The Benefits and Detriments of Homework

Jana Said '25  ~  November/December 2023

Students spend 7 hours a day at school. Learning, sitting, moving from one desk to another for 45 minutes to an hour at a time. Then, going from school, they head to an extracurricular activity for another few hours before going home for dinner, then having to start hours of homework. Students are exhausted every morning, barely catching up on sleep every weekend, and they have to repeat the same mundane routine each week. Personally, I find it exhausting. Couldn't there be a better system? From my experience, I find going to school fun- minus having to get up in the morning. But, having to juggle hours of homework and a sport or other extracurricular activity can be stressful. And I thought, what is causing this stress? For many students, it is homework.

Having extracurricular activities is fun because we can move around and be active rather than sitting all day learning and doing homework. Not having to do hours of work would aid students with better sleep schedules, stress relief, and reduced exhaustion.  For little kids, it allows them to go outside and play around and be children, as homework stops children of all ages from doing something other than studying all day and night. Would it not be better for children to not have to worry about homework? Who knows, it may also let them enjoy coming to school! A study by the Better Sleep Council found homework is a source of stress of 74% and another study by Galloway, Conner & Pope(2013) found 56% of students say that homework is the primary stressor in their lives. Homework should be helpful, yet it causes more stress in our lives that is unnecessary. 

However, homework does have some benefits which people say makes it necessary. Homework allows students to practice time management skills. It gives more time with the material students are learning and it improves life skills such as self reflection and self regulation. Because homework is beneficial, there should be a better system implemented for all students. One system by a professor states that it could be beneficial to implement the 10 minutes per grade method; for example, third graders should only have 30 minutes of homework. This system would ensure that students receive the benefits of homework without the stress. Having a set amount of time an assignment takes, for each class, ensures that students are less stressed and happier as well. 

Students should have a better system of homework. It will ensure that they are less stressed, but still gain the benefits of doing homework. So, do you think students should have homework?