Monday, February 18, 2019

Why Homework Shouldn’t Exist

Homework is terrible. It doesn’t teach us anything that we couldn’t of learned in school! Also, the amount of stress it puts on students is not acceptable. Every weekday, I have around 2 hours of homework on average.
Image result for too much hw Too much homework can lead to sleep deprivation and anxiety. A survey of High School students in California showed that nearly half of students stayed up late doing their homework, causing them to get less sleep and be tired at school the next day. Many kids participate in after school activities that take up hours of their time. These activities along with the time it takes to eat dinner leave barely enough time for students to do their homework and get to bed on time, as well as have free time to spend with their families or take a break.
Teenagers need around 9-10 hours of sleep each night in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I personally need to wake up at 6:20 every morning in order to get to school at 8:00, and drop my siblings off on the way. This means I need to be asleep by 9:20 at the latest. Unfortunately, I´ve had many homework sessions 2 hours or more that set off my sleep schedule. Studies have also shown that it can take a middle schooler up to 20 minutes to reach a resting heart rate. Not to mention all the hygienic things people do in preparation for bed such as brushing your teeth and changing. Even more time will get used up if you have a pet you need to take care of.
Image result for homework A survey of 38 7th grade students says 95% of those students dislike homework. More than 40% of them have 90 minutes or more a night, which is more than the maximum of 70 minutes recommended by the National Education Association. 90% say that homework often stresses them out, and more than half say that homework isn't at all beneficial. Students spend around 950 hours in school each year, why must we have school time at home also? Whatever our homework is focused on, we can learn during those school hours.
Image result for school supplies Some might say that homework improves student achievement and raises grades. But, homework disadvantages low income students who don't have access to resources like pencils, paper, a computer, a quiet space to work, or a parent to help them. Also, homework has shown to do more damage than good. Though homework may guide children into developing research skills and other good habits, it can also lead to bad ones. 90% of Middle School students admitted to copying someone else's homework in a survey taken in California. Even parents will take shortcuts to cut homework; 43% of parents surveyed admitted to completing a child´s assignment for them.
All in all, homework seems to poorly affect many students around the country. But the question still remains: What will we do about it?


Sources:

33 comments:

  1. Dear bamcat,
    I really like how you connected all of this information to the middle school and 7th grade. Personally, I hate homework. How come homework is assigned in the first place if there is time to be taught it in class?

    Sincerely,
    Bozzy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Bozzy,
      I have no idea why they assign homework! In my opinion, teachers and students should be able to work with each other to make sure everything that needs to be covered gets covered, in the time that they spend together.

      Bamcat

      Delete
  2. Hi Bamcat,
    Homework is pretty bad, especially in middle school. I like the facts you use to back up what your trying to say. I agree that my nights are all HW and I think it’s not healthy for kids to have so much Hw because at a certain point it’s not helping kids learn it’s just stressing them out. Do you think teacher will ever not assign as much HW? What are some points of the good in HW?
    -FoxelephantVioleta

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Foxelephantvioleta,
      Thank you for reading my post. Last night alone, I had over 4 hours of homework. No joke. The reason I posted this is because I want teachers and students to know that homework doesn't benefit anybody.

      Sincerely,
      Bamcat

      Delete
    2. Hi bamcat,
      I think this is so fun to read. I totally agree, I hate having so much. It’s really overwhelming and at some point it’s has more of a disadvantage than an advantage. Do you think anything is good about HW?

      Delete
    3. Sorry forgot to end it. I love your ending
      -Slinkymuffin

      Delete
  3. Hey Bamcat,
    Your post is really relatable, but honestly homework isn't that bad if you do it efficiantly. You could think differently, but that's how I feel. I also dislike homework but I think without it I wouldn't be able to practice that things I learned in class and remember them. For example, in math last year I was learning about graphing inequalities and and piecewise function and without all of the practice that my teacher gave I wouldn't have still remembered how to do it. A question I have is what would you do if you could control the amount of homework per night, IF you CANNOT have NO HOMEWORK? I still really like your post and I can't wait to see what you write next! :)

    MM_Z

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear MM_Z,
      I hear you. For some people, homework is no problem! If I could choose how much homework I could have a night, it would be 15-30 minutes. Is that surprising? I like to research things that interest me, and if something that we have done in class catches my eye, I often want to learn more about it. I think that choice homework like this can be fun and useful.

      Bamcat

      Delete
  4. dear bamcat
    I love the topic that you chose. I think the data that you chose is cool. Are there any advantages to homework? Some kids might say that homework is not beneficial, but it has been shown that if you have like an hour to 1/2 and hour a night is beneficial.
    Bilbo the cat

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear bilbo the cat,
      Thank you for reading my post! I believe that homework has very little benefits in the form it is being given as; hours of textbook reading, essays, and boring work. Homework like this leaves no room for creativity, and it forces students into things that maybe they aren't interested in. If students were assigned with something that sparks their creativity and imagination, something that they are really interested in, than maybe homework wouldn't be such a big flop.

      Thanks,
      Bamcat

      Delete
  5. dear Bamcat,
    i enjoyed how you used facts and percentages, rather than just using your opinion, you showed facts. I was curious, if you still had homework everyday, what things can the school do to make it easier for students to handle than just no homework at all?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bananabunny,
      Thank you for your comment. I think that a problem with homework is that it isn't useful enough. If you tell us that this quiz doesn't matter, why are we studying for it? If we learned and practiced it in class, why are we doing it over and over again for hours a night? These are the problems i have with homework. If we make homework exciting or useful, than maybe some of those problems will go away.

      Sincerely,
      Bamcat

      Delete
  6. Hi Bamcat!
    I agree with your points, and i liked that you used facts to back up your points. over the summer i went to Finland, and in Finland, they don't have homework in any grades pre-k through 12th, and they score extremely well compared to American students. what do you think about this?
    -HiroGrace'sDragon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HiroGrace'sdragon,
      I was so excited after reading your comment! Honestly, I think Finland has the right thing going :)
      It's definitely great to hear your point, and I feel like we could learn a thing or two from these Finlanders and try their system. I also know many people who go to Montessori schools or schools that don't have homework, who are super smart. We don't need homework to get good grades.

      Sincerely,
      Bamcat

      Delete
  7. Dear Bamcat,
    I love this topic because I agree with this research. I thinks its really cool how you related it to your own life. If you could make it so no school would give out homework, would you do it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blue shirt guy,
      I would! No homework is better for students than the amount most schools regularly give out.

      Bamcat

      Delete
  8. hi Bamcat,
    your blog was full of facts. the thing is, facts can be boring, but you really got me hooked there. each sentence I read had some statistic that I spent good time thinking about. I think homework has actually helped me learn a lot, and I think its necessary, but I agree that "busy work" seems to be common at times. I think teachers should cut down the amount of homework they assign us, or simply talk to their fellow teachers. each class gives a reasonable amount of homework, but when you add up the time it takes to complete the homework from every class, it adds up to an average of (in my experience) 2 hours, and a range of 0.40-5 a night. if teachers would coordinate on homework, I think it would allow for everyone to have less work, which would allow for more time to do outside of school activities. what do you think about this?
    great post,
    liv

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Liv,
      Thanks so much for reading my post! I've been thinking that maybe teachers don't realize how much homework they give us. If they collaborated, maybe they would be more aware.
      So many students have extra-curricular activities they do after school, and I don't think teachers actually take that in. After school play rehearsals, soccer practice, and music lessons affect a lot of us, so teachers need to recognize that too.

      Thanks for commenting,
      Bamcat

      Delete
  9. hi bamcat
    your blog post is very relatable, its great to read and write about something like that. i also liked about how many statistics there were, it was very convincing and helpful. do you think that there is a way to limit homework but still understand the topics?
    -gracie :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Gracie,
      Thank you for your comment! I think I've mentioned this, but we spend SO MUCH of our lives in the classroom. Educators really need to take action during that time and not waste a minute of it. A lot of planning should go into each lesson, and the class schedule and lesson should fit into each other, even mold each other in order to be most efficient.

      Bamcat

      Delete
  10. Bravo Bamcat,
    I love your blogpost! I definetly agree with you. I think that there should be less hw but not none. I like how you blog was written and it made want to keep reading. Have you ever thought about how maybe having less sleep because of hw could be making us do worse in actual school because we are more tired?
    Yeehaw
    PinkPanther

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear PinkPanther4567,
      I'm glad to have you as a reader, and that you took the time to comment. I've definitely thought about how homework could become a cycle. When homework is assigned, and the student is stressed or tired the next day, they tend to not get as much work done, which acts as a motive for teachers to say "You didn't get this done in class, so it's homework." Thus starting the cycle over again.

      Bravo to you too!
      Bamcat

      Delete
  11. bamcat,
    YES! I totally agree that homework is the worst! This blog post should be read to our teachers and maybe it will persuade them to take it away! Do you find that you are really tired in class after a late night of hw?
    nice post!
    tinyelephant

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. tinyelephant,
      I'm ALWAYS tired after a long night of homework. If you choose to share this information with others, I'll be cheering you on! This type of information is meant to be spread.

      You got it!
      Bamcat

      Delete
  12. Bamcat,
    Yes! I loved this post because it wasn't just complaining about homework it was stating the facts and evidence that back up the reasoning. Also, do you think schools will ever stop assigning homework? If so, when?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello EatMyDust,
      I'm glad you liked my post! I sure do hope that people stop assigning homework. Maybe, If you share this post with your teachers, it'll convince them.

      Sincerely,
      Bamcat

      Delete
  13. To: Bamcat
    I really loved reading this. It was really relatable. I have to wake up about 5:30 to do everything in the morning, drop off siblings, and finally get to school. I usually stay up past 10pm due to homework. As you said, I do not feel like the homework we are assigned is very helpful. I am usually tired during school wanting to fall asleep in class. But this isn't about me, it is about you and this article. I think that we should that you should take this to our teachers and try to get them to stop us from having homework. All in all, I think that this was terrifically written and you had me wanting to read more throughout the whole post. What are some ways you could stop schools from giving out homework? Also, would studying for a test be counted and homework?
    Awesome Job,
    Soccer is Life

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Soccer Is Life,
      Thank you so much for your comment! But, you were wrong about one thing...
      This post isn't just about me, it's about you, and students across the world too. I think the only way teachers will ever consider not assigning homework is if more students bring these issues up in front of their teachers.
      As for studying, I never consider studying as homework. While homework can be busywork, studying has actually shown to greatly increase people's grades. Like A LOT. So don't give up on it. Studying for big tests like your SATs, ACTs, and PSATs can affect your life greatly.

      Bamcat

      Delete
  14. hi Bamcat,
    I really liked reading you piece, and you made some very good points. Do you think that normal school will be affected by not having homework? Do you think there should be a time limit? What do youb consider, "necessary' homework? You had some really good information and points in your piece, and you had solid evidence. this article might even have the potential to convince teachers and role models of the disadvantages of homework. Good job!
    Smiles,
    Cappuccino

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Cappuccino,
      I'm glad you enjoyed my post! I think school hours will be affected by not having homework... in a positive way. Teachers will be forced to organize their lessons better in order to cover the materials. Students will be able to branch out and learn about what interests them.
      A lot of people will tell you different things about homework, especially when it comes to how much students should have. Some say no more than 10 minutes, while others say no more than 2 hours. I'd say about 15-30 minutes a night, studying not included. Also, research has shown that younger students do not have many benefits from homework. I believe homework should not start until High School.
      No homework is absolutely necessary. If it's necessary, than it can be learned in class, to make sure nobody misses it. Studying is beneficial though.

      Thank you,
      Bamcat

      Delete
  15. Dear Bamcat,
    Let me just say that I love your ending. I love how you wrote it in such a way that made a persuasive argument about the drawbacks homework can have. I also loved your photos because they really added to your blog post. Do you think there are any benefits to having homework?
    -Teeny Tiny Fury

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Teeny Tiny Fury,
      Thank you! I do think homework could work out. The problem is that students are OVERLOADED with homework on a daily basis. Homework could help some if there were less of it, and if students had more of a say in what we are doing. Most of the homework I get these days is useless! I believe that a lot of students might not retain any of the information they're given through homework either.

      Sincerely,
      Bamcat

      Delete
  16. Dear bamcat,
    I liked your blog a lot. It expressed some very good points about homework and why it sucks. How much do you think a student should have on a daily basis?
    cardinals fan 2006

    ReplyDelete