Dec. 11, 2018

Homework is a task that is dreaded by students, usually due to procrastination or lack of time, which leads to a lack of sleep. In some classes such as AP classes teachers tend to assign homework almost every day, while other classes such as electives (like pottery,calligraphy and art) consist mostly of class work.

Mrs. Jackson, who teaches both civics and calligraphy, is able to speak her opinion on homework and for both electives and main courses of classes.¨If you are spending that much time on homework or have after school activities such as a job, homework can affect students sleeping habits and possibly even their health,” she said. “However, students that sign up for an AP course should be aware that they are going to be assigned a bit more homework.” This is why as Jackson claimed she only assigns a small amount of homework for students work on for a long period of time to ensure that students who have less time for homework can still finish the assignments in time for a good grade.

                                                                    Ariana Shindell

When considering the importance of homework in a certain class, it is necessary to understand that each teacher has a different grading system that defines final grades in the course. For example, Mrs. French (who teaches multiple math classes at the school) explained that homework only takes up 20% of the final grade and 80% goes towards tests and quizzes. She grades like this because as she stated, “homework shouldn’t just be busy work, it should support a certain skill.”

While some teachers put a lot of pressure on their students to do homework, Ms. Devnich ,who teaches AVID, US history and Women’s history, believes that only tests and class participation should be graded. She is aware that students are taking five other courses and that many students have after school activities that can conflict with homework.

Studies have shown that homework does more than just take up a students after school. Homework has ¨improved the development of personal responsibility, good study habits and time-management skills¨ according to the American Psychology Association. However, they also stated that students should not do more than ten minutes of homework in grade school and high schools should not be spending more than two hours on homework every night .

While some teachers at this school still prefer to give homework every night to help the development of students in their class, there are some teachers that have come to an understanding that too much homework can cause more stress, leaving students unable to absorb the information successfully. The teachers that stop giving homework that they deem unnecessary in their classes are helping the students to have more time for classes such as AP classes. In the end, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.