Remember that time when you got home, wanted to relax but you knew you had a ton of homework. So you got out your backpack and nice sharp pencil. You start your homework, finish some of it and have to go to soccer. You go to soccer, get home, shower and eat dinner. After all of that its 8:30 and you still have to finish that science project and that social studies essay. “How am I gonna be able to do this?” you are saying to yourself. Finally you finish all of that and have to go to bed. By the time you get in bed its 11:23 pm and you have early school the next morning. This is something many middle and high school students across the country experience. Homework is something that gets in the way of many tired evenings. Although some may say that homework brings benefits like responsibility to students. Homework should be eliminated because it stresses students, reduces social time and it does not show much academic benefit.

The first reason homework should diminish is that is intensely stresses out students. The thought of homework every night to students can be very daunting and quite dreadful. After 7-8 hours of sitting in classroom learning from computers and books, its very frustrating having to repeat it at home. Teen students don’t want an overwhelming amount of work every night that stresses them out. “A 2002 study found a direct relationship between time spent on homework and levels of anxiety, depression, anger, and other mood disorders and issues” (Coulson). These mood swings and anxiety can all be chased back to homework because extreme amounts don’t give any break to students and it won’t just disappear (Crawford). On top of having sports and other recreational activities, students barely have any extra time for homework, causing them to stress their situation. “Research has demonstrated that it “overwhelms struggling kids and removes joy for high achievers” (Coulson). Even kids who do very well in school can be intimidated by homework because of the consequences that come without doing it. Throughout the whole night homework will sit on the minds of students until its all complete, causing major stress.

The next reason homework should be little to none is that it reduces teen social time. Being social and having people to talk to is a very important aspect in a life a growing child. If students are too preoccupied with homework, they won’t have any time to make friends and have a social life. “According to the textbook, "Child Psychology," regular social interaction plays a critical role in brain development. Children who get plenty of opportunities to interact with friends and family can gain valuable social, conflict management and impulse control skills. When homework reduces this time, children's social development may suffer” (Thompson). Like it says in this quote, students who cannot interact with others will not have the social skills that are critical to the brain. Homework is one of the main reasons that this gets reduces. If homework would be eliminated or greatly reduced, students would be able to participate in more after-school enrichment activities.

“...constructing engineering projects, volunteering, or being involved in musical theater can end up changing a student’s life just as much as what goes on [with homework]” (Binns). If homework was not given, students could participate in these activities, creating more social time, and not have to worry about the homework proceeding after them.

The last reason that homework is necessary is because there has been many studies that have found little to no academic benefit from homework. One study done at Sydney University by educational psychologist Richard Walker, had shown that students who do more homework actually do worse on standardized tests (Binns). “Homework only boosts student scores in the final three years of high school” (Binns). Otherwise, teen students in elementary school, middle school and beginning of high school do not benefit from these extreme amounts of homework. “A survey done through the University of Michigan found that by the 2002-'03 school year, students ages 6 to 17 were doing twice as much homework as in 1981-'82” (Crawford). And have they found any benefit from the doubled amount of work? No. Students are just doing unnecessary time consuming, busy work that does not improve their lifestyle (Wilde).

Some may say that homework has the benefit of teaching kids the material they need to know and by having more homework while increasing grade level will help them. However, since many students don’t have much time for homework, they will be staying up late because of the exaggerated amount of work. Children are growing the most in their teen years, and as a part of growing, teens need sleep. They are not getting enough sleep because homework is keeping them up until 11pm when they should already be in bed (Wilde). It is required that teens between 11 and 18 need at least 9 hours of sleep and even more (Gavin). In high school years when students are up very late doing homework and studying, they engage in overdoses of caffeine and drugs that will keep them awake and alert. This is because of the stress from the crazy amount of work for one night given to them.

Overall, homework should be eliminated because it causes stress, reduces social time and shows no academic benefit. All of these three reasons, along with many more, have proven how homework is unnecessary and a waste of time. While students are staying up until 11pm with 4 hours of work and studying, they could be building social skills and eliminating stress. If homework can be completely diminished, it should be greatly reduced and only given for studying or extra help. Now, would you rather have homework or no work?

Works Cited:

Binns, Corey. "Homework Overload Gets an 'F' from Experts." TODAY.com. N.p., 27 July 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. .
Coulson, Justin. "Why Kids Aged under 14 Don't Need Homework - Kidspot." Kidspot. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2015. .
Crawford, Leslie. "Does Homework Really Work?" GreatSchools. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. .
"How Much Sleep Do I Need?" KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Mary L. Gavin. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. .
Thompson, Van. "What Negative Effects Does Homework Have on a Student's Social & Family Life?" Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. .
Wilde, Marian. "Do Our Kids Have Too Much Homework?" GreatSchools. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. .