Homework is a tool used to help promote understanding in students, based on topics they have covered. Homework can be as much as a compilation of worksheets, or in an English II H student’s case, a paper. However, when asked if students feel as though the amount of homework given is necessary, many students agree in saying that too much homework can cause sleep deprivation, interference with after school activities, and higher stress levels. In order to combat the problems that homework presents, students should be assigned less homework.

Having more homework can cause sleep deprivation among students. Because students often have to go home and do hours of homework, they are unable to go to sleep at a reasonable time. Studies suggest that students should get an average of eight hours of sleep a night. Since many students participate in after school activities, several of them do not begin their homework until 6:30 pm. Because students begin their homework later in the evening, many do not finish until the early hours of the morning. Students who do not meet the advised amount of sleep risk facing a number of consequences: increase in blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. By assigning more homework, teachers are inhibiting a student’s ability to get the proper amount of sleep and, thus, increasing the student’s risk of health problems.

The average student’s day begins from the time of 7-8am and ends around 3:00 pm. After a long and full school day, many students must participate in after school activities, sports teams, and clubs without a resting period. Students who have to go home and do homework are not able to participate in extracurricular activities or are forced to give up free time/sleep in order to do their activity and their homework. Extracurriculars are very crucial when applying to college, so students, when not being able to participate in after-school activities, are faced with a disadvantage. Teachers assigning a ton of homework prevents students from being able to participate in after-school activities, inhibiting them from becoming well-rounded individuals and putting too much emphasis on schoolwork.

Having excessive amounts of homework can cause students to become more dependent on themselves for work. Many times teachers run out of time in class periods and do not finish teaching particular lessons. With circumstances as such, students must go home and teach themselves lessons without having prior knowledge of the task at hand. This puts students at a disadvantage, making them more susceptible to confusion and mediocre grades. Teachers’ assigning tons of homework can cause students to be more dependent on themselves, resulting in poorer grades and more stress.

Many teachers think that homework is necessary to promote learning. If teachers look at the effects of too much homework, however, they will see that this excessive amount is working against students and is negatively affecting them. Though homework is a tool used to help students gain a better understanding of previously covered topics, too much homework has severe and negative effects on students. A negative side effect of too much homework is sleep deprivation, which can cause weight loss and an increased susceptibility to crashes.
Having more homework can interfere with after school activities, can cheat students out of a real learning experience, and can cause sleep deprivation, so the amount of homework given to students should be reduced. Assigning students less homework will benefit them in the long run. In order to reduce the amount of homework given, teachers and students should work together to create a schedule for during the school day that allots time for homework.