A popular myth states that Italian teacher Roberto Nevilis invented homework as a form of punishment. Present day, teachers assign homework because, from their view, homework is a disciplined way to encourage independent learning and reinforce classroom lessons. However, there are many arguments that homework is negative. A survey from challengesuccess.org concludes that many students feel significant academic pressure from homework. Even though there are numerous cons associated with homework, many students still believe that homework is important.
Stanford senior lecturer Denise Pope and her team found out in their research that two and a half hours of homework is the optimal time for high school students, and anything more than three hours can be counterproductive. The research also concluded that many students experienced reductions in health, such as headaches, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.
The opposing argument asserts that we should stop giving homework because it is unhealthy. The Human Restrain Project stated that it should no longer be assigned due to unnecessary stress. The National Differences Global Similarities’ work on future schooling performed a four-year investigation of schools in 47 countries (the largest study of its type). It concluded that the countries with the least amount of homework, Denmark and the Czech Republic, had better test scores than the countries with the most amount of homework: Iran and Thailand. The same study also showed that there was no correlation between academic achievement and homework in elementary students, and a moderate positive correlation in middle and high school, which declined as more homework was assigned. A study in Contemporary Educational Psychology of 28,051 high school seniors concluded that it was the quality of instruction and motivation that correlated to academic success, while homework’s effectiveness was marginal and sometimes counterproductive. Prominent American author and lecturer Alfie Kohn says that “If all you want is to cram kids’ heads with facts for tomorrow’s tests that they’re going to forget by next week, yeah…But if you’re interested in kids who know how to think or enjoy learning, then homework isn’t merely ineffective, but counterproductive.”
Kavin Rathnakumar (‘27) is a junior at Green Hope High School and has taken many rigorous classes. During a recent interview, Rathnakumar expressed his thoughts about homework. Rathnakumar’s perspective on homework is ultimately positive, and he says, “The teacher doesn’t grade any of the homework, so it’s not really forced upon us to do the work. It’s just mainly for us to do it for our benefit. And I’ve seen massive improvements in my grade by just doing the homework.” His conclusion comes out to be similar to Stanford’s Pope and her team’s conclusion. He thinks that “the point where it becomes counterproductive is usually at the four-hour cap.” Rathnakumar also mentioned that it has to do with the students’ mindset. He said, “If the student thinks that it’s busy work, then it would seem very daunting.” Another interesting idea he got was that teachers should guide the students to a certain extent and it should be the students responsibility to reinforce classroom lessons.
Saketh Doppalapudi (‘27) is another junior in Green Hope and has taken many AP and honors courses. In a recent interview Doppalapudi said, “Homework is a great way to reinforce classroom lessons, but if used excessively it becomes counterproductive.” He thinks that homework is definitely a positive thing but if it is used wrong it can be ineffective and counterproductive.
If a student is suffering because their teachers assign too much, let the teachers know. Homework is meant to help students who are struggling in class, not to waste time or be counterproductive. If the homework takes too long, the solution is not to take the easy out and cheat. The best solution for a struggling student is to tell the teacher that they are struggling. No teacher wants to give out homework to be purposefully counterproductive. If homework takes too long, talk to a teacher about it, whether it is not understanding the topics or simply feeling overwhelmed.
