Homework, no one likes it. It is almost every kid’s dream to get rid of it altogether. Most of the time it is just busy-work done to keep a good grade. So why not get rid of it?
Teenagers this day in age are expected to do so much. They need to have good grades, get into a good college, have friends, have a job, and do some kind of activity outside of school. While these are all good things to do, it cannot all be done all at once adequately. By forcing homework on students, there is no time for students to live a safe, balanced life.
Homework is defined as schoolwork for a child to complete at home. At first it makes sense, you do not get something done in class so you have to finish it at home. However, when you think about it further, a child is already in school for around seven hours a day, so why would they not have time to finish something in class or have built in time for practice? It is not as simple as they were just goofing off.
Schools all over the country give homework as it is said to improve academic success in students by further exercising what was learned in class that day. While practice is good, just like when playing a sport or an instrument, it is not always needed everyday for multiple hours a day.
High school students spend around six hours on homework a week, an average of about one hour of homework a day. But after you add in extracurriculars, sports, jobs, and social activities, the hours after school each day become more and more limited.
In Georgia, the minimum learning time required per day is five and a half hours, but we have seven hours in a school day. Alongside lunch and passing periods there is still time to get everything that needs to get done in each class period. In the case where there really is too much curriculum to teach in a whole year, it should be spaced out better through the grades so not as much information is squished into one year.
With all of this time in a day, the curriculum should be made to fit into the daily schedule without having to give more homework. If something is given out for practice it should be optional for students to do if they need it or be completed in class. Not only does this take out the homework aspect but it also lets students learn how to study on their own if needed like they must know how to do for college.
Giving kids homework after a long day at school not only adds to a long to-do schedule but also stress and health concerns.
Alongside big workloads come late study sessions and all-nighters. Lack of sleep leads to sleep deprivation, which will not help students manage stress any better. It can also cause anxiety, loss of weight, and headaches.
Balance is a universal issue for everyone. There are so many things to do in life, it is hard to figure out how to do it all. Homework tends to trump all other activities just to keep grades up instead of trying to find a balance since it is portrayed as the most important thing you should be doing.
As a whole, the issue of homework is just one thing negatively affecting students from larger problems in the school system but it is somewhere easy to start.
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