Homework: Friend or Foe?


I believe that schools all over the U.S. should put a limit on the amount of homework teachers assign their students each night. The majority of students in America have school five days a week and seven hours a day, almost like having a full-time time. On top of school, students often run into a common problem; homework. The amount of homework that students receive each night is beginning to become unbearable for many kids and teens. Homework is time consuming, can interfere with family time, and can interfere with your social life as well. Homework can also create a distraction from actual school work.

Many students have activities, sports, and appointments afterschool, and homework can make it difficult to juggle all of the factors that we have going on. Homework is time consuming. For example, when I get home from school I set myself up at my kitchen table to o homework. On an average night I spend thirty minutes to two hours on my assignments. Because of this I am often unable to attend family dinners, unable to socialize with my friends, and even unable to talk with my family. Gerald LeTendre, head of Penn State’s Education Policy Studies Department, states that an unreasonable amount of homework can prevent teens from doing activities with their friends and family (LeTendre). Also, weekends are a time for teenagers to release their stress from the week, but still we must worry about getting our homework done in time. We also have trouble getting out of the house from time to time because we are too tired to do anything or we have to do homework. Homework takes up a lot of time and “can interfere with family connections” (Stevenson).

Homework is not only time consuming but can also create a distraction for students. For instance, many students will try to complete their homework during class. This keeps a student from having to finish the assignments at home. This can cause a student to fall behind in his/her classes because they were focusing on their homework rather than paying attention to what was going on in class. I am also a student who tries to finish homework during class. While a teacher is explaining what to do for a project or assignment during class, I am tempted to pull out my homework so I can be able to get it out of the way right there. When I do this, I often have to ask my classmates and teachers to re-explain what was going on, which can easily irritate them. In order to stop this from happening, teachers should assign us a smaller amount of problems rather than trying to race through a lot. We would most likely “understand a concept better” (Nair).

In conclusion, homework should be limited each night so students are not always stressed out about school work. In order to create a more pleasurable learning environment for the students, we should negotiate a satisfying homework schedule that works for both the students and the teachers. The about the kids who don’t have a voice about school. Why would someone want to see their loved ones struggle with homework? Let’s put an end to it.