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Kristin Gardner

Professor Barnes

English 1201 Online

18 March 2019

How Does Homework Affect Students’ Mental Health?

Did you know that some students are assigned more than 20 hours of homework per

week? To teachers, this may not seem like a lot. But students are becoming more mentally

unhealthy due to this stress factor. A lot of times, it seems like homework is doing more harm

than good. There is a point in time where faculty and staff members of a high school (or any

school) need to consider assigning less work for students to do at home. Students have much

more important things to worry about rather than spending all of their time doing homework.

Overall, students do not even enjoy doing homework. Teachers should give out less homework

of it because it causes sleep deprivation, stress/anxiety/other mental illnesses in students, and it

leaves little time for other things like sports and clubs.

As I mentioned before, some students are assigned up to 20 hours of homework every

week (PR Newswire 2). All around the world, they feel pressure to get good grades because of

their parents, peers, teachers, or others. Both of these factors cause students to stress out and it

begins to affect their mental health. Not to mention their sleep schedule is majorly affected by

the amount of homework they recieve. On top of all the other things teenagers have to worry

about, homework should not be one of them. If educators continue to assign an unhealthy

amount of homework per night, this will only discourage them and cause them to lose sleep,

along with other negative effects.

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From people magazine, the author says “a new study found that it’s the biggest cause of

teen stress, leading to sleepless nights and poor academic performance” (Mazziotta). Homework

is the biggest cause of teen stress. Shouldn’t this make us question how beneficial homework

really is? If students are only getting stressed and anxious about homework, teachers should start

thinking about what is actually best for their mental health. Teachers assign homework to get

their students to do better in school when it is actually causing them to perform worse because of

their lack of sleep. They think that homework is advantageous because it expands students’

learning when in reality, it is doing more harm on their developing brains than good.

Fig. 1. This chart shows that homework and school are the most common factors of stress

in teenagers (Bella Anderson).

Students have so many reasons to be stressed. With school for 7+ hours, 5 days out of the

week and after school activities, they barely have time for anything else. This starts affecting

student’s sleep schedule when they have too many responsibilities. When they get home late

from sports or clubs, they do not have time to complete more schoolwork after being there for 7

hours already. PR Newswire says “more than half (57%) of all teenagers surveyed do not feel
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they get enough sleep” (PR Newswire 3). For students, less sleep means less attentiveness in

class, which ultimately leads to bad grades. If teachers really want what is best for their students,

they should put their sleep schedules into consideration when assigning homework.

Expanding upon what I mentioned before, PR Newswire states, “teenagers are

experiencing this cycle where they sacrifice their sleep to spend extra time on homework, which

gives them more stress – but they don't get better grades” (PR Newswire 4). If it comes to the

point where students are replacing sleep with homework, we should start thinking about

assigning less of it. When they get less sleep, it causes them to have more stress daily which is

not good for them at such a young age. Also, from people.com, the author explains that student’s

homework and overall stress ultimately leads to sleep loss (Mazziotta 4). Lack of sleep is not

good for teens’ performance in school which can lead to negative effects on their mental health.

As has been noted, homework causes stress in students. But not only does homework

cause stress, it causes anxiety in some students as well. According to the article, “Poll of U.S.

Teens Finds Heavier Homework Load, More Stress Over Grades”, it states that “the proportion

of students reporting that pressure to get good grades creates a problem for them increased from

62% in 2001 to 79% this year” (Cech 2). Although, it should be known that this article was

written in 2008. This proves that as time passes, more pressure is put on students to get good

grades resulting in more stress and anxiety.

Also from people.com, the author explains how teachers and educators are not

completely sure that homework is productive due to students’ frustration and stress (Mazziotta 1-

2). When students are doing homework, some will become so stressed out that they do not finish

it or sometimes even start it. Indeed, this will lead to poor grades which in turn, leads to even

more stress on students. This vicious cycle will cause some students to become depressed or
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experience other mental obstacles. When teenagers feel like their whole life is just school and

homework, they could feel a lack of excitement or motivation to do homework or even go to

school.

For some students, the shift of few responsibilities in the summertime to going back to

school can be harmful to their mental state. On the Georgetown University Medical Center

website, Karen Teber states, “big transitions can bring big stress — sometimes connected to

depression and anxiety” (Teber 1). Here, she is talking about the transition of going back to

school in August. Karen Teber quotes from Alfiee M. Breland-Noble, who is a PhD and MHSc.

She explains how some students can feel excited when going back to school while others just

feel like it is a burden on themselves and their mental state. In addition to this, in the article she

talks about some solutions to this problem to help ease the stress on teens. Some students feel

anxious about homework and sometimes even being at school. When more of this is added on to

their life after school, it can be very stressful on them and can be harmful to their overall health.

When students are at school for 7+ hours every day, it can be very mentally unhealthy for them

to experience essentially, more school when they get home.

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Fig. 2. A lot of students are overwhelmed by the amount of homework they receive and

some are having to be treated by a professional (“Homework Stress College”).

Not only does homework overall stress students out, but it also leaves little time for

extracurricular activities such as sports, clubs, jobs, etc. When students get home from school

(around 2 or 3 o’clock, depending on the school), students have a lot to do without homework. If

a teenager participates in a sport(s), they will often times have games and practices after school.

If they have an away game, they may not get home until 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. (or later). Of course

they will probably eat dinner and take a shower when they get home. So when does this schedule

allow time for homework? If it is recommended that students get 8-10 hours of sleep per night,

they will not have enough time to do their homework. Most student athletes will try to complete

their homework late at night, around 10 or 11 o’clock. This results not only in poor grades, but

also sleep deprivation as mentioned earlier.

Some teenagers have after school jobs as well. When they are given an intense amount of

homework, they do not have time to work at their job. To most, a job is not as high a priority as
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schoolwork. But if they have to pay for things like gas, a car, or other things, they will need to go

to work almost regularly. These high amounts of responsibilities can push students to their

breaking point. If the amount of homework given to students is too extreme, they might even quit

their sport or job, which again, could cause them to experience stress. Teachers giving out

homework should understand that students have other classes to do homework for in addition to

other priorities outside of school.

Another thing that many teenagers are involved with these days are youth/church groups.

If these kids want to grow in their faith and be more passionate about their commitment to their

church, they will not have time to do homework too. In the end, students get nowhere because

they can’t do either homework or their youth group very well. Some of these kids may be

pressured by their parents to join these groups and this can lead to them getting stressed out

about picking one or the other; school or their religion. Overall, the mix of homework and all the

other things students are involved in do not end well.

Further, sudents are being pressured by their parents to get good grades. When teenagers

do not only have to worry about school and homework, but their parent’s expectations as well, it

can be very destructive to their mental state and well-being. Sometimes, they even feel like they

can never measure up or meet their parent’s expectations. This can lead to depression and in

extreme cases, suicide. Generally speaking, parental expectations are just one of the components

that contribute to student/teenager stress and mental health issues. When asked in a survey of

what stresses them out the most, 45% of teenagers said parental expectations (PR Newswire 2),

although the most popular answer was test scores/homework. These two go hand in hand

because some students are stressed out by their parent’s expectations to do well in school, get

good test scores, and get good grades in general.

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Students are not the only ones who are affected by homework; their parents are too. In

the book “Rethinking Homework, 2nd Edition: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs,”

Cathy Vatterott says, “parents are also concerned about the stress that homework brings to

children’s daily routine” (Vatterott 39). Although it does not affect the parents directly, it

definitely plays a part in their life as well. Sometimes they have to help their child with

homework that some parents have not seen the material of in years, even decades. Teachers

should apprehend that students do not necessarily have a source of help if they do not grasp the

concepts on the homework and they should understand that it can be a huge stress factor for

them. In school, when students don’t understand something, they can ask the teacher. But when

teachers assign after school homework, students no longer have that resource. Some will try to

email the teacher or come in before school, but often times cannot get in touch.

On the other hand, some people might argue that homework is beneficial because it

teaches them time management skills and other benefits. The University of Phoenix, found on

the Sinclair Library database makes clear how teachers feel about homework. In fact, they say,

“Nearly all K-12 teachers (98 percent) identify benefits of homework” (UOPX 3). They go on to

give examples of why they feel this way. These examples include that it helps teachers see how

well the students comprehend what is being taught in class (UOPX 3), it helps students “develop

essential problem solving skills” (UOPX 3), and others. Notwithstanding the fact that these

things could benefit students, but the mental obstacles are too big a price to pay just to maybe

gain these benefits.

Although those teachers may have a point, it is still too big a burden on young students.

No amount of homework is worth the stress just to hopefully develop “time management skills”.

There are other ways that students can acquire these skills, such as going from school to a sport
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or club. Teenagers do this by planning what time they should leave, when they should do other

things, etc. They can learn these things without being stressed out because they do not have

enough time to finish their homework. Also, teachers can see if they comprehend the subject in

class rather than having students do it at home. This way, if they need help, they can ask the

teacher and therefore will have a better understanding of the subject material in the end. People

think that homework can promote good work habits, but it can also promote mental health issues.

They end up with these terrible short term effects rather than benefiting from so-called “good

work habits”. After school homework is too big a burden that students cannot bear.

Although the most obvious solution to teenager mental health issues is for teachers to

give out less/none of it, there could possibly be other ways for teenagers to experience less of

this. Some of these include the parents listening actively and checking in with their teen regularly

(Teber 4-5). Also, this can be done by brainstorming an action plan together (Teber 6). This will

overall help ease the stress by having a guide to go by and a goal to reach. These solutions can

help students cope with their homework load and be happier doing it.

Some might say that homework can boost students’ achievements in school. Although

this may be true, it negatively affects their attitudes. Kristin Rushowy, journalist at the Toronto

Star, says “Homework has a negative effect on the attitudes of high school students, but does

help them do better, say teachers across the country” (Rushowy 1). When students have a

negative attitude toward their schoolwork, their mental state plummets. They may not even want

to come to school at all because they associate this mental state with it. These harmful attitudes

can overall have a negative effect on their mental, and sometimes physical well-being.

Rushowy also says, “many felt it is a burden on their children, causing stress and cutting

into family time” (Rushowy 4). These are the results of a study conducted on the parents of
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students. This expands upon my point made earlier that students do not have enough time for all

of their responsibilities in addition to homework. If parents want their teenager to spend more

time with them, then they should agree that the homework load should be lightened. Homework

is a burden on students and the load should be lightened, or even better just taken away.

Many of the surveys taken in a number of these sources have said that teachers assign

homework because they don’t have enough time to cover all of the curriculum in class. This

essentially means that students are teaching themselves the material. What are the teachers even

good for then? Teenagers do not have the required knowledge nor the mental strength to

basically teach themselves the concepts that were not covered in class. This will again, stress

them out and possibly give them anxiety and/or other mental challenges along the way. In turn,

they will probably not even finish the homework, which was the goal in the first place.

Teenagers do not really enjoy going to school (for the most part). But when they get

assigned homework, they enjoy it even less. And if students do not like either of these things and

they still do it everyday, this could cause depression. “High school students are more pessimistic

about the future of the country and feeling more stress over grades compared with their

counterparts earlier this decade,” says Scott J. Cech, who has been on Education Week multiple

times in a study of U.S. teenagers (Cech 1). Students are beginning to/already are not enjoying

school.

In conclusion, students are becoming more mentally unhealthy due to excessive amounts

of homework. They tend to get stressed out and it is not good for them at their young age.

Teachers should give out less or even no homework because it leads to sleep deprivation, it

causes stress, anxiety, etc., and it hardly leaves time for students to do things they enjoy such as

sports. When students do not enjoy what they do everyday, it can be detrimental to their overall
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health. To emphasize, it seems like homework is not doing much to benefit students. It only

causes them to stress out about it rather than expand their learning, like so many teachers believe

it does.

Anderson, Bella. “Continuous Cycle of Stress Causes Difficulty in Learning” Pony Express, 3

April 2017, https://sahsponyexpress.com/55176/uncategorized/students-continuous-cycle-of-

stress/. Accessed 1 April 2019.

Cech, Scott J. “Poll of U.S. Teens Finds Heavier Homework Load, More Stress Over Grades.”

Education Week, August 13, 2008, Vol. 27 Issue 45, 9. https://eds-a-ebscohost-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=9&sid=5d0ec07e-8f20-492c-a776-

b1db0aac0a98%40sessionmgr120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=edsgcl.18364

6238&db=edsgov. Accessed 26 February 2019.

Mazziotta, Julie. “Is Homework a Waste of Student’s Time? Study Finds It’s the Biggest Cause

of Teen Stress.” People.com; 12/18/2018, pN.PAG-N.PAG, 1p,

https://people.com/health/homework-biggest-cause-teen-stress/. Accessed February 28 2019.

“Homework Stress College Students Statistics” Mellowed, 5 March 2019,

https://mellowed.com/homework-stress/. Accessed 28 March 2019.

“Better Sleep Council Research Finds That Too Much Homework Can Actually Hurt Teens’

Performance in School.” PR Newswire December 11, 2018. https://eds-b-ebscohost-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=64d2db2c-bcc6-4ca9-8dee-

8557d664d5c4%40sessionmgr101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=bwh&AN=201

812111630PR.NEWS.USPR.CL99348. Accessed 27 February 2019.

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Rushowy, Kristin. “A Burden on Students That Has Its Benefits” Toronto Star (Canada)

8/30/2008 https://eds-b-ebscohost-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=91e447c9-8b11-41fe-b68d-

d36192d2939f%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=6FP0064792

690&db=nfh. Accessed 5 March 2019.

Teber, Karen. “Back to School: Good Mental Health Homework.” Georgetown University

Medical Center Georgetown University, August 29, 2018.

https://gumc.georgetown.edu/news/Back-to-School-Good-Mental-Health-Homework. Accessed

February 27 2019.

“Homework Anxiety: Survey Reveals How Much Homework K-12 Students Are Assigned and

Why Teachers Deem it Beneficial.” University of Phoenix, Business Wire (English). 02/25/2014.

https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=cee4aadb-36aa-

4a85-aeee-a0773d14736d%40sdc-v-

sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=bizwire.c53574967&db=bwh.

Accessed 1 March 2019.

Vatterott, Cathy. “Rethinking Homework, 2nd Edition: Best Practices That Support Diverse

Needs.” Google Books 2018

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=R1lxDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=teens

+stress+homework&ots=21LtZFlIzR&sig=3ClKaO7qNoCUgjoDFr5oHnOIvug#v=onepage&q=

teens%20stress%20homework&f=false. Accessed 28 February 2019