Over the years, the education system for schools in North America has been improved and polished to the point where there are not many issues of dissatisfaction to be addressed. However, there is still the pressing issue of too much homework. Excessive homework has been proven many times to have several negative effects, so why is it still being supported by so many teachers and school systems to this day? Excessive homework often causes health risks for students, restricts their free time, and most of all, isn’t efficient in improving students’ education. The sooner excessive homework is seen as an escalating problem in the school system, the sooner our society will succeed in creating a better future.

Too much homework often causes stress, which tends to lead to health issues of the body and/or mind. Although stress is good in healthy amounts, too much homework causes an overload of stress, which is a contributor to insomnia, unhealthy eating habits, depression, and much more. In a study conducted by a team of researchers in the United States, 56% of students considered homework to be a primary source of stress. Less than one percent said homework was not a stressor. In a similar study by the Stanford Graduate School of Education, in a survey of more than 4300 students, it was found that there was a clear connection between students’ stress and physical health problems such as migraines, ulcer, stomach problems, sleep deprivation and weight loss. Clearly, excessive homework is a health risk for students, and should be decreased to a reasonable amount.

Doing too much homework also restricts a student’s free time and social life. After all, when students are spending so much time on completing homework, where’s the time for other activities? As a result, students are spending less time with their friends and family, which is crucial to maintain healthy relationships outside of school. In addition to that, researchers found that many students were often found decreasing their time spend on sports or other extracurriculars, in favor of completing their homework. Long-term, this imbalance would gravely affect the manner students lead their lives, especially in managing bonds with other people and fine-tuning other strengths.

Lastly, excessive homework doesn’t actually greatly improve students’ academic progress or understanding of a subject. Completing homework takes up a lot of time; as such, it’s no longer concentrating on what is being handing in, more about finishing everything as fast as possible. Think about it. If you had two pages, double-sided of math questions, an essay to write for English, a project for science, an oral presentation in Geography, as well as a book report in french, paired with several tests to study for, would you be thinking as much about the content of your work? No, you wouldn’t. Students are getting desperate and restless over their unfinished homework, no longer focused on doing well and strengthening their understanding of a subject. The excessive amounts of homework assigned means that it cancels out whatever benefits the homework would’ve provided otherwise. Hence, it only makes sense to reduce the amounts of homework assigned in order to allow students to et the full benefits.

Evidently, it is now startlingly clear how the effects of excessive homework can lead to severe consequences. Hence, it is my proposition that teachers and school boards decrease the amount of homework assigned to maximum an hour. Otherwise, students will continue to be under and overload of stress daily, and get no free time, all the while getting little to no academic progress. Whereas homework in little amounts can be useful in strengthening a student’s understanding of a subject, too much homework provides no benefits. This generation of students and the generations to come, will be the leaders of the future. Teachers have the ability to give them a strong and good education—starting with the simple step of reducing the amount of homework. Why not take that step now?