by Oren Lavon and Shawn Goretsky (6th)

Probably one of the least popular things about the school experience is definitely homework. Like imagine this, school is over, and you're about to go sit on the couch to watch a movie, and then you realize you have to write an essay about whether a hotdog is a sandwich or a taco. Like, seriously?!

Many people see this as more of a nuisance, or even a mental health burden rather than being a tool that allows them to excel in school. In fact, even people like teachers sometimes disagree with homework, and yet, why hasn’t anything been done about it? And that’s honestly something we can’t even answer. Removing homework outright is obviously not possible, but possibly reducing the amount of homework that students are given, or even making homework a choice is a way to start.

People might make the argument that homework is used for studying, or helping the teacher better understand how much students listen off of class time, and they aren’t wrong. It's just, why make it mandatory? Homework should be more study-based. A good idea is to give students the option of doing homework, (or generally studying), just in case they need to work on that specific skill, but if they don’t need it, they shouldn't have to do it. (Homework would also work great if students have extra work they haven’t done yet, but that’s already a system most teachers implemented.)

 

Where Does Homework Even Originate Anyway, Why Is It a Thing?
The first known source of homework is from Robert Nevelis, born in 1879, had created homework as a punishment (which isn’t that far off) for students who he believed to not of been paying attention, but certain teachers saw this as a “great” idea, and then suddenly it was a worldwide phenomenon. Robert gets way more hate than he deserves, and homework should be blamed on his colleagues rather than him himself.

What Do Students Gain From Homework?

Although this article may be against homework, homework does have its bonuses. Homework allows students to study topics that they may need extra practice with, and can make students more productive at home. On the topic of things to do at home, it occupies them for a while when not in school (if they don't have extracurricular activities).

The right amount of homework can be great for a student’s school career, and how they perform. Homework also allows the teacher to get a good idea of how well a student is understanding the lesson without wasting valuable class time. Homework is also great for remembering, because you are actively practicing most of your day allowing you to excel.

How Does Homework Badly Affect Students?

In the wrong amounts, homework can be a waste of time or in worse situations badly hurt someone's mental health. In a lot of situations, usually in younger grades (1st-6th), homework is seen as a nuisance and does not seem to help the student learn, and is just a waste of time that they could be using to do something more productive than sitting around, writing an essay about something they already learned about 3 times (And then almost everyone complains when the teacher gives the bad news that you have homework over the weekend).

But in older grades, homework can take up almost any free time the students get, even having to skip dinner, or miss out on holidays that involve celebrating late at night (typically on school days), like Halloween. I believe that in later grades (7th-12th) homework should not be mandatory, as at this point students should know whether they need to improve, and know the consequences of not studying if they need to, while students who find it easy can use that time to do something else.

However some people may argue that study hall allows you to get homework done, so it doesn’t take free time, but study hall is also used for lots of other things for example CMS Scoop. If people have music classes or need extra help they just have extra things to do on top of the music or help they need.  

What Do Students Think About Homework?

(CMS)

And after a few interviews with people of varying grades, here are some responses:

Akilan Suresh (6th) : “I don’t think homework is necessary and I don't like it.”

Henry Dalani (6th) : “I don’t like homework and I dont think it's necessary because it takes up our home time. We are supposed to learn at school.

Liam Otero (6th) : I don’t like homework myself, but it might be necessary, and might not because there are some people that need help with class and that's what homework should be used for, but not for people with Bs and As.

Ian Whelan (6th): I don't like homework and I definitely don't think it's necessary because it takes up our time at home, even though we have been in school for 7 whole hours.

Aisha Naz (6th): I don't like homework, but I think it's a necessary thing to have.

Veronica Lendacky (6th): I don't like homework, and I dont think it's necessary because it's not needed.

Ava Gayl (6th): I do not like homework personally but I do think it's necessary because it will help us study.

(PWHS)

Amber Cook (Member of the “Town Crier” which is the PWHS newspaper (10th): Homework makes no sense because it takes away from a student’s time to themselves. Home is a place to relax, after all the anxiety from the day.”

Samara Chew (10th): As long as you manage your time correctly, homework is not that bad.

(Prefers to remain anonymous)  (10th): Homework, especially for those with extracurricular activities outside of school can be a large hindrance. Due to the amount of homework students receive as their academic career progresses, they lose time to indulge in personal hobbies and activities as well as spend time with loved ones. If the amount of homework becomes too great, some students can lose their sense of self due to having no time to spend doing the things they love.

Conclusion

 At this point, we have covered probably almost everything we can, from student thoughts, to why homework even is a thing. It's your choice, sacrifice grades for quality time with family and friends, or fun after school activities like sports, or keep your grades by wasting away in your room researching why cereal is a soup. But of course we can't speak for everyone.

There are people who would agree, and people who would disagree, but we want to leave you with one question to think about. Is homework really necessary? 

Image Citation:

"Handwriting." Free-photos/Pixabay. 9 July 2021. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-athletes-way/202107/why-does-writing-hand-promote-better-and-faster-learning