Homework: How much is right?

By: James G.

           

 

Imagine you come home ready to finally unwind after a day of school. Your relaxation quickly fades away as you remember about the piles of homework school has cursed upon you. You bite the bullet and stay awake until late at night doing worksheet after worksheet. Some schools give too much homework than is necessary, hoping kids will do better when they are assigned a lot of homework.

            A rule of thumb is ten minutes of homework for every grade level. For example, if you were in the eighth grade, you would get 80 minutes of homework every day. If you were in the third grade, you would get 30 minutes of homework. Are schools following the guidelines of the 10 minute rule?

            In the Journal of Experiential Education, they found that many high school students reported receiving over three hours of homework. The ten minute rule says that high school students should get at most two hours of homework. Robert Pressman, PhD, found elementary students were getting up to three times the amount of homework that the ten minute rule states.

            With schools giving so much homework, they are hoping students will do better academically. Is that actually true? In a 2015 study of Spanish students, they found that students who were regularly assigned homework performed better academically. However, when the amount of homework reached around 90 minutes, scores decreased. Another study showed that there was barely any correlation between the amount of homework and how well they did for elementary school students. The amount of homework for middle school students had a positive correlation until the amount of homework was about one to two hours. After that, the performance of students plateaued.

            Effects of too much homework are students being burnt out towards school, stress, sleep deprivation, and obviously, less free time. Students may also be stressed from parents' high standards, many giving them extra homework and tutors. This can overwhelm the child, and they may face chastisement if they can’t fulfill these tasks. Many students also have extracurricular activities, like sports and clubs. These activities give students less time to finish their homework. Kids also get less time for hobbies. Of course, being outside and active is important for their health, but even time on social media can give kids a needed break.

            Not only is the amount of homework wrong, but the type of homework is bad. Lots of homework is in the form of worksheets. You fill them in, turn them in, and the teacher checks them. This is an ineffective use of homework. A more effective way to learn is called the flipped classroom.

            A flipped classroom is where students learn about the material at home, usually through a video, and do problems at school. Basically, you’re flipping the work at home and at school. This allows kids to work at their own pace, rewinding the video as needed. At school, teachers can work with students if they need help.

            Homework is still important for kids to understand the material they learn. However, too much of anything is not good, and homework is no exception. This could be the era where teachers can finally understand how students learn best.