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Abi Lacanilao

Professor Ryan Myers

English Composition 1102

14 April 2019

Homework Effectiveness

Every night, I follow the same routine. I come home from two and a half hour practices, I

shower, eat dinner, and then start my homework. By the time I start my homework, it is six

o’clock and by the time I finish it is ten or eleven o’clock. Typically I don’t procrastinate, yet

this results in me having to finish this work in class, during lunch, or hope that teacher will not

be collecting it so I can finish the rest of it the following night. I desire to be smart and

accomplished, taking rigourous and higher placing classes, and I allowed myself to receive the

extra amount of homework. Even if one is not taking AP courses, the honors curriculum still

receives much homework on a daily basis. It is not just the students at Miamisburg High School

that are going through this, it is students across the entire nation. Statistics show that students

have an average of four to five hours of homework each night, alongside various responsibilities.

Yes, some hard-working students signed up for the extra AP classes, but none of us signed up to

be extremely overloaded and silently suffering every night. This suffering includes decreasing

physical and mental health, increased levels of stress and drug use, and decreased time

developing social skills. Homework is seen as sacred by most administrators and necessary by

most teachers, but new studies show that homework has the opposite effects of what is desired.

Although homework has been viewed as necessary through most decades of K-12 education,
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schools should work towards limiting or banning homework because it stunts social development

and relationships, it concludes in poor health, and it supports the growth of stress.

The debate over homework has been around since the mid 1800s, when public education

began to rise. The reasons for the debate have varied: a student’s time cannot be controlled,

students are not fully developed enough to be doing any sorts of homework, assigning homework

deems a school “imperialistic”, and so much more. In the ​Encounter​ education journal, Etta

Kralovec wrote a timeline of the history of homework and when homework debates and

homework encouragements occurred. She starts with the debate over homework that truly

sparked during the progressive era in America in the 1930s and 1940s. Progressive ideologists

“argued for the value of free and play time” (Kralovec). Flash forward to the late 1950s when

Sputnik launched and Americans were in a frenzy. Public education decided to increase

homework because it “was seen as a way to add school time for increased math and science

education” (Kralovec). The idea of schools becoming imperialistic occurred post-Sputnik and

less homework was advocated for, but not heard. Last to follow was the No Child Left Behind

Act, signed in 2001 by President George W. Bush, was designed to give every child a fair chance

at equal education, no matter their income or school district. The debate picks up as an increasing

amount of schools have to alter their curriculum to include standardized tests, thus leading to

more topics having to be taught in a shorter amount of time. Many want to follow the

standardized guidelines to education, while others want to pay attention to student health and

stress levels, ultimately, effectiveness is fought about.

Isolation has been studied as being one of the worst things psychologically for a human

being. It can create a negative self-esteem and harm important relationships. As students
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increasingly spend more time doing homework, they are isolating themselves from family and

from peers. For a lot of students, quietness and aloneness is required to be able to concentrate on

homework, blocking everyone out for the rest of the night. Each and every night, students are

choosing their homework over spending time with family and friends. This choice stunts

developmental brain growth and harms close, personal relationships.

The teenage brain is extremely complex. During the teenage years, different parts of the

brain are going through different stages of development. In this time, the prefrontal cortex is

gaining skills that will help the person to behave socially. Social skills are important because it

shows how to behave properly around others, exhibit proper manners, understand others’

feelings, and understanding one’s own feelings. Social learning is also extremely important

because it can be an accurate predictor of how somebody will grow up to act and behave,

especially towards family. It can also help to predict the response of someone during various

social situations. Doctors and psychologists have deemed proper exposure to different

environments and different types of people during various ages of life necessary.

Stanford education researcher, Denise Pope, produced a study over high school students

that examined the effects on students who spent too much time on homework. Her results

showed some of the ways that homework can harm a young, socially developing, student. She

collected data that portrayed that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or

cultivating other critical life skills,” because they felt “forced or obligated to choose homework

over developing other talents or skills” (Parker). This provides evidence that as students choose

to do homework, they are not going out and properly exposing themselves to gain the necessary

skills that will benefit them later in life. Valuable and precious memories with friends and family
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are being missed so that the next assignment can be completed. With this, students are not

becoming diverse among their community and not bonding and learning from spending time

with family and friends. These simple activities help to produce valuable characteristics in

people.

Homework is not just student fought. The consequences of high amounts of homework

affect more than just the students. Data collection and surveys show that many family members

are likely to help students with their homework and this negatively affects a student’s

relationship with their family. Guardians then feel stressed and overpowered when asked to help

with laborious homework assignments. Writers and researchers, Lorna J. Lacina-Gifford and

Russell B. Gifford, discuss the homework struggles that guardians feel when it comes to helping

out their student with their work.

In their research article, they generalized between two types of scenarios including

parents and students. One basic scenario was that some students have guardians who are home

and are available to help them out with any challenging homework assignment. The other

scenario including late working parents who do not always have the time to sit down and figure

out the answers to pre-calacus. They tied the two scenarios together, and although every living

situation is complex, many parents are opponents of the long nights of homework and “will

argue that homework takes away from valuable bonding time of families” (Gifford). Despite the

scenario, one of the main ideas was that the guardian also felt the frustration of the

overwhelming and challenging homework. The authors were able to portray that the idea that if

parents were struggling with the homework and also realized that it harmed their relationship,

was it always worth it?

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Another important relationship that is being broken is the relationship between students

and their friends. Students are not just choosing to homework over their families, they are also

choosing it over their friends and social life. As each student continues to hide away each night

for homework, they begin to drop plans and choose “not to see friends” (Parker). Friendships

can be argued to be one of the most important social needs for adsoclents. It teaches good

communication, allows for interests to be shared, and helps to understand the idea of empathy

and feelings. Friends are also able to help students make good life decisions and care in a way

that is different than parents. However, if these friendships are not built upon and worked on

everyday, they can begin to fall apart. This will end up being detrimental to student’s health and

well-being.

Teenagers are highly encouraged to take care of their body through proper sleep, healthy

nutrition choices, and adequate amounts of exercise. Taking care of their body is one of the most

important habits they can learn to do. It sets them up to learn how to have a healthier lifestyle in

the future. But when overwhelming amounts of homework overtakes these activities, it can set

up students to have poor habits and detrimental health. Denise Pope and Jerusha Conner

conducted a similar study that examined students’ stress levels while also factoring in physical

and mental health. They found that students with high stress levels due to homework also

struggled with their health. The late nights, early mornings, the rigorous routine, and the

improper care can become the body’s worst nightmare. Issues that they face now, at the cause of

homework, can lead to issues students might deal with for the rest of their lives.

Students that consistently overwork themselves with the stacks of homework they face

every night will likely suffer from a list of physical health issues. This includes “migraines,
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ulcers and other stomach problems, sleep deprivation and exhaustion, and weight loss” (Enayati).

The lack of sleep is able to cause insomnia, which is the inability to fall and stay asleep. It is

recommended that students receive nine and a quarter hours of sleep, but many students, in the

study done by Pope and Conner, reported that they are “getting 6.8 hours of sleep each

week-night” (Conner). Over a third in the study reported receiving “six or fewer hours of sleep

each night” (Conner). As seen in the chart, more than half do not

believe they are not receiving enough sleep because of

homework. The lack of sleep means each day is filled with

exhaustion, which can lead to horrible headaches and migraines

(Gayle). Loss of sleep also leads to weak stomachs. This can lead

to the inability to eat and hold food before one becomes sick. By

examining these effects, homework can be seen destroying a

young, growing body. If these symptoms were to continue

happening, the risk of the students living with these issues is very

high. Although physical illness can be quite deadly, overwhelming stress can literally kill a body

as well.

Stress can be described as being a yin-yang argument. In some situations, stress can

considered a “yang”, meaning it can be very beneficial. As Denise Pope says in her interview

with WebMD, “If it’s [stress] short-lived, it can be almost healthy. Like you have butterflies in

your stomach before you go on stage” (WebMD, 2:47-2:51). In this way, stress helps to stimulate

and concentrate the brain so that it is able to succeed. Yet in negative situations, stress can also

be considered a “yin.” Researcher Jerusha Conner found that, “chronic student stress has been
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associated with negative outcomes.” His study supports the correlation between increasing

amounts of homework and the decreasing mental health of the overworking students. The mental

health in today’s youth is not well and there is no harm in thinking homework could be a factor

of this.

For a very long time, doctors knew the side effects of chronic and long-lived stress on the

brain. Recently, correlations have been thought of between students, homework, and stress. A

very simple way that homework can cause stress is because there is an overwhelming amount of

homework assignments. In Conner’s study, he asked students what a stressor caused by

homework was and many felt that they are “stressed because [they] have so many pointless,

mundane assignments that take large amounts of time without actually [resulting in] learning

anything... [they] hate wasting their time on assignments that don’t actually accomplish

anything.” Many expressed feeling like some of their homework assignment were given as busy

work instead of work that helps to articulate a skill. Students reported feeling “burnt out when

[they] have to spend a lot of time on useless work” (Conner). Also, this has correlated with major

increases of copying work and cheating to have assignments be complete. When these

assignments start to pile up night after night, it leads to major stress in the brain and mental

health can start to slide.

The stress students feel is able to compromise their learning but also harm their well

being. As stressors pile up, the mental health of sixteen and seventeen year olds start to fall

down. The built up chronic stress coming from homework can lead to a multitude of mental

downfalls. Firstly, students that continuously stay up late are not receiving their recommended

amount of sleep. Students in Conner’s California study gave statements like, “There are time I do
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schoolwork from 3pm to 3am, even when I don’t procrastinate” and “Just this week I had three

all-nighters in a row” (Conner). Second, this lack of sleep can easily open the doors for students

to become severely depressed and develop bad anxiety. Also reported in this study, “Nearly

one-quarter of all the respondents indicated that they frequently felt depressed in the past

month,” and even more shocking, “252 students had cut themselves during this period” (Conner).

The percentages keep rising, with more students joining the statistics everyday. Lastly, since

more students are becoming depressed, many have turned to drugs to propel them forward.

Students desire energy and, “Twenty-four percent of respondents reported that they used

stimulants such as caffeine or over-the-counter alertness pills to help them stay up to study”

(Conner). Even worse, at least ten percent of students surveyed in the student have turned

towards illegal drugs. One very stressed out student stated, “When I feel especially stressed out, I

feel like intoxication is the best way out” (Conner). Continual intoxication can drive students

away from pursuing their goals and harm their long term successes.

A well-taught, hard-earned education is portrayed as necessary to have a good life for the

future of students. Today’s educational cultures desires to create an “all-work, no-play,

winner-takes-all” (Enayati) environment that is suppose to drive students in believing that they

need to be the smartest and hardest working. Stereotypes push students to believe that they must

attend college and have a high paying job to become successful. If this idea is pushed onto

students too much, it can add to the stress and become quite deadly for their mind.

All types of teachers stand for homework. There are multiple arguments to keep

homework around. Some teachers believe that students should have at least an hour of

homework every night for each class. Others believe that students learn best by teaching
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themselves and give new lessons as homework. Some want to give out extra practice to enhance

skills that might be a bit rusty. Numerous teachers just want to follow the desired curriculum to

stay on track and be rewarded for being a good teacher. A majority of teachers do not always

consider the time it takes to complete the extra assignments. Some teachers do not even consider

the health of their students. The main reason teachers give out homework is because they can and

they feel like they should. Homework should be viewed as more than a necessity. It should be

seen as more than putting the pen to the paper and following the state curriculum. Learning

“occurs in various places out of school. It should be one of several approaches we use, along

with soccer and scouts, to show children that learning takes place everywhere” (Gifford). It has

also been studied to be more beneficial that younger students should try “reading aloud 20

minutes a night, which also builds bonds between the child and the family member when they

talk about what book they are reading” (Zalaznick). Although, all students will not do this, it

promotes a more engaging type of homework. Studies show that this creates a more curious

student in and out of class. The school system that did this cut in homework has seen “no

negative effects” with the cut in homework. It would not be harmful to move from the mindset

that homework is necessary.

Another concern with getting rid of homework is the fear of falling behind. Several

teachers feel like if they do not give homework, then they will fall behind the state’s mandatory

learning for each grade and class. Two simple solutions could occur: make the school days

longer and create more challenging, application-based classes. If the school day was longer, class

periods could be as well. With this, homework could be stopped since teachers have extra time to

teach and assist those who are confused. When teachers give homework, who is to say that the
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students understand what they are solving. With the extra time, teachers would be able to hand

out worksheets and be present to help explain the concept further if need be. Homework is not

needed when longer school days could be available.

If the days were longer, classes could be created to be involve critical thinking and real

world issues. In Beechwood, Kentucky, new courses were available to the middle schoolers that

help to develop deeper thinking skills and shadow the characteristics of the workforce. The

students in Beechwood “solve real-world and local problems in engineering, business,

information technology, communications, and other subjects” (Zalaznick). The teachers of these

courses have watched the students develop bright ideas that could not come from sitting down

and listening in classrooms or coming from non stop piles of homework. With the other students

not taking these courses, they have “started to see compliance [with completing] homework”

(Zalaznick). In the application classes, they witness “adding real value” to students and this will

create a valuable return investment (Zalaznick). Teachers will not fall behind if they have more

time, and better yet, have classes that will teach valuable life skills and developing concepts.

Teachers should not feel obligated to give out copious amounts of homework each night.

All around the nation and world, students of all ages are struggling to get their homework

done. Though they are various reasons as to why this might be, in this nation, stress and not

enough time is the leading cause. With less homework, the future generation of engineers,

doctors, politicians, salespeople, architects, environmentalists, and so many more will not suffer

because of high amounts of homework, but thrive instead. If homework was limited or banned,

students would have better relationships with their family and friends, along with having better

social and behavioral skills. Students would also have better physical health, having time to get
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everything their body needs. Lastly, students would have less long-term stress. Their mental

health would become more positive and a multitude of different issues and side effects would be

dodged. It is understandable that the culture of homework will not be dismissed right away, but it

is necessary to show educational leaders the negative facts over what homework is doing.
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Works Cited

Conner, Jerusha, et al. "Success with Less Stress." ​Educational Leadership,​ vol. 67, no. 4, Dec.

2009, pp. 54–58. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,custuid&custid=info

hio&db=aph&AN=45463471&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Enayati, Amanda. "Is Homework Making Your Child Sick?" ​CNN​, Cable News Network, 21

Mar. 2014, www.cnn.com/2014/03/21/health/homework-stress/index.html. Accessed 28

Feb. 2019.

Gayle, Natasha. "Students' Sleeping Habits." ​1Dental.com​, 8 Mar. 2017,

www.1dental.com/blog/2017/03/08/is-homework-bad-kids-health/. Accessed 10 Apr.

2019. Chart.

"A Heavy Load: Teens and Homework Stress." ​Youtube,​ uploaded by WebMD, 14 Apr. 2016,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAvrNLsgl4c. Accessed 2 Mar. 2019.

Kralovec, Etta. "A Brief History of Homework." ​Encounter,​ vol. 20, no. 4, Winter 2007, pp.

8-12, people.hofstra.edu/Esther_Fusco/ENC204view.pdf#page=8. Accessed 22 Mar.

2019.

Lacina-Gifford, Lorna J., and Russell B. Gifford. "Putting an end to the battle over homework."

Education​, vol. 125, no. 2, 2004, p. 279+. ​Opposing Viewpoints in Context,​

http://link.galegroup.com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A127013754/OVIC?u=dayt30401

&sid=OVIC&xid=00faaddd. Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.

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Parker, Clifton B. "Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework." ​Stanford News​ [Stanford],

10 Mar. 2014. ​Stanford News​,

news.stanford.edu/2014/03/10/too-much-homework-031014/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2019.

Zalaznick, Matt. "Homework Overhaul." ​Education Digest,​ no. 3, 2018, p. 29. ​EBSCOhost,​

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.562930884&site=eds-live.