Is Homework Beneficial or Just a Time Consuming Task?

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11181550 – focused student surrounded by books in a library

Olivia Chuvala, Staff Writer

Homework is something that is well known by any student. We all know that some people believe it is beneficial and necessary for any student to succeed while others believe it is just a complete waste of time. It has been an ongoing debate about whether or not students should even have any homework, and many believe it is just an extra task and has no benefit.

I believe that some of the homework we get is beneficial, but there is a lot of it assigned that isn’t. Also sometimes there is just too much assigned and is an unreasonable amount to be completed in one night. According to The National Education Association and the National Parent -Teacher association, students should only have between 10-120 minutes of homework depending on your grade level because of the 10 minute rule. The rule is that students get 10 minutes of homework based on their grade level. For example if you are in 9th grade you should have 90 minutes of homework. However there are many nights when students are completing way more than that. Studies show that this amount will most likely be too much and can cause students to dislike school and have negative feelings toward it. It also takes time away from students daily lives such as having time for extracurricular activities or spending time with friends and family which is a very important part of a students life. On the other hand, a lot of people believe homework is needed to be successful in school and that all school work comes before anything else in their life. Yes, school and grades are the most important, but students need a break sometimes to just relax and do fun things with their friends and family. Researchers say that homework helps students with study strategies. While this can be true, in some cases it’s just there for students to complete for a few extra points and in some cases just an extra assignment that takes time away from a student being able to actually study for an important test. This can frustrate parents and students because parents want to spend time with their kids and see them happy which can be hard when they are busy with homework all the time. They say homework allows parents to be involved with their kids and help them, but most parents just get frustrated  by the homework because they don’t know how to do it either. Another issue is that some students don’t have access to internet at home, and since online work is very popular now due to all the technology in schools it causes a disadvantage to the students with no internet access. If homework is expected to help students, then it needs to be able to be completed by everyone. 

As you can see homework can be beneficial, but is mostly just a time consuming task. Along with that, some students don’t have the resources needed to complete some assignments making it unfair, and can frustrate parents as well. This shows homework is more of just a time consuming task rather than a beneficial study tool.