing more than 60 to 90 minute of homework in middle school and more than 2 hours in high school is associated with much lower scores (Logos). This just shows that homework is a useless item that students are forced to do. Firstly, students have to wake up from seven until two o'clock everyday,

Prior to the turn of the century, homework was really not a part of the average child's experience. This is largely because school itself was not necessarily a part of the average child's life, and once most children were done with their school day, they were expected to go home and do chores or help run the family farm.

So where did the concept of homework come from? Throughout history, homework has been in many cultures from the Roman Empire to today the concept of homework has always been present to varying degrees within Society. In the US in the 1900s the editor of Ladies Home Journal Edward Bok began a series of anti-homework articles and by the 1930s a ” society for the abolishing of homework” was formed and many school districts began reducing the amount of homework while a few districts actually abolished homework outright. This, however, came to a grinding halt after the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957.In the United States under fear that children were going to be unprepared to compete with their Russian counterparts Homework policies began to thrive, many administrators and officials saw homework as a

Not only does homework help student but also it creates interaction between teens and parents. However, statics has shown that even though homework is a way to refresh what students have learned, it also create stress for students. Homework has shown its benefits for student but most of the time when student is given a homework it’s likely he/she will not do it. They believe it’s stressful,and when they can’t get the right answer, they gave up instantly instead of keep practicing. According to researchers, they believe that when student do more homework they get better grades and do well on the test/quizzes that were given. Even though homework has many advantage toward students, it also has disadvantage. Which include having too much homework and these things could lead to mental health issue toward students.

Looking back on my public school education, I recall traipsing home from school with elation. Finally, I was free from sitting, thinking, and working! Then, my mother would inquire about homework and my evening would go up in proverbial flames. Today, homework continues to be a topic of heated debate. Some believe that homework reinforces what students learn at school while others protest that the amount of work drags students down. So, what action are schools and teachers taking for or against homework?

Homework has been around for many years, and parents have had many questions and concerns about the impact it has on their children. Kate McReynolds states in her article Homework that, “In 1957, the Soviet launch of Sputnik challenged the intellectual and military might of the United States. The New York Times ran a series of articles describing the Soviet educational system as superior to the United States’ system. Congress passed the National Defense Education Act and America’s youngsters were charged with restoring the nation’s competitive edge” (2). This means that schools are under the pressure to make sure their students excel and work extremely hard. So by doing so, they assign homework, which will progress to other issues for the students.

Homework is a large contributing factor to a student’s stress.Researchers surveyed students in 10 high-performing schools in California, and found that 56% of the students stated that homework was a primary stressor (Strauss). Reducing the amount of homework would be more beneficial to students than not. As students go throughout the school day the homework they get from each class piles up. Many students believe that homework is pointless since some teachers never look it over, and give a small amount of points for all of their work. Now this is not to say that homework should be worth more points. Rather, the amount of homework should be equal to the

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 article begins with the beginning of homework assignments in the early 19th century. Homework completion was viewed as a necessity in order to attend high school. The elementary grades were only committed to “two to three hours per week. (Gill & Schlossman, 2004 pg. 174). This was because the children of this time had to do labor work. They didn’t have a steady attendance

The debate that is currently happening throughout America is whether children should or should not be forced to have homework, a standard part of education that has been in existence since at least early 1900’s. Homework began generations ago, and “has generally been viewed as a positive practice and accepted without question as part of the student routine;” however, “over the years, homework in U.S. schools has evolved from the once simple tasks of memorizing math facts or writing spelling words to complex projects” (Vatterott). Not only recently but even at the end of the 19th century was homework getting in the way of family life. Children normally always have house roles that they are expected to complete and around the 19th century “many families could not afford to have their children continue schooling, given the requisite two to three hours of homework each night” (Vatterott). Not just in current situations, but also the 19th and 20th centuries, the children play as helpers and workers in the

In the early twentieth century, the brain was seen as a muscle that had to be strengthened. They believed that with every piece of information they learned, their brain would physically grow. Therefore, most teachers during this time period’s response was to assign more and more homework. Although some students saw positive results, the majority did not. This led to a national crisis; more students were dropping out of school than ever before. Reformers at the time believed that homework was a sin, as it increased negative attitudes towards learning, deprived students of time to relax or complete any tasks that were not school related, and it had the ability to cause several different health problems. Now over a hundred years later, homework

Before we move forward in determining what is effected by way of homework we need to examine the history that this debate is going through. The great homework debate has gone thru great changes since its inception. During earlier times children in the lower grades, grades one through four, received very little if any homework through the year, however the older grades received in upwards of three hours per night. As years went on we’ve seen this debate go from a positive factor for academics to a negative factor. There been many academic and child health organizations that have led various different movements on this debate. Just since the 1950s we have seen this debate take on numerous schools of thought from one extreme to the other. Often

Homework is defined as those “tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are meant to be carried out during non-school hours”, and excludes activities such as home-study courses or extra-curricular activities such as sports or music (Cooper’s (1989, p7)). Cooper’s (1989) clear and succinct definition of homework provides a basis for homework research. Current research has understood that homework is a complex process that is influenced by a variety of factors (Trautwein and Koller 2003– see Dettmers Tautwein Ludtke), such as motivation (Dettmers Tautwein Ludtke), quantity, purpose, teacher feedback, age (Cooper 1989), gender and socio-economic background (Tymms Fitz Gibbon). This paper will provide a brief historical overview of the homework debate, followed by a summary of results from current literature and their implications on practice.

Some people don't know exactly what homework is. Homework is defined as an out of class activity assigned to students as an extension or elaboration of classroom work(KidSource). There are three types of homework teachers generally give out. The first is Practice assignments, they are assignments that reinforce newly acquired skills or knowledge(KidSource). An example of these assignments is writing definitions down for new words

Homework was first introduced to American schools around 1940, During this time, many students were not as invested in getting good grades. This was because there were other things that interested students; like farming or serving in the military. At that time, there were many valued occupations that didn’t require rigorous education, and with WWII going on many had their minds elsewhere. Colleges were much easier to get into because there was less competition for spots. Because of that, working hard at school wasn’t as necessary as it is now since good grades didn’t pave the road to success like it does today. Since students didn’t try as hard and weren’t as focused, of much the information they learned during the day was quickly forgotten. Teachers, who realized this, decided to develop a strategy to force students to recall what they learned throughout the day; They decided to force students to do take home work to retain information better. Over the years children started