Teachers assign homework to their students almost daily, and some nights, these students will sit for hours after school trying to get it all done. Nevertheless, how truly necessary is this? In addition, if it is, how much is too much? Teachers hand out homework to benefit their students academically, but many students struggle to find the purpose of all of the homework that they get.

While homework is not normally something that students look forward to doing after school, studies show that homework improves student achievement in grades, tests, and the likelihood of attending college. Another benefit is that it gives parents a chance to see what their children are learning about in school each day.

Even with this being true, however, homework counts as 10% of a student’s grade at Quakertown, and they often feel pressured into getting it all done. With all of the homework being given out from 7 periods a day, it tends to be very time consuming. Not only is this, but 56% of homework the leading cause of stress for students. When speaking to Lidia Bennett, a junior at Quakertown, about how long she spends on her homework each day, she responded by saying, “It varies, but definitely more than two hours.” Which, two hours of additional homework after having a seven-hour school day, can be very tiring to students, and can definitely affect their learning the following day. Lidia also said, “I think in some classes you may need it, but for most classes I don’t think you need homework.” Which does make sense. If a student is doing well in a class, is more homework really the most beneficial thing for them?

One of the chemistry teachers at the high school, Mr. Stoverink, gave some points on why he gives homework. He acknowledged that while homework may not be students’ favorite thing, it still has some very good benefits. “It provides a check of understanding on what we’ve covered and additional practice on skills,” said Mr. Stoverink. He also talked about how long he expects his students to spend on homework. He said, “I don’t want them to spend more than 20 minutes” on homework each night. However, when talking about students’ sleep schedules, he also said, “I think student time management affects sleep.” Which, is a responsible factor on why students often spend such a long time on homework.”

So, what do you think? Should students be given less homework, or is it something that they need to better their education?

For more information, visit:

https://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005411

https://edubirdie.com/blog/benefits-of-homework

https://news.stanford.edu/2014/03/10/too-much-homework-031014/