The clock on the walls of every Sterling classroom shines two. Every student releases a sigh of relief as their busy day comes to a close. Merely thirty more minutes until freedom. Or perhaps not. Usually, at least one teacher assigns work that requires extra time from home. Time that should be spent on extracurriculars and enrichment outside of the classroom. So the debate begins: Is homework effective or just unnecessary? 

First of all, homework can be helpful. It can support students’ understanding of their subjects. The problem with homework is: between sports, and other extracurricular activities, students are drowning in work. Too much homework takes away from sleep and rest, making the next day even harder to learn and understand the information. In other words, too much homework is counterproductive. Another point against homework is, students do most of their homework on Chromebooks. So, they are spending hours on screens every night. Opposing voices may say that kids these days spend hours on devices anyways, but in truth, schools shouldn’t be encouraging this with so much online work.

Another argument against homework; some kids in our school district don’t have a place to study or do homework where they can truly focus. Homework requires a quiet workspace that is adequate to fulfill students’ needs. In other words, homework (Which is often a grade,) relies on the students’ ability to focus outside of the classroom. For the kids who do have a place to work, at-home time should be spent practicing extracurriculars, not doing a continuation of the seven hours that they have just spent at school. 

Furthermore, homework doesn’t need to be discarded entirely but rather altered to respect students’ time. An appropriate amount of homework is beneficial to students’ learning. For example, some assignments seem pointless, like they exist only to pile the students in mountain work. Teachers who assign homework should think about adjusting their lesson plans, so there is more “in-class time” to further understand what would have been homework. If homework does need to be assigned, a school-wide time limit should be set for the amount of time the assignment would last. All this said, not all teachers assign too much homework. Lots of teachers are considerate of their students’ time, and we thank them for it. 

So, homework can be helpful. Although, often homework from all classes piles up and leaves students with hours of work. Between extracurricular activities, sports, and homework, students simply don’t have enough time. For the teachers, we ask consideration. Life isn’t all about school. There must be at-home time for relationships as well. Is homework a help or a hindrance? With adjustments, homework could be an asset rather than a burden.