Do Students Get Too Much Homeowork?

Lucy Liu

ENG 105

Macy McDonald 

23 March 2018

Do Students Get Too Much Homeowork?

            Elementary school children today have too much homework given everyday. They don’t have enough time to interact and play with other children around them. This prevents them from active and social play which is essential for children. Making friends builds confidence and social skills needed for the future. This can lead to problems like social interaction with strangers or going out to the public. It will enable them to find a job because they didn’t have the type of interactions as a child. The lack of free play “affects emotional development, leading to the rise of anxiety, depression, and problems of attention and self control.”(Entin) Many parents either don’t have time, take they time to help their child with their homework or have extracurricular activities for them to do which takes up the time for their child to have time for free play. High school students have a similar problem, they receive homework from almost every class they have (about 5 classes) and if they don’t receive homework, they’re studying for a test coming up. This leads to less than 6 hours of sleep a night or unwanted all nighters and stress because good grades are important to them and their parents which can lead to negative effects on the students’ health. 

            Children in Pre-K to 2nd grade receive so much homework and hours in school, they don’t have enough time to go to the park for social interaction with other children. Today, “… students in the early elementary school years are getting significantly more homework than is recommended by education leaders, in some cases nearly three times as much homework as is recommended.”(Wallace) The significant amount of homework teachers give to their students stress and gets them very frustrated, they rather go play or hang out with friends than do hours of homework given to them to do at home. Children have the energy and motivation to play, but it is limited to them. According to “… Erica Reischer, a clinical psychologist and author of the book “What Great Parents Do.” “Playing is learning. That’s it. Parents need to protect that space.””(Joyce) We know that parents worry about what will happen when we go out. There are numerous consequences or events that can happen from being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We know that our parents worry, but we also feel like we need the space apart and enjoy a little freedom from homework and the perimeters of home. Studies have shown that “56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress… experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems… spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to researches. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.”(Hite)

            The NEA recommends that the amount of time to do homework is 10 minutes per grade. Starting from kindergarten, they should be doing 10 minutes going up to 120 minutes senior year of high school. Kindergarteners instead have “… spent 25 minutes a night on after-school assignments …”(Wallace) which is 15 minutes more than recommended and “The NEA and the National PTA do not endorse homework for kindergarten.”(Wallace) High school students however “find themselves with 17.5 hours or more of homework a week, which is the equivalent of a part-time job.”(Robinson and Aronica) High school students have explained they found homework “ as “pointless” or “mindless”…” (Strauss) because the only they’re doing their homework is the keep their grades up. They only have this time to go out and have fun with their friends before they’re going to different schools and theres always a fear of losing contact with them. Also, there is no correlation of doing homework and getting good grades. According to a study at Duke University, “a number of studies have found no correlation between homework and long-term achievements in elementary school…”(Miller) With 25 minutes of homework and the 8 hours of school and extracurricular activities, what time do parents have to bring their kids out to play? They don’t which is why parents are opting out on their child doing homework at such a young age. Parents notice their child’s enthusiasm to go out to play which is why some parents have made the decision to discontinue their child’s daily/weekly homework. For example, “Jeanne Hargett’s youngest son started kindergarten and he was given weekly homework packets”(Joyce) to do at home, Jeanne explained her decision to his teacher, but she was worried about him moving on and catching up to go on to the first grade.

            Jeanne may be able to stop her son from getting homework, but for children who have parents from foreign countries, it’s important for them to have their children do homework. They feel like homework helps their child with things they can’t teach them like English. “For parents who’s first language isn’t English, or parents who work long hours, homework can be good resource and supplement to regular school days.”(Joyce) Parents who don’t have resources like mine, made homework a vital part of our daily lives. Also, “half of all parents believe that all children have access to the same quality of education in our public school system regardless of background, race or income…”(Bermudez), but in reality children who come from low-income families don’t have the same opportunities as children who come from middle-income families. Children who’s parents don’t have college degrees, “Fights and conflicts over homework were 200% more likely …”(Wallace) to occur. For parents that don’t have college education or parents who are too busy, homework is a great way for their kids to learn without them.

            In my high school, Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, we had students coming from Brooklyn and the Bronx to come get a good education where they couldn’t get from where they were living. They had to wake up at 4am to get ready so they can get on the train and buses to get to Queens and make it to school at 7:30am because thats the time first period started at that moment. By the time they got home, it would be late at night because it would take them around two hours to get back home and how much time do they have to do homework before they have to go to sleep for school the next day. Their parents were working hard, but it was hard for them to get them into a good area where education was better. Not everyone has the opportunity to live in a better community where they would get better education. 

            Elementary school and high school students have way too much homework considering the fact that homework isn’t as beneficial as teachers and parents think they are. This prevents them from having time to go out, spending time with friends, socializing with new people and exploring the world around them. Even if homework was beneficial for practice or extra learning, the amount given to them is excessive especially for kids in elementary school. This does not allow them to have time to have time to socialize with kids around their age which can allow them to be depressed, anxious, etc. in their future. Too much homework is stressful and frustrating which leads to them being less motivated to do homework or anything. Students spend so much time in school, so not being able to go out and have some time to enjoy themselves and the people around them is sad and depressing. Didn’t you feel like you wanted more time to go out or just relax from the hours on continuous learning in school? Our parents had that opportunity when they were our age, so why can’t we? Parents are too scared, they need to allow their children to play and interact with other people which allows psychological growth and learning. Free play allows them to do what they want to do and learn from their mistakes.

Works Cited 

Bermudez, Caroline. “America, We Do Not Have a 'Too Much Homework' Problem.” Education Post, 4Jan. 2016, educationpost.org/america-we-do-not-have-a-homework-problem/.Accessed 25 April 2018.

Chea, Sodanie. “Stressed.” Flickr, 10 July 2012, https://flic.kr/p/cuZC5s. Accessed 25 April 2018.

Entin, Esther. “All Work and No Play: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed.”The Altantic, 12 Oct. 2011, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/10/all-work-and-no-play-why-your-kids-are-more-anxious-depressed/246422/.Accessed 22 Mar. 2018.

Hite, Emily. “Excessive homework for high-performing highschoolers could be harmful, study finds.” Scope, 11 Mar. 2014, https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2014/03/11/excessive-homework-for-high-performing-high-schoolers-could-be-harmful-study-finds/.Accessed 25 April 2018.

Joyce, Amy. “Too Much Homework? Some Parents Are Just Opting out.”The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Aug. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2016/08/26/too-much-homework-some-parents-are-just-saying-no/?utm_term=.aedd86b8d800.Accessed 22 Mar. 2018.

Miller, Lauren. “High School Homework: Are American Students Overworked?” The Huffington Post, 2 Jan. 2012, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/high-school-homework-are-_n_1071973.html.Accessed 25 April 2018

Robinson, Ken, and Lou Aronica. “How Much Homework Is Enough? Depends Who You Ask.” Education Week, 19Apr. 2018, www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/04/19/how-much-homework-is-enough-depends-who.html.Accessed 25 April 2018.

Sommeling, Adrian. “stop fighting.” Flickr, 2 Oct. 2011, https://flic.kr/p/asiPSq. Accessed 25 April 2018.

Strauss, Valerie. “Homework Hurts High-Achieving Students, Study Says.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 Mar. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/13/homework-hurts-high-achieving-students-study-says/?utm_term=.27b4e7b62d22.Accessed 25 April 2018.

Wallace, Kelly. “Kids Have Three Times Too Much Homework, Study Finds.” CNN, Cable News Network, 12 Aug. 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/08/12/health/homework-elementary-school-study/index.html?no-st=1521863534.Accessed 22 Mar. 2018.

West, Liz. “children at play.” Flickr, 22 Oct. 2007, https://flic.kr/p/3GXPLM. Accessed 25 April 2018.