The Importance Of Homework In Elementary Schools

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 National Education Association as well as the National Parent-Teacher Association strongly advocate for the “10-minute rule” when it comes to the amount of homework that a child should be assigned. The 10-minute rule is a guideline for teachers when assigning homework to students. When following the 10-minute rule, teachers should assign ten minutes of homework per grade level of the student for each night. Therefore, first graders should obtain no more than ten

Before everyone rushes off to condemn homework altogether, they should realize the many benefits provided when students take work home. Many times, repetition has been proven as “the law of learning.” When students do work outside of school, it helps reinforce what they learn inside school. According to Wendy J. Ponte, a freelance writer with three school-aged children, there are “no studies to back up the claim” that repetition improves academic performance. While some repetition might be helpful, Ponte points out that “When kids come home with 100 multiplication problems to solve, it becomes simple drudgery.” Can a love of learning be fostered in children who are overcome with hordes of homework?

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

When giving homework, teachers should follow the ten minute rule which means that students get 10 minutes of homework per grade. For example, if a student is in third grade then they should get 30 minutes of homework a night. Cooper recommends that teachers follow this rule and do not give more homework than that because it can lead to negative experiences, feelings, and cause students stress. Therefore, it is important to focus on the quality of homework that we are assigning and the subject matter. Parental involvement is encouraged during the younger years but should be gradually reduced as the students get older. Teachers should make sure that their parents have the skills needed in order to teach their students the skills that they may be struggling with at home. If not, students could become confused and parents may put too much pressure on the child. Cooper ends the article by saying that the, “the vast majority of educators have got it right” (Walker). This information will impact my

The 10-minute rule, endorsed by many different education associations, is a guideline for how much homework students should be given every night. Kelly Wallace, in her 2015 article “Kids Have Three Times too Much Homework, Study Finds; What's the Cost?” published in CNN, explains that the 10-minute rule says students in first grade should have 10 minutes of homework, and students in twelfth grade should have no more than two hours of homework. Homework for students before first grade is not recommended. This guideline is supported by the NEA and the National PTA. Wallace is saying that this guideline is supported by two major education associations, which gives the guideline credibility, and authority. Similarly, Christine Hauser writes the National PTA and the National Education Association endorses a 10-minute guideline: Time spent on after-school work should not exceed 10 minutes a grade level a night. “That is, a first grader should have no more than 10 minutes of homework, a sixth grader no more than 60 minutes and a 12th grader no more than two hours,” the National PTA says. The National Education Association said those recommendations followed general guidelines from the research of Harris M. Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. What this means is that students should get this much homework to maximize their learning in the most efficient way. I agree that homework should be limited by this guideline, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe that homework should take a long time, and that if you studying for long stressful hours leads to success. Likewise, Pawlowski writes that the National PTA promotes their '10-minute rule'. They advise students to spend 10 minutes times the grade that they are in. 10 minutes for a first grader, 60 minutes for a sixth grader, and two hours for a twelfth grade student is what this

In the article, “Do Kids Have Too Much Homework?” it says, “One homework fact that educators do agree on is the young child today is doing more homework than ever before” (Marian Wilde page 1). This quote proves that teachers send out too much homework because in the text, it says that kids are doing more homework than they ever were before. ” Cooper points to the ‘ten minute rule’ formulated by the National PTA and the National Education Association, which suggests the kids should be doing about 10 minutes of homework per night per grade level” (Marion Wilde page 1). This quote proves that teachers send out too much homework because the text in “Do Kids Have Too Much Homework?” says that the “ten minute rule” states that 7th grade students should be doing 1 hour and 10 minutes of homework each

Have you ever gone home from school and felt happy to be home, but then realize that you still have lots of homework to do? In today’s society, kids get stuck having to do hours of homework each night and not being able to do what they want. While kids are tired of studying for Social Studies they aren’t able to be very social and communicate with other people.

The limit according to the National Education Association and the National PTA support a standard of 10 minutes per grade level. For, example their standard 7th grade would have 70 minutes of homework. I also support this amount because I know homework helps you but too much can also be bad for you. However, some schools that they did a

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.

The first reason teachers should give students less homework is that it takes away their childhood. When a student goes to school for seven hours a day, and then goes home to three hours of homework, they do not get to be a kid. It is suggested that student adopt an eight-eight-eight schedule. This schedule being eight

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

For the most part, education in the United States has revolved around the idea of a “work hard, and succeed” system. Educators strongly push for this idea and are in a way obliged to extend learning by assigning more work, which they are unable to complete in a school setting. In turn, they rely on homework to expand knowledge beyond the classroom. Homework has become what may seem a positive influence on education and test scores in the United States. However, It has also become one the biggest burdens on high school students.This burden fails to reflect today’s advancing technological society. It needs to conform to a more individualized and purposeful approach for students.

Students should only spend enough time on homework so that the subject is reinforced and not just a waste of time. The national PTA suggest that from K-3 grades there should be no more than 20 minutes a day, for 4-6 grades there should be 20-40 minutes of homework, and from 7-12 grades time varies do to types of subjects and number of subjects taken(KidSource). Anymore than these recommended amount of times is seen excessive by the national PTA. Surprisingly U.S. students are working as hard as Asians: 24% of eighth graders do more then two hour of homework compared to Japans 28% and Germanys 17%(Brimelow108). Are we working to hard, researchers don't think so, U.S. student grades are improving. As of 1996 one in every sixth grader does more than an hour of