Schools began to assign homework during the early 1900s to students who didn’t show a good understanding of the material taught in class. Nowadays, schools utilize homework almost every day to give students extra practice after school. Homework has obvious plus sides but also has some negative effects at the same time. There has been a long debate about whether or not schools should be assigning homework since the practice was implemented.
Homework is assigned to give students more practice with the material they are learning after school, but many question if it is helpful or not. Many argue the ethics of ‘taking away’ from kids’ lives outside of allotted learning spaces and time
Something positive that homework does is it allows parents to see what their kids are learning and offers an additional understanding of the material. In 35 different studies, about 77 percent of students of all ages found a positive link between homework and achievement rates.
On the other hand, homework causes stress for many students and can be negative. Allderdice students have up to 8 different classes, and if they receive even 15 minutes of homework in each class, that adds up to 2 hours of homework a night. In 2013, a study was done by Stanford University which stated that 56 percent of students consider homework a primary source of their stress. It also says that less than one percent of students said homework was not a stressor.
Even though homework does help students acquire higher achievement rates, the benefits of the practice do not outweigh the negative effects it has on teenagers’ and kids’ mental health.
The Foreword interviewed different people from Allderdice High School to get their opinions on the pros and cons of homework. Allderdice teacher Ms. Neely stated that, “schools can function academically well without homework, but the school system would have to be changed to allow more learning time.” The Foreword also asked her about the mental aspect of homework and if she thinks it negatively impacts students. She said, “Homework is good for practice as long as students treat it with fidelity, but it can overwhelm students.”
Allderdice student Dominic Butch said that homework should not be required and that schools can function perfectly fine without it. He also stated that homework overwhelms students and negatively affects their mental health. He believes that the harm of homework outweighs the benefits.
Many students do find the link between homework and achievement to be strongly correlated, however, many students also find a strong link between negative mental health and homework as well. In today’s age, education is very important and should be heavily focused on, but mental health should always be a top priority. Schools can function perfectly fine without homework, but students can’t always function well with it. Eliminating homework effectively makes it so that students are healthier mentally, leading to better production in school.
