Homework, a word that fills every child with anxiety and stress. Do we actually benefit from it? Does it actually affect the ways kids learn in school?

This well known task we call homework has been around for as long as we can remember. Homework is something that is common yet controversial. While most teachers and parents find that homework is helpful and should be required, students mostly think the opposite.

After being asked, many teachers believed they noticed a difference in students’ learning when they gave them homework versus when they did not. This is ironic because, when asked a similar question, almost every student said that most of their homework was busy work, and they did not actually benefit from it.

Teacher’s Perspective

When asked if students should have homework since they spend all day learning at school, Ms. Decoste, a math teacher here at Pentucket stated, “I can’t cover all the work at school.” Because of this, she has to give homework. “But I don’t think it should be the case if students work all day in school.” Ms. Decoste believes that students should not have homework if they study in school, but she also feels like she needs to give it since she does not have enough time to give all her work in school. She assigns her students homework almost daily, and believes that homework makes a difference to students’ learning.

I also asked teachers if homework teaches responsibility to students? After interviewing Blanca Degrenier, a high school Spanish teacher, she said, “Yes, it does because they know they have to do it, whatever is pushing them to do it,” said Degrenier, “Except it should not exceed more than 40 minutes of homework each night, for all classes.” This was interesting from a teacher’s perspective, because oftentimes students spend 40 minutes or more on homework each night.

Students Perspective

After being asked, 76 percent of students said that they have homework every night, and most said that they spend on average one to two hours on their homework. If you think about it, that is a long time considering that students spend almost seven hours at school doing the same work that they are doing at home. 

97 percent of students also said that they play sports and participate in clubs and activities after school hours. Let’s say that these activities take up to two hours in the afternoon. That leaves students with barely any time for homework if they have to eat dinner, shower, and get ready for the next day. 

When looking at the data, most students also stated that their English and math classes give them the most homework every night, taking up almost half of their night that they could spend doing something else. Having a majority of homework in certain classes is not a good use of time considering students should be able to have personal time to do things they want to do, taking a break from school and the anxiety that comes with it.

Conclusion

From students’ perspectives, afternoons are already busy. Many have sports or clubs to attend, and homework just adds to the stress they feel when they come home. Considering afternoons are supposed to be a time to settle down after school and unwind from a busy day, homework has more negative effects than positive. As for teachers, a majority like the idea of homework, while still believing that it can be stressful for students but still beneficial for their learning. 

Now it is truly an opinionated topic, but to you, is homework really beneficial for learning, or is it just a silly assignment that takes up time in the afternoon?