The homework debate has strong arguments on both sides. Common reasons for banning homework is the idea that it is often counterproductive, stifles students' creativity and limits their freedom outside the classroom.
Students already have up to 7 hours of homework to do 5 days a week; Adding more contributes to increased anxiety, burnout, and overall low performance.
But homework advocates the fact that it improves students' grades (Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006), instills discipline, and helps consolidate what has been learned into long-term memory.
Below are common arguments for banning homework - please note that this is an article written to stimulate discussion points on the subject, so it only provides perspective. For the other side of the argument, my article on the27 Dos and Don'ts of Homework.
Reasons why homework should be banned
1. Contributes to increased anxiety
If there's one word that describes middle and high school students, it's fear. On myArticle homework statistics, I quote a survey that shows that 74% of students cite homework as a source of stress.
They have a lot to juggle, from the novelty of puberty to the realization that they will soon have to prepare for college and life afterward (Pressman et al., 2015).
It's a lot to handle, and adding homework that cuts into free time and limits it further is downright detrimental. The natural result of this pressure poop is anxiety, and many students often feel overwhelmed by the hours and hours of course work in a day and the extensive homework they are given (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013).
Because professors often don't communicate with each other about syllabuses, important tasks can overlap, requiring students to tackle several large projects at once, contributing to great anxiety about good grades.
In response, some students drop out of school altogether, leaving their academic futures unexplored. Of course, it's not fair to say that homework is to blame for all these cases, but it can actually be a contributing factor.
2. Offers less social time
Homework reduces free time. Children already spend most of the day learning in a school environment and when they get home they need to socialize.
Whether it's family or friends, a social balance is important. Depending on the course assigned to them, homework can have a detrimental effect on students' social lives, which addresses our first criticism of homework: its anxiety-inducing nature.
Also, social time is extremely important for children to grow up balanced and self-confident. If a child is highly intelligent (book smart) but lacks social skills, we might callStreet-Smarts, they can fight in adulthood.
3. Affects playing time
Playing is extremely important for the physical, social and social development of children.cognitive development. In fact,Children learn naturally by playing.
So when the kids come home from school, they need a few hours to play. You really learn while playing! Playing with friends teaches social skills; but playing alone also encourages creative and analytical thinking.
Playing is also a way of learning that is different from the learning that normally takes place at school. So allowing kids to play at home gives their brains a break from “school learning” and keeps them learning.activeand even relaxing methods.
4. Discourages exercise and contributes to obesity
Exercise is an important part of everyone's life, but especially so for children. Developing a positive self-image and self-discipline is an important skill to learn, which becomes much more difficult when homework is involved.
Homework can require a lot of attention that children could spend playing sports or socializing. These two important life goals can fall by the wayside, leaving students confused, depressed, and worried about the future.
Physical activity should be seen as an essential characteristic of the integral development of the child. It helps keep children healthy, can reduce anxiety and support a healthy immune system. it also helpsbody developmenthow to promote fine and gross motor skills.
In fact, some scientists (Ren et al., 2017) have even identified excessive homework as a contributing factor to childhood obesity.
5. Disrupts sleep patterns
Everyone knows the image of a college student who stays up late to do homework or study for a test.
While it's unfair to attribute homework solely to an unhealthy sleep pattern, the constant pressure to get assignments done on time often leads to one of two outcomes.
Students can burn the midnight oil to ensure their homework is done, or they can drop out of school and ignore their academic interests. Neither is an acceptable way of life.
This point is especially relevant for teenagers. You are not lazy; Teenagers need 12 to 13 hours of sleep every day because their bodies are changing so dramatically.
Burdening them with extra homework that disrupts circadian rhythms is not only pointless - it can be downright harmful (Yeo et al., 2020).
6. Requires less guidance
If there's one thing beneficial about the face-to-face learning experience, it's the ability to raise your hand and let the teacher know when something isn't clear or difficult to understand.
This portable process is not available for homework; in fact, homework is not part of the grand scheme of learning. It's just diligent work designed to help students consolidate their knowledge.
In reality, homework becomes something that students may reject and leave them filled with feelings of frustration – something that could be handled much more easily if the same content were handled in person, with a teacher guiding the student through the assignment. task.
7. Is the normal red learning
In most subjects, homework does not reflect the skills students need to learn to be successful in the workplace. Instead, it's often just about that.To memorize(repetition of tasks) which is not considered the best form of learning.
One of the main objectives of training is to train professionals with defined skills. But more often than not, homework ends up as boring word problems that have no basis in the real world.
A tour of the actual examples belowguidance from a teacherit is much more beneficial for student learning.
8. It can distract from the love of learning
If you know what it's like to nod off during a boring class or meeting, you can relate to students struggling to pay attention in class.
This motivation begins to wane when students are required to complete assignments in their own time, often under intense pressure.
It's not a healthy way to inspire children to be involved in a variety of subjects and to develop a love of learning.
Students have to complete lessons in person for hours. This study time should be used more effectively to eliminate the commute home.
When kids finally get out of class at the end of the day, they need to socialize and exercise, not just look at a book answering a bunch of pointless practice questions.
9. Tangle the subject
Another important aspect of homework is that it can often be counterproductive.
This is because teachers do not always use all of the program material for their classes and may choose to develop their own homework instead of using resources offered by the program provider.
Often this homework may be unrelated, overly specific, or unhelpful in explaining a subject students are studying.
Students who don't understand a topic and don't have resources to rely on will eventually drop out. That risk becomes even greater when you consider the size, complexity, and nature of the job.
Students need to be taught in a safe environment where they can feel free to ask questions and learn at their own pace. Of course, there is no fairytale way to perfect this ideal, but it is clear that homework is not conducive to many students' learning environment.
10. It's not what the kids want
Finally, homework should be banned because it's often not what students want. From elementary school through college, most students harbor some sort of resentment about homework.
It can be easy to dismiss this by saying that students "don't live in the real world". The truth is, the real world is much more nuanced, creative, and diverse than repetitive, broad, and often stagnant homework.
It's easy to see why most students wish more time in school had been spent learning how to live rather than trying to figure out how many apples Johnny had. Topics like car maintenance, entrepreneurship, computer skills, socializing, networking, filing taxes, finances, and survival are covered at best and ignored at worst.
It's not enough for students to regurgitate information onto a piece of paper; Ultimately, the education system must teach them to be self-reliant, which would be much easier to accomplish if resources were diverted away from homework and towards more useful classroom materials.
Consider these 11 additional reasons
- Less time with parents –Homework can prevent parents and children from spending time together.
- Hidden expenses -Families often feel pressured to purchase internet and other resources to help their children do their homework.
- is not fair -Some children have parents who help them, some don't. Likewise, some children have access to the internet to help, while others do not (see: Kralovec & Buell, 2001).
- Easy to cheat -Unsupervised homework time makes it easy for kids to cheat on their work so they can keep playing!
- Lack of downtime -Children need time when they are not doing anything. Unstructured time helps them develop hobbies and interests.
- Deviation from reading –Children could spend time reading books and developing their imagination instead of doing repetitive tasks.
- take parental leave -Parents who have just worked all day are increasingly expected to spend their time "schooling" their children at home.
- advises against joining the club -If children are too busy with homework, they may not be able to join sports clubs and groups that can help them make friends and develop extracurricular skills.
- Making it difficult for college students to earn a living -In college, where homework is extensive, students often cannot juggle homework with their evening and weekend jobs. As a result, this pushes them further into student poverty.
- Contributes to a poor work-life culture– From an early age, we send children the message that they should take their work home. This can have an impact in the workplace, where they are expected to continue working for the company after hours.
- Can reinforce faulty learning- If kids study in isolation during homework time, they might end up practicing all wrong! They need support at times to make sure their practice is leading them on the right path.
Diploma
Students may need to demonstrate their understanding of a topic in order to progress. this is at least a reflection of the real world. Which doesn't help when students are fed day and night with information they have to write down on a piece of paper.
For homework to produce positive results, parents and teachers need to work together. It depends largelykind of homeworkas well as the age of the student and the need to balance homework with time for other things in their life.
references
Cooper, H., Robinson, J.C., & Patall, E.A. (2006). Does homework improve academic performance? A Research Synthesis, 1987–2003.Educational Research Review,76(1), 1-62.
Galloway M, Conner J, and Pope D (2013). Extracurricular effects of homework in privileged and high-performing high schools.The Journal of Experimental Education,81(4), 490-510. Doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2012.745469
Kralovec, E. & Buell, J. (2001).The End of Homework: How Homework Hurts Families, Overwhelms Kids, and Limits Learning. Beacon-Presse.
Pressman, R.M., Sugarman, D.B., Nemon, ML., Desjarlais, J., Owens, J.A., & Schettini-Evans, A. (2015). Homework and family stress: Taking into account parents' self-confidence, educational level and cultural background.Das American Journal of Family Therapy,43(4), 297-313. Doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01926187.2015.1061407
Ren H, Zhou Z, Liu W, Wang X and Yin Z (2017). Excessive homework, insufficient sleep, physical inactivity and screen use are major contributors to high levels of pediatric obesity.Acta Paediatrica,106(1), 120-127. Doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.13640
Yeo SC, Tan J, Lo JC, Chee MW, & Gooley JJ. (2020). Associations of homework or study time with nighttime sleep patterns and depressive symptoms in Singaporean adolescents.sleep health,6(6), 758-766. Doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2020.04.011
Chris Drew (PhD)
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dr Chris Drew is the founder of The Useful Professor. He holds a PhD in Education and has published over 20 articles in professional journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education.