Homework. A teacher’s best friend and a student’s worst enemy. Students look forward to getting home and relaxing after school, not being required to complete more work after a full day. Students are already in the building five days a week, for eight hours each day.
Many are student-athletes, as well. This means that their evenings are filled with practices and games. This leaves them to have to cram their homework in after sports, after already being in school all day long. To add to this, teachers and parents always emphasize that students should get at least eight hours of sleep each night. However, this is impossible when having to stay up until at least ten o’clock doing assigned work.
For those who do not participate in sports, a vast majority have a part-time job. Many students need to make money for their family or to support themselves. As they are in school all day, this leaves the evenings for them to complete their work. The University of People states, “Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors.” Alongside working and playing sports, students are highly encouraged to have a social life. While school can give the start to friendships, these relationships are grown outside of the school environment.
Also, a lot of times when students are assigned homework, it is busy work. Assigning a random worksheet to complete seems forced, rather than beneficial. Students could be doing something more productive with their time. To add to this, there is an hour and a half in the middle of each school day that students and teachers can use to get more work done. If there is a need to review topics or get more practice with a particular subject, flex time should be used more wisely.
To conclude, the University of People also states, “There is no real proof that homework makes for improvements”. The whole point of homework is for students to retain the information, thus leading to higher success in their classes. However, if homework is not getting this job done, what is the point? Let students spend their time doing what they enjoy, whether that be working, playing sports, or planning social activities. Students already have enough on their plate and are still learning how to balance it all. They don’t need one more unnecessary task.
