Essay about The Harmful Effects of Homework

In addition to sleep deprivation, homework-related stress can lead to serious, long-term psychological health problems for some hard-working students. While short periods of stress are meant to

By not giving out homework, students will work harder in class and have better grades. Teachers have to understand that if students are tired from late nights, they wouldn't be able to work efficiently during the day. In addition, students would be much more excited to come to school because they know they wouldn't have to worry about getting any homework. In 2010, a survey was taken and it showed that about 70% of teen ages 11 to 17 get less than 8 hours of sleep per day due to the amount of homework they have to do (Logos). According to Alfie Kohen, students feel forced to do their homework, therefore they aren't learning as much as they should (Ethos). Students lose interest in the topic and do not benefit from what they’re learning. In China, a cry for change by a mother who lost her thirteen year old daughter who committed suicide due to her inability to achieve in math, the mother considers homework is a huge negative factor toward her deceased daughter's tragic ending along with the pressure of society (Pathos). Such a story should leave us wondering, how many more children need to suffer the silent epidemic of school stress. Statistics prove the leading cause for the majority of physical and emotional complaints leading up to diagnosis of depression in middle and high school due to the amount of

Having too much homework causes students large amounts of stress and lack of sleep that can cause health problems. On a survey that Stanford researchers tested on 4317 students, fifty-six percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, forty-three percent of the students viewed tests as a primary stressor, thirty-three percent put pressure to get good grades in that category (Parker). Less than one percent of the students said that homework was not a stressor (Parker). That means that about 4273 students considered homeword a stressor, while less than 50 out of 4317 students believed homework to not be a stressor. Out of the students surveyed, the average amount of homework was three hours and six minutes of homework (Greicius). The large amount of homework causes large amounts of stress, but it also causes sleep deprivation and other health problems such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation,

Adolescents and adults need around 9 hours of sleep daily (De Souza 5). Since schools are starting so early, they can not get the needed sleep time, eight to nine hours. Even though teachers go to school the same time as students, consequences are worse in students and it seems to have more of a critical effect on students. No matter if it is a student or a teacher, the quality of sleep is very important for everybody.

One of the most controversial topics in education today is homework. This debate has been going on for decades, as teachers, administrators, and parents disagree on whether homework should be assigned, and if assigned, then what the right amount of homework should be. The time students spend on homework has increased over the years. “High school students get assigned up to 17.5 hours of homework per week, according to a survey of 1,000 teachers” (Bidwell). Recently, more fuel has been added in this debate because younger students in particular are receiving much more homework than before. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing, states that “The amount of homework that younger kids – ages 6 to 9 – have

Lack of sleep can seriously affect students mental and physical health and can change it permanently. “Effects on one crummy night’s sleep: You feel groggy, forgetful, clumsy,” according to Scholastic Choices, When Sleep Becomes a Nightmare. Lack of sleep makes adolescents become more vulnerable to depression and obesity (npr.org). For example, when people are tired they want foods or drinks with lots of sugar or caffeine to give them a temporary boost, but it can later on affect their body negatively (sleepingresorces.com). When students don’t get the right amount of sleep they can become

The average teenager only gets between 7 and 7 ¼ hours of sleep per night. However, according to nationwidechildrens.org, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours. Also, the National Sleep foundation found that only 15% reported sleeping 8 1/2 hours on school nights. Sleep plays a big role in your physical, mental, and emotional health. It also plays a very big role on your academic performance. Despite evidence that shows teens benefit from later school start times, some people feel there are many obstacles that come with a later start time. However, we must overcome these obstacles to make sure teens are getting the most out of their days. Starting school at a later time, such as 8:55am, just 50 minutes, would make sure teenagers are getting the correct amount of sleep, and make sure they are healthy.

David Mills’s article published in Healthline, “Is Too Much Homework Bad for Kids’ Health?” is a piece focused upon the extensive amount of time consumed by homework by students of all ages as well as the subsequent health effects that typically result from the issue. With the assistance of multiple studies, Mills argues that current students are highly exceeding the national standard of allotted time for homework and instead recommends several alternatives to the problem, such as primarily focusing upon the assignments that they deem as of appropriate and beneficial quality. Although he specifically asserts that refusing to do the work altogether is one of the best methods to easily relieve the increasing pressure felt by students in vigorous schooling systems, it actually has the opposite effect: by delaying the work until later, students fall into an endless cycle of being

Homework has been an area of discussion for teachers, students, and even psychologists. It’s been a practice which has been used throughout the United States to help students learn material, reinforce their day’s lesson, or just as busy work to improve a student’s work ethic. Several people view homework as useless, or just plainly unhelpful; this view has been demonstrated ever since the early twentieth century, where many authors and politicians were vehemently against homework, going as far as to write whole books and draft legislation (legislation which had passed the Californian government and had been law) against homework. This opposition has ever since faded, but is now seeing a new movement around America, and there are reasons as to why that is. In an article from CNN, they quote a study from another article published by The American Journal of Family Therapy which states that: “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”, and, as such, students are raised within a state of stress from the first grade. Several other studies also find that homework is very hurtful; the Journal of Experimental Education published an article which had made a study that found that the average amount of time students spend on homework each night had been 3.1 hours from a sample of high-performing schools in California, when the recommended time on homework is, at most, one hour each night. Homework has been mandated work for students all around the country, and several others, and the workload seems to only be increasing, and so, how might this workload affect a student’s ability to live a healthy life, a teacher’s work plan, and a psychologist’s view of an enormous workload on a student?

A major key to maximize growth and development in high school students is to acquire satisfying rest each night. The proper amount of sleep for the average teenager is 9 ½ hours; however, studies have shown that only about 15% of high school students get more than 8 ½ hours of sleep on a school night. For example, the average start time for high schools in the United States is before 8:30am, so a viable wake time is

As a high schooler, you get lots of homework which can easily cause you stress, but others like parents have another understanding of homework because they think it gives their children something to do besides sitting and watching the television. Also teachers tend to give out homework for the benefit of your learning skills or just of what you learned on that school day in general, which isn’t always helpful. The harsh thing parents and teachers don’t realize is the agonizing pain and life consuming of having large amounts of homework which causes us to have negative consequences.

Roberto Nevilis, a teacher in Venice, changed history when he created the first use of homework in 1095. Since then, students’ opinions of homework haven’t changed. Roberto Nevilis started homework as a way of punishing his students for not doing their work. Nowadays, homework is assigned to help students receive more practice for what they learned in school that day. Despite the good intentions that homework is supposed to provide, it actually proves more harm than good. In the twenty-first century, the increase of homework negatively affects American teens’ sleep schedules, stress levels, and after school opportunities. Parent involvement in homework can turn into parent interference.

Study author Dr. Robert Vorona, an associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia stated “‘Teenagers need over nine hours of sleep a night, and it looks like a large number of teens don’t get sufficient sleep . . . that relates to the time that high schools begin’” (qtd. in Holhan 1). I believe the amount of sleep a student can get is largely based on the time his or her school begins.

By school starting later, many kids will be getting sufficient sleep so that they can function better both physically and mentally. The average recommended amount of sleep for a teenager is 8-9.5 hours each night. But, due to having to wake up early in the morning for school most kids do not get that.

The majority of students have, at one point or another, wished for less homework. For some student’s homework is not a big issue but for other students it can take hours and even days to do all their homework. That wasted time could be used for enjoyment or learning life skills instead of homework. Nine in ten high school students reported feeling stressed about homework (Galloway 4). So, should students get less homework? Yes, students should receive less homework because it improves their well-being by reducing stress and its impacts on health, increasing leisure time, and showing that homework does not affect grades significantly.