Education Enlightenment
Many people believe that homework helps students better learn the material but is that really the case? Here on the Education Enlightenment we will compare the benefits and harms of homework.
The Pros
Many parents and teachers say that homework teaches grit, perseverance, and responsibility as well as helps students understand what is being taught (Source one). This would indeed be very helpful for many future jobs that require outside work and responsibilities. Others also say that homework also creates prioritization skills (Source two). It creates the chance to plan what you want to do when. This is a very helpful skill in life as its applicable in everyday life. I also personally believe doing homework in hard subjects help me a great deal with learning that specific subject but not everyone is the same.
The cons
Students do not enjoy homework, I have never met a single person who likes it no matter how hard working they are. Maybe this isn't a laziness problem. Homework takes away some of the little free time that kids have. As discussed in my “The length of school; Helpful or Harmful?” blog, the “average” high schooler has structured or needed activities for 22.7 hours of the day with homework being around 3.5 hours every school day and 17.5 hours in a regular school week (Source three). This takes away a huge part of students lives when they already go to school for around seven hours a day. In fact its dipping into students sleeping amounts, “Education Week recently reported on research indicating that students with heavy loads of homework were significantly more likely to be sleep-deprived, particularly if the homework load had jumped between ages 12 and 15.” (Source three). There is also no proof that homework helps with skills like time-management, responsibility, or planning and its not other things that help us develop those skills. Lastly homework puts lots of stress on students, demanding them to meet the standard. Teachers and parents pressure them to do well causing arguments and feelings of hate towards homework and school in general when learning new things should be enjoyable.
My opinion
In my opinion, homework is not worth the problems it creates. The time that students spend on homework could be used for more valuable things or things that benefit mental health. However I do think that homework is a useful way of studying so I think teacher should make homework optional so that students can still feel prepared but not overwhelmed.
Sources
Source one
Pryor-Johnson, Glenda Faye. “Redirecting You.” Medium, medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmemphisparent.com%2Feducation%2Fwhy-homework-is-actually-good-for-kids%2F.
Source two
on, Posted by Charles Beckman, and Charles Beckman. “7 Benefits of Homework Writing Every Day: DoMyPapers.com.” Blog.DoMyPapers.com, 4 June 2019, blog.domypapers.com/homework-benefits/.
Source three
Stainburn, Samantha. “Redirecting You.” Medium, 2014, medium.com/r/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.edweek.org%2Fleadership%2Fhigh-schools-assign-3-5-hours-of-homework-a-night-survey-estimates%2F2014%2F02.
