Middle and High Schoolers Should have Less Homework

By: Tyson Hansen 

I think that middle and high schoolers should have less homework. Some days I don't even have time to do my homework and I'm sure lots of other kids feel the same way.

Schools looked at some students who do more than 90 minutes of homework a night. That's the length of an entire movie. But those students didn't do better on tests from so much homework. Actually, the students that did less than 90 minutes of homework a night did better on their tests.

Homework is a debated topic. Experts have argued both for and against it. A 2006 review of research on homework found that schools that gave more homework had higher test scores. But that doesn't necessarily mean that adding more homework will always cause test scores to go up. Homework also didn't seem to make elementary school test scores any better.   

My opinion on whether homework should be more or less for middle and high schoolers is that sometimes homework can just be a little bit much.  Also kids and teenagers don't have enough time to do the fun things that kids should have time to do. Kids also have things to do like sports and with homework and practice you might not have hardly anything to do, kids need to just have less homework. We need to have more free time!

Middle schoolers and high schoolers should have less homework because it has been proven by multiple schools, and school districts that less homework reduces stress. Homework can lead to increased anxiety, as well as sleep deprivation and other health problems. When students are overwhelmed by too much homework, they may become burnt out and lose motivation to learn.

Yes, I could see how some people may think that homework increases test scores. Yes, I agree, but if kids just have a little bit less homework we can still do great in school. 

The last reason why homework should be less is that it takes up free time. In a Stanford survey, many students said that homework made them stop doing their hobbies. Hobbies are things people do for fun like swimming, playing the piano, and reading, these activities are things that bring joy, so they should be allowed to do them.