The Harmful Effects of Homework

1185 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Does homework cause more harm than good

The Harmful Effects of Homework

High school students feel more stress than working adults, and children are beginning to feel aversion towards learning. Both adolescents and children are at risk of health issues due to anxiety and less time is spent with family, playing, and sleeping. The cause for all of this is too much homework that is suffocating students. Homework causes students to sleep less, have more stress, and even forces students to give up extracurricular activities. These negative results can be improved by reducing the homework load.

Students continue to work late into the night to meet the pressing homework deadlines, sacrificing much needed sleep. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teens need 8.5 to 9.25 hours of sleep in order to do well in school, but they only get an average of 7 hours of sleep because of school work (Teens and Sleep). A cruel cycle exists between school work and sleep. Students are assigned a lot of homework and stay up late working on it. In class they use up time going over the homework, and cannot fit the lesson in the class period. To make matters worse they are given another large amount of homework in order to keep up with lessons and repeat the process. When students do not get the needed amount of sleep to be able to work in school they cannot pay attention in class and get behind in school. Dangers are very real when it comes to a lack of sleep such as student drivers getting to school in the morning. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy driving causes more than 100,000 crashes every year, and a leading factor to drowsy driving is not getting enough sleep (NHTSA). In high school, students can drive themselves to school, and if they are no...

... middle of paper ...

...g, and asking, “What is the lowest grade I can get to pass?” In fact, Finland, one of the leading countries in education, hardly ever assigns homework, unlike other countries, such as Thailand, who assign more homework and are behind(Suskind). Even if the teachers, in Finland, did assign homework it would only take thirty minutes to finish. Teachers can also benefit from less homework because it would reduce the amount of time grading.

Reduce the amount of homework students receive so that they can get the sleep they need to fully grow and develop. Changing the large mass of homework will help students not have an excessive amount of stress, and have more time to participate in extracurricular activities, which would provide other important benefits. A smaller burden will help students to be healthier, more productive, and be a more fully developed person.

Show More
Related

  • College Pressures By William Zinsser

    1735 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first major step in healing America’s exhausted teenagers is to reduce the amount of homework they receive. Kids from the ages of fourteen to twenty-two alike are expected to play sports, join clubs, and hang out with friends – all on top of an average of three and a half hours of h...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Homework

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    There have been so many studies recently that talk about how homework has started to become more burdensome for more students. The United States has gone from teaching to shoving homework in kids’ faces to keep them on the idea that school is always there. Classes have been extended from 45 minutes each day to an hour and a half. This was supposed to allow students work time at the end of classes and get help when needed. Instead, teachers lecture from beginning to end. This gives no time for students to get the help they need when can’t come in any other time. The rationale has changed in America that doing more, always means doing better. This, however, can be the downfall to anything. There can’t be homework assigned just for busy work, that becomes a waste of time. The homework needs to be assigned as a thoughtful way to engage students, so they know what is being

    Read More

  • Explain Why High School Should Start Later

    798 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most high school teens and middle school teens don't get enough sleep, you are supposed to have 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night. Teachers and other educational people know this but they don't do anything to stop it. It is a scientific fact that teens learn more efficiently when they are well rested. Teenagers won't fall asleep later so they are continually losing sleep. There may be many causes why this is harmful in school relations but it is also dangerous in general, if students are too tired or over powered that can cause some dangerous side effects for example: getting in car accidents, alcohol, and cigarettes just so they can stay up longer.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Teens And Sleep

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Adolescents all around the world stay up playing video games, playing on their phones, playing around with their friends, or cramming in an assignment that’s due the next day due to their procrastination. With all these contributing factors, sleep is the last thing on any teen’s mind. School work has a big effect on teens while trying to do it and do it right and get a good night’s sleep every night. The more and more sleep you get each night, the easier it is to get better grades in school, understand things better, and progress easier and faster. Lack of sleep can cause teens to not care thus making their effort poor on their work while their drive and motivation to learn is

    Read More

  • Why Schools Should Start Later Essay

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    70% of high school students, like you and me, are sleep deprived; this means getting less than 7 hours of sleep. The teenage body needs relevant to 8 to 10 hours of sleep because the body is going through an important stage of growth and development. We get this sleep at delayed hours, like 11 p.m. and 12 a.m., due to chemical imbalance during our teenage years. In behalf of this delayed balance and early rising for school purposes, the body and brain are negatively impacted. The only known solution to this epidemic is schools having a later start time. Schools should start later because it could eliminate mental disorders and improve health, causing classroom grades to exceed.

    Read More

  • Why High School Should Start Later Essay

    1677 Words  | 4 Pages

    87 percent of high school teens are not getting the sleep that is recommended for a healthy lifestyle. Because, school starts at an early time, the time for sleep is compressed to a point where their minds and bodies are not ready to be awake (Richter, Ruthann). Due to having cell phones teens are staying up later, after doing homework to check their social media account, talk to family members, and to catch up on the new they missed out on in school or while doing homework. With the academic stress that is put on to teenagers in this modern world that has so much to offer and not enough time to seek it all, many come home from various practices and jobs just to do four to five hours of homework from advanced classes or even extra work from level classes that are required in all schools. The school should reduce the amount of homework given every night

    Read More

  • Excessive Dependence on Homework in American Schools

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    "I didn’t feel [stressed] until I was in my 30’s. It hurts my feelings that my daughter feels that way at eleven" (Ratnesar 313). This statement describes the intense issue facing the American Education System today. More and more students are spending a lot of out of school time on enormous amounts of homework. The overabundance of homework is putting pressure on the students, along with their parents. Our nation has steadily focused on after school studying to the point of possible exhaustion. In this paper, I will attempt to explain how educators are relying on homework as the major form of education, and how the amounts are too demanding on the students.

    Read More

  • The Case Against Homework: How Much is Too Much Homework

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    When you think about school one of the first things that pops into people’s mind is homework. Basically if you have asked your parents or your grandparents they would say that they remember the homework load. Now we all know that homework can be beneficial but also can be very unhealthy with all of the stress that it causes. Over the years the homework load has increased because of the fact that schools think that they need to try to keep up with other countries in academics. And will doing all of this homework now be all for nothing later? The homework load has increased these past couple of years and it is causing a lot of stress on kids and overall is not helping their academics in the long run.

    Read More

  • Should High School Start Later Essay

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the National Sleep Foundation, 33% of high school students fall asleep during school. Most people claim that the students being tired is due to them simply staying up too late, but that is not always the case. The way that the school start times are set up, now it is nearly impossible to get the amount of sleep that students need to function. With the biological sleep clock of students having them fall asleep at 11:00pm and then having to be up at 6:00 in the morning to get ready, the ten-hour goal is unachievable.When students are sleep deprived their focus and attention drift more easily making it significantly harder to pay attention in class. The lack of sleep also impacts students memory, the brain has to work harder to be able to retrieve previously learned information (Sleep, Learning, and Memory). Students who have gotten a good night rest are proven to pay more attention in

    Read More

  • Effects Of High School Start Times Essay

    482 Words  | 1 Pages

    A majority of high school students across the United States do not receive a sufficient amount of sleep. A recent CDC report found that across forty states more than 75 percent of public schools started earlier than 8:30 am. Students often do not acquire the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep due to a natural and biological tendency for teenagers to fall asleep at later times. Most school systems fail to recognize the destructive effects of such lack of sleep and put in a learning schedule in direct opposition to the mental and physical needs of the student body. Without a big shift of nationwide of school start times and the crucial support of the public in order to create a necessary change, high school students will continue to be at a high risk of depression, fatigue, and stress, all aspects of which the nation’s education system and leads to a societal mentality.

    Read More

  • Why There Should Be No Homework

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many parents are also bothered over the force of homework on the connection between their kids and teens.... ... middle of paper ... ... Think about how much homework we’ve done since we were in kindergarten, how many times we’ve stayed up and woke up half-awake, how many times we’ve kept others awake, and how much paper we’ve wasted. If you think that is a lot, think of all of the students around the world doing the same.

    Read More

  • Why Teens Should Start Later Essay

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nearly every high school or college student knows they have done it before - they ended up pulling an all-nighter studying or doing their homework. In fact, only 7.6% of teens get enough sleep each night. Many teens stay up late, but this ends up harming their performance in school and daily life. But there are three possible solutions: beginning school later, assigning less homework, and controlling teens’ use of caffeine. First off, too many students are lacking the daily recommendation of sleep, which links to lower test scores, lower grades, decreased attention span, decreased concentration, and lower academic achievement.

    Read More

  • Today's Homework Stress

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today, many students report more anxiety due to stress than child psychiatric patients did in the 1950’s. In a 2006 survey of 1,300 students at a public high school in Needham, Massachusetts found that 58% of the students surveyed reported between a great deal of stress and extreme stress due to homework (Bennett and Kalish). Many students in today’s time, have so many things to do that it is difficult for them to come home, only to have to finish five to six hours of homework. This, with the added effects of after school activities and technology, only adds to the stress that is put on students.

    Read More

  • Why Homework Should be Banned

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Children go to school for seven hours a day, when teachers make them do homework it causes them to get stressed. Furthermore if children understand what they learned at school why do they need to repeat it at home? If children are struggling on a certain subject, teachers should be able to help them directly, not with homework because giving them homework on something they don't know anything about is counterproductive. Instead private tutoring could be something schools provide for failing students and not homework.

    Read More

  • Too Much Homework

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    We all know the downfall of homework: the frustration and exhaustion, family conflict, time loss, and decreasing interest in learning. No study has ever demonstrated any academic achievement linked to assigning homework. There is also no support to the fact that homework provides nonacademic benefits at any age. Here are a few examples: building character, promoting self-discipline, or teaching good work habits. All teachers who assign homework want to believe that the gain outweighs the pain. Although, there is no evidence of that and they must rely on faith (“Homework: No Proven Benefits”, pg. 1). Michellea, a mother of a middle school student, says that some work can reinforce certain skills, but hours of homework are unhealthy and unproductive. Mominseattle agrees. She contemplates that such a heavy load can result in potential drawbacks to the students. Hours of homework a night plus a full day of school can be just as much work as an adult at a full-time job. She believes students should enjoy their childhood, as short as it already is. MagnetMom complains about how her daughter’s homework takes away her beneficial sleep. With busy families, like hers, they have many after school activities, so when they get home, they do not have time for too much homework. She says ...

    Read More

More about The Harmful Effects of Homework

Open Document