“The average amount of time that most high school students spend on homework is 4–5 hours/week.” CollegiateParent says. That’s an extra hour per school day. Is this 1 extra hour a day hurting students? How is this extra one hour a day taking free time away from students? These are the questions we are seeking to find the answers to.
We decided to ask students to see how homework was affecting students at Sylvan Hills. The first student we asked is Sophomore Aldo Reyes. “I like how homework gets my brain thinking while I’m inside my home, but sometimes it can become too much, having 4 classes a day and there being a chance we have homework from each class, people hate to spend the free time they get at your house to do work from school, and minimizing the amount of homework we get would be crucial for me.”
The second student we asked is Sophomore Grant Mills. “I would say that it depends, if you have homework because you didn’t finish your work I would say it’s fair, but giving homework after a full class of work is unnecessary in my opinion. It causes unneeded stress and can can sometimes negatively affect your grade. Not to mention it takes away time at home that you could be using for personal purposes.”
The next student to answer this question is Sophomore Nikolai Grishanov. “I think all assignments should be able to be completed in class time. When I have to do homework, I usually complete it in other classes if I am able to, because it is harder for me to focus on schoolwork at home. In my opinion, 7 hours per day is plenty of time for school-related work. Adding on to that by assigning homework can cause a lot of stress, especially if a lot of teachers are doing it. Homework can be helpful if you need some extra practice, so it should be available, but not mandatory.”
Sophomore Jackson Barnett answered this question very simply. “I strongly dislike homework. Some assignments take longer than others and it’s hard to fit them in while also doing extra curricular activities.”
Most students agree on the part that they dislike homework in some way, but it is also your responsibility to finish work in class. They believe if you don’t finish in class when you had the chance than it is your fault, but if it is just given strictly as homework and you are only given the time at home to do it, then it adds on a lot of stress and is harmful to their free time.
Lastly, Junior Scout Wyatt defends the benefits of homework, and a solution for students who may have a problem with it. “Although homework does limit a students recreational time, I feel like homework undeniably has benefits such as increasing learning potential, which many advanced classes require to accommodate a rigorous curriculum. With this being said, I feel like homework is justified if the expectations are made clear before a students takes a class, that way they can decide if it is in their best interest to continue or switch their schedule.”
This offers that students are fully informed of the expectations of how much homework will be given. That way the student gets to decide whether they are ready to take on the class. If they don’t want the amount of homework they will receive, then they can defer to take a different class that is available to them.
Do you think homework is too much? Vote in the poll below to show how you feel.
