Homework has been prevalent and considered vital in education for decades in the United States of America. For all the years it's been around and all of the changes that have occurred around it, it's peculiar that few aspects of homework have altered. With assignments being completed through new computers and tablets, and students learning lessons through the internet, the major focus in advancing homework as only been in increasing it's length, straying it from lessons taught in its preceding classes, and demeaning its value simply to a grade. Homework should be reformed to better benefit each individual student, as it's current ideology and implementation is flawed, causing homework to be largely ineffective.
A large factor of the current
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It it widely common for homework to be projects or learning lessons through a textbook. As appealing as this is to teachers and their students' grades, assignments like this aren't assisting in learning at all, and just leaving children with their parents working diligently for hours, just worrying about getting a good grade. Lisa Mangione, a special education teacher from New York who also acts as a consult for general education teachers, provides insight on this idea in her article Homework Has Value When It Reinforces Learning. In one portion of the writing, Mangione discusses about her homework she completed in childhood, and her father's philosophy around homework. She details, "My father's position was that homework should be used to reinforce what was already modeled and taught." (Mangione). She also continues to talk about her father's athletic metaphor for homework. "he compared homework to the practice that athletes endure: they may mess up, but that's the point of practice" (Mangione). This simple concept is the difference between valuable homework and an assignment that's just another grade. Vicki Traufler, the cadet coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Education, also speaks on this in an interview. After being asked whether some forms of homework were more valuable than others, she replies, "Yes, projects should stay in class while worksheets and reading assignments are assigned as homework, as homework is only valuable …show more content…
Firstly, amongst the countries that score above America on the PISA and TIMSS, stands Shanghai-China, which also happens to be first. According to Sonali Kohli's article spoken of earlier, it is also the highest ranking in homework amounts of all the countries in the world with 13.8 hours of homework assigned weekly. Compared to the other countries that sit high in academic rankings, they are an outlier in homework amount. In addition, they are also cheaters. As their country name lists in the PISA, Shanghai-China, their score is only representative of the city of Shanghai, which China tries to convey as their entire country. On top of this, Sonali details that "the city received criticism for only testing a subset of 15-year-olds to skew scores higher" (Kohli). Because of the inaccuracy with Shanghai-China's testing, it can't be determined if their amount of homework is beneficial or detrimental. Secondly, with American homework needing to be solely on review of previous teachings, an argument stands that academic work of any kind outside of school hours can help students achieve more. However, as attractive as giving homework may seem, there is actually no proven lasting correlation between homework and academic achievement. Although many studies have been found to show a correlation between the two, another study refutes it. Alfie Kohn, a writer who discusses topics like human behavior and education,
Elementary aged kids should not have the burden of doing homework like high school or middle school aged kids. Three reasons for this include the fact that homework gets done by the parents, it causes mental and physical health issues and it causes lack of social ability skills. These three things are just a few possibilities of what can happen when an elementary kid has homework.
I had the opportunity to look over the teacher’s grade book today, and noticed something disturbing to me: the homework section in the grade book were mostly blank spaces with marks down only a few names. For over the passed months, most of the students have not turned in their homework. There are a few that turn in their homework consistently and the rest have done nothing. I talked to my master teacher about this issue and she said that there was nothing she could do to encourage them to do their homework. She had confronted many students on their homework issue and received stories of family and personal problems that have prevent them from ever touching their homework. Such stories include not having anyone to help or the lack of time due to other family responsibilities.
“Did you know that homework is one of the greatest causes of student dropouts and failing” (Kralovek 39)? Since the beginning of the twentieth century, homework has been a major debate in America. “At first, the brain was seen as a muscle that could be trained by learning from homework and people enjoyed learning at home. This enthusiastic spirit did not last long since during the 1940’s, Professor Otto explained that, ‘Compulsory homework does not result in sufficiently improved academic accomplishment.’ When Sputnik was launched in the 1950’s, the United States feared that Russia would dominate the world in technology if homework continued to be unnecessary. This incident has partially shaped our country to compete more with other nations. Yet again, during the 1960’s, researchers and educators feared that needless pressure on students was a symptom of overdoing homework. Educator P. R. Wildman wrote in the late sixties that homework does not meet its expectations when it blocks out social experiences, creative activities, outdoor recreation, and deprives students of their recommended daily sleep” (Cooper 34, 38). Today, homework continues to grow in need for students entering high schools and higher education; nonetheless, concern has grown over its benefits for all, especially elementary children. There are many necessary life skills that homework can provide for everyone, which must be used appropriately and in moderation. According to researchers, such as Harris Cooper, homework should be limited, even though research approves of its increased effectiveness as students grow older. Overall, America has witnessed major problems with homework overdoses because many of America’s families have become disrupted, the urge to improve test scores does not always come from doing homework, different ages deal better with specific types of homework, and problems with student behavior and attention in and out of school may arise.
One of the reasons homework should be banned is because of the unnecessary stress and strain it creates for students. Many students are left pulling their hair out at homework time. Students struggle with homework for different reasons. Some of which are because they do not understand the assigned homework, or they are not being challenged, and quite possibly because they have hit their daily threshold for learning and have no more to give. Furthermore, students who struggle academically will likely require extra assistance to do their homework. Students are therefore tasked with finding a qualified person to assist them with homework. Students are not only under the stress of homework, but now they are under additional stress to find a qualified person that can assist them. Unfortunately, some students may not be able to obtain the help they need with their homework. Consequently and to no fault of their own their grades may be affected inaccurat...
Rahul Trehan Mrs. Randazzo Language Arts 25 January 2016 The Shackles of Homework Across the nation, countless students tirelessly work on homework after 6 long, hard hours of education. Though this may give some teachers pleasure in knowing that their students will continue their education outside of class, what this truly does is hinder student’s participation in extracurricular activities, lose sleep, and gain stress. Tiresome homework, strenuous and laborious, affects all students, no matter the age. Finishing their homework, many high and middle school students (even some elementary students) come the dispiriting conclusion that they have no free time for themselves and will have to repeat this folly process the next day.
Have you ever wanted to just shred up your homework or throw it out the window and have no consequences? Kids are assigned daily homework from the time they start kindergarten at the ripe young age of five. Is it really necessary? Does it even help better learning or even higher test scores? The amount of homework we do wastes time, money, paper, and trees because it’s practically the exact same thing we did in class that day. Homework causes kid’s and teen’s frustration, tiredness, little time for other activities and possibly even a loss of interest in their education. It also keeps everyone up; it has kids and teens staying up until they finish it, the parents trying to help them and the teachers grading it. So, I think that homework is a waste and kids and teens should choose whether they want to do their homework for extra credit and practice or not.
Harris Cooper, a researcher on homework from Duke University, claims that too much homework causes stress. In this I paper will talk about the damaging effects homework has on a child, how homework causes students to dropout of school, and some ideas for an alternative to homework.
Those who are for homework would most likely defend that more work means more learning to better education. However, several studies have proved this to be false. One study conducted by Duke University concluded that homework can actually degrade the amount of education received rather than increase it (Spencer). This unvaluable learning can also teach youth bad work habits. Students feel as if they need to study or do work because they have to, rather than want to.
Is homework beneficial or harmful to students? Is so much homework given to students that it interferes with other interests that students enjoy? Does homework intervene with family time? Homework is school work that is assigned to be done outside of the class room. Though homework is often seen as a waste of time, it can also be seen as a way to help students to develop important skills that can be used throughout their life and to be successful when they decide to join the workforce.
Dr. Michael Nagel, an associate professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, says homework has no scientific benefit and that it could even be bad for a student’s brain. “The adult brain does not fully mature until the third decade of life (a person’s thirty’s) and too much stimulation could cause unnecessary stress on a student.” An analysis conducted by Pearson showed that the number of hours spent on homework was between ten and sixty-five hours a week, with females scoring higher on the hours of homework, stres...
Homework is something that every student is faced with and has had to do from generation to generation but that should change. Today’s students are more busy than ever. School, work, jobs it is becoming too much . Innovative schools have discovered that many students benefit from no homework or a limited amount of homework. Homework teaches responsibility and balance. At the same there needs to be time for rest and reciprocation which is also important for a healthy balance. Homework is effective and daunting it should be adjusted to students grades k-12 everyday lives, it helps students to balance in school and out of school tasks.
Another benefit of homework is that engaging in homework encourages creativity. According to “ Do students have too much homework”, the skills that you get from doing homework such as creativity, inventiveness, and seeing a bigger picture are the most important. Many students do not realize that homework can enable the student to be wiser and develop skills that are useful. Creativity is an essential part in homework such as projects because it allows the student to take information and use their r creativity to create a visual presentation based on the facts. Inventiveness is also important because our nation needs s...
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 ...
there are many points that must be taken care of. The first one is purpose. Purpose means that the homework must mean something to the student and it must have a target, aimless homework will not do the job that the teacher is waiting for. The homework must use methods that meet the working style of the students where it will be easier to work with a familiar approach.an important point is that the homework must not be as a matter of routine where the teacher ends his class by ordering the student to do any kind of work that will keep them busy this night. The student must be involved in the education style of the teacher where it is vital that the students understand the importance of the given homework for their learning process.
Students spend hours doing it, teachers spend hours checking it. Homework is sometimes a burden to teachers and students but still it is necessary. Some people doubt homework's effectiveness, but teachers and researchers agree homework is essential. Homework helps students get better grades in school.