The Truth About Homework

“I’ve got a lot of homework to do, and none of it has anything to do with school” (Travis

Thrasher, Solitary). Students are overloaded with too much homework which is actually hurting

them instead of helping them learn. Most of the afternoon and evening for students is consumed

by homework which forces them to sacrifice other things like extracurricular activities and fam-

ily time because “an hour spent doing schoolwork at home is an hour not spent doing other

things” (Kohn). The stress caused by the heavy load of homework is harming students mentally

and physically. Since homework is negatively affecting the health of students, students and par-

ents are fighting back.

Some parents and educators might argue that students don’t have enough homework. The

studies they are basing their arguments on claim that students are not being pushed enough in

school and that school is too easy. However, if this is the case then why did 19 percent of public

high school students fail to graduate on time in 2012 (National Center for Education Statistics)?

They also believe that the students practice the more they are going to learn and the better they

will do in school. Practice is good for the students, but the majority of it does not need to be done

at home; it should be done in school so that teachers can monitor the progress of their students

and help them if needed. Also, practice is the most useful for a student who has chosen to prac-

tice and is excited about the information at hand. When homework or any activity feels like a

chore, the quality of learning suffers because students memorize the information in order to get a

good grade and then forget it shortly after. This explains why there is not a correlation between

the amount of homework a student does and their achievement. Those on the other side of the

debate think that homework is needed to make kids productive after school and keep them out of

trouble. However, students need time to

go out and discover the world and find things they are interested in and also spend time with

their family. Those will ultimately keep them out of more trouble because they are having fun in-

stead of being locked inside doing work that feels like a drudgery (Kohn).

When students spend six or seven hours in school and another three or more hours on

homework they face a longer workday than most adults (Galloway and Pope 29). Mollie Gal-

loway and Denise Pope did a study at two suburban high schools to determine how much time

students really spent on their homework each night. 35 percent of the 496 students in the study

self-reported that they have less than two hours of homework a night, 32 percent have 2.1 to 3.5

hours a night and 33 percent have more than 3.5 hours a night. More than two hours of home-

work every night keeps students from spending time from spending time with family, friends and

participating in extracurricular activities. Also, “any student who is doing more than 3.5 hours of

homework per night is actually at risk for higher stress levels and poor mental and physical

health” (Galloway and Pope 28). When students spend time doing homework there is less time

for them to engage in learning that is not related to academics.

Students have not always had an unbearable amount of homework, the case for and

against homework has gone from one extreme to the other several times. In the early 19th cen-

tury it was believed that supplementary work should be required in difficult subjects. However,

then exam scores began to more strongly effect students futures so there was greater pressure to

pass them exams. Pressure to pass the exams directly effected the pressure to assign more home-

work. In the 1860s teachers kept the students who needed more help after class because they

were paid according to how well their students performed on exams. As one would expect, par-

ents vocalized their concern about how the long hours of studying were mentally and physically

straining their children. The homework controversy came to a peak in the 1930s when the gov-

ernment recommended that there should be now homework for children under 12, one hour per

day for children ages 12 to 14 and 1.5 hours per day for 14 to 16 year olds. It was also suggested

that homework should only be assigned four days every day. In the late 19th century the mind

was thought of as a muscle which like any other muscle could be strengthened through exercise.

So, educators viewed homework as a tool to strengthen and discipline the mind and the more

homework done the stronger the mind would be (Strother). In 1980 the attitude about homework

shifted again when researchers claimed that homework could be harmful to students’ mental

health (Marzano and Pickering).

Most of the homework that students are assigned each night is not homework that will

improve their knowledge or understanding of a subject. In a study of German 7th graders it was

found that they teachers that assign the most homework are not assigning the type of homework

that supports learning. They are assigning busywork which comes from teachers assigning home-

work just to assign homework and feel like they are giving their students something to do. It also

does not help that there is no communication among teachers in regard to homework. They all

assign homework without knowledge of how much students are being assigned in their other

classes. This is not very beneficial to the students because it was also found that a lighter home-

work load has a greater positive influence on achievement than a heavier homework load

(Trautwein, Köller, Schmitz and Baumert).

The question at the center of the debate about homework is “what is the value of home-

work?” Busywork or homework that has no purpose has little to no benefit on students learning

and understanding and instead can actually lessen the achievement of students. Most of the

homework assigned today is not being collected, corrected or graded. This type of homework al-

lows students to practice mistakes which is not going to help them improve. Therefore, teachers

will not see A-level results from their students.

For students in elementary school homework is overrated and over assigned. A national

survey of thousands of families was conducted over several years to determine the amount of

homework younger children have each night. 34 percent of six to eight year olds in 1981 re-

ported having homework every night, in 1997 that number rose to 58 percent and it increased

again in 2002 to 64 percent. What is even more shocking is that the number of six to eight year

olds who are assigned homework is almost the same as the number of nine to twelve year olds

who are assigned homework. “Some parents say nightly assignment are too much of a strain on

children who,, not long ago, were still taking afternoon naps to make it through dinner”. Home-

work is now becoming a routine for kindergarteners (Kohn). In another study, it was determined

that there is not even a benefit for younger students when they do homework. Even if there might

be a small benefit in younger students doing homework, it definitely has a much smaller effect

on their learning to the point that the benefit is not even meaningful (“The Value of Homework

Needs Further Research”).

It is not only elementary school students that are being assigned too much homework, as

a whole the United States is one of the most homework intensive countries in the world (Kohn).

When students are assigned more homework than necessary it is counterproductive and can actu-

ally decrease their achievement, which is not the point of homework. As the length of homework

assignments increased, it was found that achievement gains decreased. Too much homework of-

ten leads to undesired outcomes, like undermining the students’ motivation and negatively affect-

ing their health because of stress and sleep deprivation.

Stress is the most common side effect of having too much homework and is the number

one factor in academic disruption. In a study of 496 high school students, 67.8 percent (about

336 students) said that homework is the biggest stressor in their life and 65 percent (about 322

students) said that they are often or always stressed because of homework. 77.4 percent (about

384 students) reported that they had experienced at least one stress related physical symptom in

the past month. Stress related physical symptoms include but are not limited to, headaches, sleep

deprivation or difficulty, exhaustion, weight gain, high blood pressure and the onset of an eating

disorder (Galloway and Pope). In 2002, a study found that there is a direct relationship between

the amount of time high school students spend on homework and the levels of anger, depression,

which can lead to sadness and suicide, anger and anxiety they experienced (Kohn). In fact, psy-

chologists found that in 2014, high school students had the same anxiety levels as the patients in

an insane asylum had in the 1950s. Also, 62 percent of students in the entire country are academ-

ically impacted by stress, anxiety or depression. 56 percent (about 278 students) had to drop an

activity that they enjoyed because they have too much homework every night. When students do

not have time to participate in activities outside of school, it effects the quality of their relation-

ships and social skills, which can be a factor in their happiness and satisfaction with their life

(Galloway and Pope). Students are not yet capable of handling stress since their brain is not

fully developed until around age 25 and it does not make sense to stress students out with some-

thing that is supposed to stimulate their learning. Younger children should be able to experience

a “normal” childhood without being stressed and teenagers should be able to enjoy their last few

years where their only real responsibility is going to school. However, Homework in the United

States contributes to a corporate, competitive culture that values work over personal well being

and family time.

One of the groups of people that takes the hardest hit in terms of the effects of too much

homework are the economically disadvantaged. Students whose families are not as well off as

most of their classmates have a more difficult time completing homework since “measures of

home stimulation account for as much as 50% of the variance in school achievement” (Paschal,

Weinstein and Walberg). A large amount of a students’ time in the home is spent doing home-

work so parental support, stimulation and study environment play a pretty important role in stu-

dents’ achievement. This unintentionally penalizes economically disadvantaged students because

their home environment makes it incredibly difficult to complete their assignments at home.

Since the parents are usually working one or more jobs with long hours to support their family

they are not around to supervise their children to make sure they are being productive and do not

necessarily have the time to help them with their homework. Also, in many cases their parents

may not have the money or resources necessary to provide them with a study environment where

they can focus and complete their assignments (Marzano and Pickering). When students do not

have a home environment that promotes learning they start off a step behind other kids and usu-

ally do not perform as well academically even though they have they potential to be except stu-

dents.

“The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning” (Kohn

17). Many people could have guessed the physical and emotional effects from having too much

homework but what is less noticeable is the effect homework has on curiosity and learning.

When students are assigned too much homework they are more focused on getting all of their

homework done rather than learning the material. With so much of it they only see homework as

a way to earn points and get a good grade instead of as a way to gain more knowledge. They read

simply because there will be a quiz on it or they will have to write a paper about and spend hours

doing almost identical math problems because they know those problems will be on the test.

Therefore, they are not able to take time to enjoy and process the topics talked about in class.

One teacher saw this trend and stopped assigning homework. Immediately, he noticed that stu-

dents were more engaged in class and they began coming in to hand him articles or tell him

about news reports they saw that related to something they had talked about in class. “When in-

trigued by a good lesson and given freedom [from homework], they naturally seek out more

knowledge” (Kohn 18).

As you can see, the way homework is now is not helping students. To change this, home-

work should only be assigned when it’s beneficial to learning. Homework that is short and in-

cludes a review of previously learned material has been proven to be the most favorable for stu-

dents. Also, when teachers collect, correct, grade and leave comments on the homework it is

helpful to not only their students but themselves. That way, students can see what they have done

wrong in order to not practice mistakes and teachers gain a measure of their students’ under-

standing. Another way that homework can be changed to make it more useful is abiding by the

10 minute rule. This rule says that all of the students’ assignments combined should take no

longer than 10 minutes times their grade level, for example fifth graders should have no more

than 50 minutes of homework a night. Homework needs to be carefully planned out otherwise it

can have a negative effect on students’ learning (Strother).

Nowadays, students are being given way too much homework, which is actually harming

them instead of helping them learn. Most of the homework that students are being assigned is

busywork which makes them resent homework even more than they already do because they

know that it has no purpose. When students spend most of the afternoon and evening doing

homework they are forced to sacrifice time with their family and have to give up extracurriculars

that they enjoy, which leads to stressed out, sleep deprived and unengaged students. Our educa-

tional system does not promote the learning of subjects outside of school or allow students the

time to further investigate topics in school that interest them. To change this teachers should give

out frequent, yet justified homework assignments because those have the greatest effect on stu-

dents’ learning.

Kohn, Alfie. "The Value of Homework Needs Further Research." Do Students Have Too Much

Homework? Ed. Judeen Bartos. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Studies

Support Rewards, Homework, and Traditional Teaching. Or Do They?" alfiekohn.org. 2011. Op-

posing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

This article studies three different ways of teaching and using homework. This source will help

me prove that homework is not necessarily that helpful in learning and provide alternatives to

learning through homework.

Kohn, Alfie. The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing. DaCapo

Press, 2006. Print.

This book looks at the negative effects of homework on students’s lives. The book will help me

provide specific examples about why homework has become a hinderance and how we can re-

think the ways in which students are taught material.

Strother, Deborah. "Homework: Too Much, Just Right, or Not Enough?" The Phi Delta

Kappan Feb. 1984: 423-426. JSTOR. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

This article examines different assumptions about why homework is helpful and disproves them

using research. The article will help me form a counterargument agains why people might think

homework is a beneficial tool.

Marzano, Robert, and Deborah Pickering. "Special Topic / The Case For and Against

Homework." Educational Leadership Mar. 2007: 74-79. EBSCOhost. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

This article presents research to explain why they type of homework being assigned today is not

helpful and suggests ways it can be improved. I will use this article to back up my claim with re-

cent research and provide a solution to the problem.

Paschal, Rosanne, Thomas Weinstein, and Herbert Walberg. "The Effects of Homework on

Learning: A Quantitative Synthesis." The Journal of Educational Research (1984): 97-104. Web.

27 Oct. 2014.

This article compares several studies that have been done on the effect of homework on aca-

demic achievement. This article will help me prove with statistics that homework does not have a

strong correlation with achievement.

"Public High School Graduation Rates ." National Center for Education Statistics. N.p., May

2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

This page is a reliable source for statistics regarding education. I will use it to present graduation

statistics to prove school isn’t easy.