Too Much Homework
By: Allison O'Brien, Kayla Gracyalny, and Kristen Spurlock
Introduction
- Globally, students are being assigned an excessive amount of homework to complete in and unrealistic amount of time.
- Bernards Township in Somerset Count, New Jersey, about 16 percent of the eighth grade students spent more than 5 hours each night on homework.
- In addition, in China, three fifth and sixth grade students attempted to commit suicide because the did not complete their homework.
- The average elementary student in China is doing four or more hours of homework each night
- This global wide problem could be eliminated with a reduction in the amount of homework assigned and adding in-class time to complete assignments
Tiredness
Do Kids Have Too Much Homework? | DuPage County. (n.d.). DuPage County Events, Information, & News. Retrieved February 9, 2013, from http://www.dupageblog.com/2011/02/kids-too-much-homework/
Obesity
"1299181912-fat-kid | A Flock of Weasels." A Flock of Weasels | Not Just Another Stupid Personal Blog, But Still Stupid. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <http://flockofweasels.com/2012/12/18/are-you-there-santa-its-me-marcus/1299181912-fat-kid/>.
Dropout
"Tim Fredrick's ELA Teaching Blog: TIME article on the high school drop out rate." Tim Fredrick's ELA Teaching Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <http://timfredrick.typepad.com/timfredrick/
Analyze Problem
There are many factors to the problem of too much homework, but the main factors are the following:
- Teacher assigns too much homework
- Rigor of Classes
- Don’t use homework time during class
- Too much repetition
Where is it a Problem and for Who?
- This problem is facing children all over the world, not just kids in the United States
- Students: Don't get to have a life
- Parents: Have to yell at their kids to do the homework which causes stress
- Teachers: Have to spend time correcting papers and yell at kids who don't even do it
- School Districts: It reflects badly on the district when kids get bad grades because of unfinished homework
- It not only affects students, but their parents, teachers and school district as a whole
Long Term Effects
- Health Issues: Stress, anxiety, fatigued
- Drop-Outs: Every 29 seconds, another student gives up on school, resulting in more than one million American dropouts a year or 7,000 every day
- Poor social skills: No friend or family interaction
- College
Possible Solutions
- Assign less homework to students
- Less repetition of homework/projects- its pointless
- More in class time- majority of students will use this time to the best of their ability to get work done
- If students are given the correct resources for less homework, it’ll make it easier in the long run
- Students don’t want to just go home and have to work on homework but rather hang out with friends, participate in sports, or try out new school clubs
Best Solution
- Assign less homework or more in class time
- Assigning less homework will give students an opportunity to become more active in athletics or extra curriculars.
- This would give students the better chance of being 4.0 students or ranking higher in their grade level.
- Having less homework would result in more social interaction for students- more time spent with family.
- Alone less homework students may not get a complete understanding of the topic, but with more in class work time and less homework students will have more time to ask teachers about the homework and they will always be guaranteed to at least have some of their homework done.
Conclusion
- Overall, globally, students are being assigned an excessive amount of homework to complete in and unrealistic amount of time.
- Studies show that in Bernards Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, 16% of 8th grade students will spend more than 5 hours on homework each night.
- Although most people may think it's just the students fault there are many other parts to this problem
- This global wide problem could be eliminated with a reduction in the amount of homework assigned and adding in-class time to complete assignments.
Sources
- "Time for Homework! How Do Chinese Mothers Manage Children's Study Time? Women of China English Monthly Women of China English Magazine 中国妇女英文月刊 中国妇女英文杂志." Home Women of China English Monthly Women of China English Magazine 中国妇女英文月刊 中国妇女英文杂志. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <http://www.womenofchina.com.cn/html/report/1010-1.htm>.
- "Too much homework can be counterproductive." Phys.org - Science News, Technology, Physics, Nanotechnology, Space Science, Earth Science, Medicine. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <http://phys.org/news4333.html>.
- Kohn, Alfie. "Rethinking Homework." Alfie Kohn Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/rethin
- Winch , Guy . "The Squeaky Wheel ."Psychology Today. N.p., 19 Oct. 2011. Web. 8 Feb. 2013. <www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201110/how-much-homework-is-too-much>.