Homework.

Intents for the good, outcomes for the worse.

Homework was once a tool for teachers to reinforce the material learned in class. However in present day, teachers have abused the power of homework and robbed students from: sleep, play, exercise, social time, family and extra curricular activities. As a result of this misuse homework must become limited or better yet vanished.
6 hours.

Non-stop.
Work. Work. Work.

Is that just not enough?
Does that not satisfy you? Does that not meet the standards? Does 6 hours not justify the rank of my intelligence?
One day consists of 24 full hours. Where does all of this time go? 6 hours is dedicated to school. 8 hours belongs to sleep.

8 hours + 6 hours = 14 hours
24 hours - 14 hours = 10 hours

An average student receives an hour of homework for each core class.
(There are usually 4 core classes.) In addition to that, the mandatory language class assigns 40 minutes of homework each night.

4 x 1 hour = 4 hours
4 hours + 40 minutes = 4 hours 40 minutes
10 hours - 4 hours 40 minutes = 5 hours 20 minutes

This leaves students with only 5 hours and 20 minutes at most to relax and take their eyes off school work. Teenagers brains are constantly growing. Childhood is a time of development. Although education is important, being a child is too. Children and families need to decompress at the end of a day. Kids need time to be kids and families need time to be families. It can’t just be school, rush home, grab a quick dinner and back to the books.
A key to a healthy brain includes taking time to do things other than homework and school work. The essential question is, where is this time? Today students are being forced to balance: social life, family, sports and other extra curricular activities all in basically 5 hours.
Exhausted.
Weary.
Drowsy.
Stressed.
Weak.
Paranoid.
These are just a few of the many side effects homework creates. Experts say, “...as the pile of work gradually becomes higher, it transforms into a source of stress which causes physical, emotional and social damage to young adults.” Personally I am tired most of the time. 12:00am I'm in bed and 6:30am I bounce right back out of it. I stay up all night scrambling to finish all the homework. Somedays I’ll finish it all and most days I’ll have to force myself to wake up earlier to complete the rest of the work. I feel stressed because I feel pressured to do all the homework. I am so busy trying to do other things then just schoolwork, but I must finish all the work. Due to all the homework my sleeping schedule is extremely unorganized. I go to sleep late trying to complete work, then wake up early to fully finish every assignment. I come home from after school or volleyball and I am so tired I take a nap. I wake up and do an all nighter trying to finish the assigned homework. This leaves me with barely anytime to socialize and connect with family. This is actually pretty unhealthy. For the brain to function well it needs to rest. To constantly have the mind focus on one thing for such extended periods of time is abnormal. This is simply another con for homework.
Is this what you want homework to do to students?
The majority of people who strongly agree with homework are mainly staff members in school and parents. They believe that their should be homework assigned 7 days a week. Weather it is one subject or all four core classes. The commonality these two type of people share are neither of them are the ones doing all the work they expect students to do.
The ones struggling to do all the work are the students. Not the principal, teachers or parents. Students are getting overwhelming amounts of work in and out of school. Students are having work forced upon them. The ones calling all the shots aren’t even relevant because they aren’t the ones shouting about it every single day. Students are busy as is and to assign work on top of that is not fair. The people demanding and expecting students to do homework should first put themselves in a regular students shoe before they start to enforce homework.
“ Homework is a way to reinforce work done in class...it will not be banned because we need to prepare students for the future...in college there will be much more work than the previous grades...homework is used to prepare students for the real world.”
Mr.Watson, the principle of Rindge Avenue Upper School, is pro-homework. He believes that homework should be assigned because it is a way to prepare for college. First and foremost when is the last time have any of the principles, teachers and parents done homework. Homework has come a long way. Way back when, homework wasn’t to write 10 page essay. It wasn’t do 80 math problems. It wasn’t write two pages in spanish. Things have changed. Some believe that homework is a tradition and one that will never be abolished. The conflict is as years passed, homework has grown in amounts. According to Julie Ryan, an author for debate.org, says the amount of homework has tripled since 2003. Some traditions are meant to be broken and this means homework might just be one of them.
Education is very important in life but to enjoy a balanced and healthy life education can’t be the only focus. A healthy brain is crucial in education. Too much work can lead to numerous negative side-effects: exhaustion, drowsiness, depression and may cause stress.
When focusing on only school and work is harmful to the brain. Having time to socialize, be with family, play and participate in extracurricular activities is the foundation of a fully developed and healthy brain. Some may argue that since America’s education is falling behind compared to the rest of the world, that their should be more homework. But as the saying goes, less is more. A good education is a high priority for many people, but if homework is a waste, then lets stop wasting valuable time.