Let’s face it: homework stinks.
I say this because you could probably ask any kid or student on the street the question of whether or not they like homework and the answer will almost always be no. To many, homework is not something they like to do, it is just something they are forced to do as not doing it could result in bad grades and even failing a course.
So should we keep doing it? Or just stop this idea of mandatory homework? As it stands now, we have to do it since not doing it can kill someones grade and possibly their academic future. But by giving out this mandatory homework it can possibly do more harm then good. This
article lists a study which can add some credibility to the fact that homework can be negative to the mental growth of a student. The article says: “
A study by a group of Australian researchers found the average scores of relating to students’ academic performances against the amount of homework dished out at the end of the school day, showed clearly that when more time was spent on homework students were getting lower scores. The research clearly suggested that placing too much homework can cause lower grades and even lead pupils to begin suffering from depression” (Factual, 2013). As the article states, when students get over loaded with lots and lots oh homework their in school and test taking skills suffer as a result and it can even lead to depression. Doing so much homework and then finding out maybe that you did not get a good grade on test or quiz or the homework you did did not get a good grade can really be a demoralizing thing for a student to see and think that all that work and all that studying meant nothing. The article also points out the time table of a typical student in the elementary or high school level. A typical student spends most of their day at school from early in the mourning to mid afternoon and when they get out of school the last thing they are thinking of is doing more work. But when a student get’s so much homework or the homework is so hard they spend hours doing it, they now have no or little time to do what they want to do which can be somewhat of a overloading of material in a way.
So those reasons sound pretty bad right? Makes you think that maybe homework just doesn’t work and we should get rid of it huh? Well… maybe that is not entirely true. As you may have noticed, the main reason as to why kids were doing bad based on that study is not because of the material given to them as homework, but the amount they have been given. It goes back to “information overload”, when it comes to most people they tend to lose patience or start to turn off their brains in a way when a class or work drags on for too long. For example, I was in a class last semester which was dubbed a “tech class” by the community college. By “tech class” they mean that they think it should be a class that meets once a week for a long period of time: four and a half hours to be precise. Now I have been in long classes before, but that one took the cake. For me personally I can pay attention for probably 2 hours at one time (or 3 if we took 1 or 2 breaks) but to pay attention for four and half? No way! Now imagine a student in high school who has been sitting in classes all day for probably around 7 or 8 hours and then you give him/her 2 or 3 hours of homework to do! It can really put a strain on the mind and be really stressful!
Let’s take a look at another article which asks does homework really work? The answer they came to: “maybe?”.
The article says that: “The good news: In an effort to answer this question, researchers have been doing their homework on homework, conducting hundreds of studies over the past several decades. The bad news? Despite scores of studies, definitive conclusions remain a matter of some debate” (Crawford). The problem is not that there are not enough conclusions raised by studies, there have been hundreds and hundreds of tests relating to the hypothesis of whether homework really works or is good for you, its just that the conclusions reached by these studies are not definitive in that many people debate the validity and the way these tests reached these conclusions.
One problem with trying to get a definitive conclusion on this matter is the fact that every child is different. You will probably never encounter two kids who are doing homework that each share the same viewpoints on the homework or show the same educational impact the homework has on them. Plus another aspect that can really throw these conclusions out the window are possible third variables that can cause the test to be “tainted” in a way. Performance can be blamed on lots of homework, but maybe the kid is more focused on something else? Maybe he is going through a tough time or has other things on his mind that could be making him think of other things then the test or quiz at hand? These confounding third variables could affect the student in a way that makes the test of if Homework works a void test since there is no way a scientist could possibly know about them to begin with.
Another possibility is the reason kids don’t do well after homework on tests and grades can be due to chance. For example, suppose I do a homework session that has the equivalent of one hours’ worth of homework and then I get a 20 question test that has all true or false questions. Now suppose I took the test blindfolded and answer the questions at random. Depending on how I answer: there is a equal probability that I could pass or fail that test. Pass or fail, it was mainly due to chance since I had no control over what I chose or what the questions even were, everything was chose at random. If I fail then I fail, if I passed then hooray for me but the fact remains that doing that homework did not really affect the outcome of whether or not I would have a better chance of passing the test.
Personally if you ask me, I think we do need homework even though we may not like it. I say this because I think it acts as a good way to keep the days materiel fresh and allows for the material learned during the day to sink in more. But what is interesting is that since I am older i realize this more or maybe it’s just that the older you get, the more homework helps you learn. Leslie Crawford, the author of the 2nd article I have read, lists a study that was done by a team at Duke University: “In a previous meta-study conducted in 1989, Cooper’s team at Duke University found that grade level heavily influences how much homework helps with academic advancement (as measured by standardized and class test scores.) It appears middle- and high schoolers have much to gain academically by doing their homework. The average high school student doing homework outperformed 69% of the students in a class with no homework. Homework in middle school was half as effective. In elementary school, there is no measurable correlation between homework and achievement” (Crawford). So by that logic, it can be safe to assume that students in higher level learning such as a college or university can benefit by doing their homework.
So is homework good or bad? Well, it probably depends on who you ask. There is no real right answer to this question because studies done can’t possibly conclude that it is either good or bad because each student is unique and holds different views regarding homework. But maybe there is one conclusion we can make from this: that maybe giving too much homework to students is the main problem we should be looking it. As Crawford says: “In fact, for elementary school-age children, there is no measureable academic advantage to homework. For middle-schoolers, there is a direct correlation between homework and achievement if assignments last between one to two hours per night. After two hours, however, achievement doesn’t improve. For high schoolers, two hours appears optimal. As with middle-schoolers, give teens more than two hours a night, and academic success flatlines” (Crawford). I think I can relate to this going back to what I said about long classes, there is a certain point that each student has where they hit a “mental fatigue” point where they just do not want to learn any more and what to do other things to stimulate the mind.
So maybe the problem inst whether or not homework does anything good for a student, but whether or not teachers are giving students too much homework and creating a lot of stress on the student as he spends his whole free time stuck behind papers and papers of homework. I think teachers need to take a good look at the amount of homework they are putting on the students as it seems to be doing more harm then good.
I agree that homework is pretty lame, I have better stuff to do then doing it. But I think it is something that can be a good tool for learning if it is used in the right way. Otherwise we could end up with students who just can’t get the grades they want by placing too much work on their educational plate to do at one sitting. Sometimes it is best to take teaching things in small chunks, then to just force the whole book into someones head at once. Let them live their lives outside of school, instead of turning ALL their free time into more school time.