Homework is something many people have traditionally viewed as a vital component of a student’s educational process. Many instructors assign homework to help students solidify information learned in class, to encourage students to be disciplined in working independently and to help students develop a greater understanding of the subject matter.
However, homework can become just another routine for many high school students. Instead of helping them understand the material being taught in their courses, homework becomes work for students to quickly finish just for a better grade.
Therefore, if the goal of school is to learn, students ask themselves whether homework fulfills its purpose.
The way assignments are made greatly impacts whether or not a student derives any value from the assignment.
For example, while doing extra math problems or reviewing new vocabulary could both be helpful to students, those types of activities will only be valuable to a student when the assignments are short, focused and relevant. Unfortunately, these conditions rarely occur with how homework is used by most students.
Many students find that the majority of their homework is nothing more than busywork. Rather than assisting students with learning, many assignments involve simply repeating or completing tasks for no reason other than to check off another assignment.
Many students will spend several hours working on assignments that teach them little to nothing new, all because they felt obligated to complete an assignment. At this point, the focus of the student shifts from “to learn” to “to finish.” This is not real learning. Rather, it is merely existing to survive school.
When a student has multiple classes that each give a significant amount of homework, the student’s overall nightly homework can quickly add up to three or four hours. A student who is working on his/her homework after an entire day at school and then going through the rest of their evening will eventually begin to feel extremely tired, upset and burnt out. The student may also find themselves unable to pay attention long enough in order to actually learn something from their homework.
It would not be fair to say that there is never going to be a place for homework. Homework can continue to provide benefits if done correctly. If teachers can limit the amount of homework but make it more meaningful and valuable for their students, that is, if homework allows for an opportunity to practice or utilize knowledge learned during class time and gives students a choice about which assignments are most important, then I think this would be beneficial to their attitude regarding homework.
Some people might feel that homework helps teach children the importance of being responsible. While this is somewhat true, assigning students excessive amounts of non-productive homework will not develop responsibility, but rather frustration. There are better methods of developing students’ ability to manage their own time without forcing them to do an excessive amount of work each night.
