Homework is a big stressor in almost every student's life, including mine. In my life, I have homework almost every day. After sports, eating dinner, and doing nightly routines, that doesn’t leave much time for homework. By the time I have time for homework, I am too tired from the day and end up doing most of the problems wrong.
There should be a time for everything, for school, friends, family, extracurricular activities, and hobbies. Coming home from school every night with a stack of homework takes kids time away from the important things in their lives. Students work hard enough in school, so why should students have to go to school all day, only to come home to more work?
Schools should not be allowed to give out homework because having no homework lowers stress levels and increases test scores, homework takes away time from extracurricular activities and family time, and other countries have banned homework, and now are better off. Homework is overall bad for a student's mental health. It is usually done very quickly, which results in the material not being learned or remembered, and in the end is a waste of time for both the student and the teacher.
No Homework Equals Less Stress and Higher Test Scores
When no homework is given, there are lower stress levels for students and increases in test scores. According to The National Education Association, Scott Anderson, a math teacher at Juda School District in Wisconsin, started out as a “strict traditionalist.” He would assign many homework problems in algebra and geometry. Daily he says, he would assign “up to 30 Geometry and Algebra problems a night - because...well, that's what teachers did.”
Throughout his years of teaching, he noticed that his seniors were not ready for college level math, as they should be. He quickly realized that his students were rushing through the problems and getting them wrong on their homework just to get the homework over with. He understood and respected that in some aspects, homework can be beneficial and help students. But for him and his students, homework didn’t work out.
His classroom grades are now based on tests and quizzes. The remainder of the work time, after lecture, is dedicated to working on and completing their “homework.” In the school district Anderson works in, the principal supports him with his no-homework policy. Anderson believes that his students do better in his class now than they did a decade ago.
When Anderson took away homework from his students, it improved all their lives. At the beginning of his teaching career he was giving 30+ math problems each night, but as he progressed he realized that it was not helping his students. It was actually making them worse. This is because students were not actually learning the material, they were just rushing through the homework to get it done.
When a student at Brooklyn Millennium High School was interviewed, she shared her story of her journey with homework. According to INews Network, “Dela Sluymer, a freshman at Brooklyn Millennium High School, said that she usually has 2 hours of homework per night. ‘I’m usually working on essays and projects that I’m not given time to complete in class, and also other worksheets and more small work like that,’ Dela says. She admits homework is often stressful for her, and it takes up a lot of her time outside of school.”
Homework is taking up much of Dela’s life, outside of school. Homework is stressing her out AND taking away from her free time that she is supposed to be using to relax from the school day. In the article it also states, “Stress includes a large number of negative side effects that can greatly impact a person’s daily life. Insomnia, exhaustion, acne, headaches, nausea, vulnerability to sickness, mood swings, and short-temperedness are only some of the effects stress can have on people…” When a major amount of stress is added to a person's life, this can lead to unwell consequences that could lead to many major issues.
“...Extreme stress can have even worse consequences, such as hair loss, depression, and anxiety.” As homework is given all over the world, it is still a big stresser. While the stress grows on children's minds, it can lead to many awful consequences that no parent wants to see their child go through.
As an important study was done by NBC news, it surveyed students. According to NBC San Diego, a new study was conducted by the Better Sleep Council that states 74 percent of teenages are stressed and anxious from the need to do homework for school.
The study also found that students spend an average of 15 hours on homework per week. The study also researched and surveyed the amount of sleep teens are getting. Their results were shocking. “57 percent of teenagers said they don't get enough sleep and 67 percent said they get about five to seven hours a night, under the recommended average,” the study said.
This is a real study that was done on real teenages. The study also showed that teenagers are not getting enough sleep due to excessive amounts of homework. Many teenagers are lacking sleep due to the stress of homework, whether that is not having enough time to finish it or being stressed about how many answers were correct. Homework adds a lot of stress in children's lives and takes away from family and extracurricular activity time.
Homework Takes Away Important Time with Family and/or Extracurricular Activities
Homework takes time away from extracurricular activities and family time. Some families are having trouble with their children being too tired to spend time as a family after school, dinner, and homework. The mother of a specific family with this problem shared her story. According to New York Times, “‘When I think back on my childhood, there's no way I had this much,’ said Susan Gould, who has a fifth grader and a first grader in Rye's schools. 'They get out at 3 o'clock, and by 5 they're worn out. There's not much time to play. Homework is hanging over their heads. I want it done, and they don't want to do it.’”
This mother says that homework takes away from her children's time to just be home, and it takes away from their time to play after school. Playing after school, in this family's case, is a big deal. By the time homework is done, this mother says her daughters are too tired from a long day of school and homework to play and spend time as a family. Developing the little minds of her children is very important, playtime, using words and deep thinking, is very beneficial in allowing the mind to develop properly.
The director for guidance at Rye Neck middle and high schools says, “'Students are so much more active outside of school now -- with soccer, sports, dance -- that even if homework might be the same amount, it's more difficult to manage,’” Students are very active in extracurricular activities now, and that takes up a lot of time. Extracurricular activities develop other areas in the brain that school does not, such as real world problem solving or team work. Homework is a lot to manage after school with activities, eating, family time, and getting the correct amount of sleep.
Extracurricular activities develop the brain in many different ways than school does. According to Pathway, extracurricular activities help children and teenagers to develop better motor skills, improve physical fitness, build their cognitive and social skills, enhance children and teenagers well being, and improve their overall mental, physical, and social health.
Extracurricular activities are essential when fully and correctly developing a child or teenagers brain. The brain does not stop developing until teenagers are adults (18,) so all throughout high school teenagers should be exposing themselves to outside of school activities and sports.
Family relationships are very important throughout every child's life. These relationships teach the child as they grow up how to maintain healthy relationships with friends, teachers, coworkers, and many more. According to Esperance Anglican Community School, having healthy family relationships is the start to raising happy children who will make a positive impact on society. According to this article, there are 7 benefits of family time, including but not limited to, fosters communication, helps build confidence and self-esteem, provides opportunities to role model, teaches children vital social skills, provides bonding opportunities, improves mental health, and helps a child feel loved.
Fostering communication is having an open line of communication and the child feeling as though important topics can be discussed. When a lot of family time is spent together, children feel as though they can open up and ask that “tough” question they have been wanting to ask.
Helping to build confidence and self-esteem is spending time with family, and getting to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, this can help to do activities together, as a family, to build better self-esteem.
Providing opportunities to role model is a big one, this is because parents are children's biggest role models. Children often do and say whatever their parents do or say. It is important for children to see how parents cope and parents’ behaviors because this can allow them to know how to cope healthily.
Teaching children vital social skills is a big skill that needs to be learned throughout all of each child’s childhood. Learning healthy social skills, like overcoming a conflict in a board game at home, can be very beneficial when solving conflicts in the real world. Having the support at home in a child’s natural “safe” spot really helps children to express themselves and learn the best they can how to deal with social situations.
Spending time with family provides bonding opportunities, so if a child is able to bond well with their family, that is already setting them up for success. Having a healthy family bond shows a child what healthy relationships with other people (friends or teachers,) are supposed to be like. Having these bonding times often leads to trying new things, and it also teaches children what it is like to have support or how to support someone else, which also happens in their future healthy relationships.
Improving mental health for all ages of children is a necessity, and spending family quality time together does exactly that. This is because when with family, children are allowed to voice their opinions with no harm to any other individual. Sharing happy and exciting experiences with someone else is also very good for children's mental health and well being.
Lastly, having family time allows a child to feel loved. While being a child, being loved can be the best thing that can happen. When a child has their parents undivided attention, they feel as though they are loved and important. This shows the child that their parents want to spend time with them over other things like friends, shopping, or going out to lunch. Children in other countries that have banned homework are able to spend a lot more time with their families and doing things they love to do.
Other Countries Have Already Banned Homework!
Other countries have banned homework, and now are better off. An important study was done on other countries who have banned homework. According to Let Grow, a study done at Penn State University found that students living in high performing countries such as Japan, Denmark, and the Czech Republic have much less homework but higher test scores than the United States. Countries like Iran, Grease, and Thailand have students with the lowest test scores and are given the most homework.
In high performing countries, there is little homework given. Students with less homework in these countries perform the best on tests when given. On the other hand, students that live in countries where a lot of homework is given perform poorly on their tests.
The Philippines Department of Education has acknowledged that homework interferes with the home lives of students. They agree that students should have enough time in class to finish all their homework tasks in school. This is very important because other countries have acknowledged that homework is bad for a student's home, mental, and physical life.
Some countries have already taken action in banning homework. The Philippines Department of Education acknowledged that homework was taking up too much time after school and causing students to have more stress than they should.
There are currently countries that have banned homework and now are at the top of the charts academically. According to Geeky Camel, Finland has a high success rate when it comes to less homework and being highly successful. Finland has short school days, longer vacations and students do not start going to school until they are 7 years old. These schools lead the charts with exam scores, and they come in 6th in the world for math and science knowledge. This is because Finland’s school system is built on trust, rather than making students learn material at home, parents trust that Finland teachers will teach all the material in school.
School systems with no homework can be very successful. Finland has been doing this for quite some time, and building a lot of trust within the country. Children should grow up based on trust and seeing how things are supposed to work. Since other countries have banned homework, the children in these countries are less stressed and able to spend more time with their families.
Homework should be banned all over the world. Homework heightens stress levels and decreases homework scores, takes away kids precious time with family and extracurricular activities, and countries who have banned homework are better off.
While kids are young, they should be kids. Children should not have to be stressed because of all the homework they have due tomorrow. Homework takes away time from other more important activities that make children happy, healthy, and stronger mentally and physically.