A High School Student's Perspective on Homework

For years I have never fully understood my parents' celebrations of or concerns about my education. They have strong opinions about everything from the curricula used in my classes to how instruction is provided. My parents are both professors in the educational psychology and special education fields, so I have heard their views on education all my life.

One area that has prompted much discussion in our household surrounds the use of homework, particularly since I entered high school. Based on my own experiences, listening to my parents in their classes, and my research, I have come to the conclusion that homework could use some serious modification.

First, mastery can only be achieved by correct practice over time. My parents are advocates of explicit instruction; that is, teachers should show us what to do, give us opportunities to do it, and then give us a chance to show that we can do it on our own. Homework was designed to build on skills covered extensively in class. I should be able to complete an assignment with little to no confusion at home as long as it involves previously learned skills. I read Harris Cooper's 1989 article "Synthesis of Research on Homework" (PDF), published inEducational Leadership,which is cited by many of the researchers who have studied homework and its effects. Two recommendations stood out for me:

"Homework will not be used to teach complex skills. It will generally focus on simple skills and material or on the integration of skills already possessed by the student" (p. 90).

"Parents will rarely be asked to play a formal instructional role in homework. Instead, they should be asked to create a home environment that facilitates student self-study" (p. 90).

Many of the homework assignments I have received throughout my years of schooling have involved activities not previously practiced. When a teacher assigns homework incorporating information that was just recently taught or not taught at all, it puts a tremendous amount of stress on students. Worse yet, I think, it puts a great deal of stress on our parents. We rely on our parents to help us be successful. Our parents have to figure out how to do the assignment and then teach it to us. Many of the projects and activities are too difficult to be done without our parents' help. Students who have no help at home, therefore, are at a total disadvantage and their grades might falter because of this lack of assistance.

If teachers use homework as additional or extended practice, we should be able to do homework with few, if any, difficulties. Our parents can simply check over our homework. I often get calls from my friends asking me how to complete assignments, and I think about how lucky I am to have parents who can actually help me with my homework. I often see students copying other students work. Maybe they copy because they simply didnt take the time to do the workor maybe they didnt understand how to complete the work in the first place.

Second, homework should not exceed two hours per night. Again, Cooper provides recommendations about the length of homework. He says the following (p. 90):

Grades 13: 13 assignments a week, each lasting no more than 15 minutes.

Grades 46: 24 assignments a week, each lasting 1545 minutes.

Grades 79: 35 assignments a week, each lasting 4575 minutes.

Grades 1012: 45 assignments a week, each lasting 75120 minutes.

If we assume that we know how to do the homework we are assigned, we should be able to complete it in a reasonable amount of time. But consider the schedules of many high school students: we often wake up early in the morning; some of us have long bus rides; and many of us have sports practices, jobs, or other extracurricular activities before or after school. We have to make time to eat dinner and complete our chores. Now add on three or more hours of homework a night and you have instant stress, not only for students but also for their families. I have known my peers to stay up until midnight trying to finish their homework on top of everything else they have to do in their busy lives. These students are not always procrastinatorsthey just simply cannot do it all.

Additionally, some teachers assign homework before a test day. All I would like to focus on before a test is studying. I find it hard to put in the necessary hours of studying when I have to complete extra assignments. Before a test day, the only work that should be assigned for a particular class is to study. If students do not want to study, then they have no homework (although choosing not to study might jeopardize their grades). The research I read found benefits for homework. Students do better in school if they have homework assignments and actually complete them; they get better test scores too. However, teachers should think about how long assignments might take to complete and whether they involve previously learned skills, and assign them accordingly.

In summary, I enjoy school and appreciate the time my teachers take in providing feedback on homework assignments and in reviewing them in class. If teachers take the time to assign homework we can actually do within a reasonable amount of time, we will enjoy the experience much more, be less stressed, and have more time to spend with our families each evening.

According to guidelines endorsed by the National Education Association (NEA), a student should be assigned no more than 10 minutes per grade level per night. For example, a first grader should only have 10 minutes of homework, a second grader, 20 minutes, and so on. This means that a student in my grade -- seventh -- should have no more than 70 minutes of work each night. Yet this is often doubled, sometimes even tripled!

There are negatives to overloading students. Have you ever heard of a child getting sick because of homework? According to William Crain, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at City College of New York and the author of Reclaiming Childhood, "Kids are developing more school-related stomachaches, headaches, sleep problems, and depression than ever before." The average student is glued to his or her desk for almost seven hours a day. Add two to four hours of homework each night, and they are working a 45 to 55 hour week!

In addition, a student who receives excessive homework "will miss out on active playtime, essential for learning social skills, proper brain development, and warding off childhood obesity," according to Harris Cooper, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.

Everybody knows that teachers are the ones who assign homework, but they do not deserve all the blame. "Many teachers are under greater pressure than ever before," says Kylene Beers, president of the National Council for Teachers of English and the author of When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do. "Some of it comes from parents, some from the administration and the desire for high scores on standardized tests." Teachers who are under pressure feel the need to assign more homework. But why aren't teachers aware of the NEA homework recommendations? Many have never heard of them, have never taken a course about good versus bad homework, how much to give, and the research behind it. And many colleges of education do not offer specific training in homework. Teachers are just winging it.

Although some teachers and parents believe that assigning a lot of homework is beneficial, a Duke University review of a number of studies found almost no correlation between homework and long-term achievements in elementary school and only a moderate correlation in middle school. "More is not better," concluded Cooper, who conducted the review.

Is homework really necessary? Most teachers assign homework as a drill to improve memorization of material. While drills and repetitive exercises have their place in schools, homework may not be that place. If a student does a math worksheet with 50 problems but completes them incorrectly, he will likely fail the test. According to the U.S. Department of Education, most math teachers can tell after checking five algebraic equations whether a student understood the necessary concepts. Practicing dozens of homework problems incorrectly only cements the wrong method.

Some teachers believe that assigning more homework will help improve standardized test scores. However, in countries like the Czech Republic, Japan, and Denmark, which have higher-scoring students, teachers give little homework. The United States is among the most homework-intensive countries in the world for seventh and eighth grade, so more homework clearly does not mean a higher test score.

Some people argue that homework toughens kids up for high school, college, and the workforce. Too much homework is sapping students' strength, curiosity, and most importantly, their love of learning. Is that really what teachers and parents want?

Do students in the United States receive too much homework? If schools assign less homework, it would benefit teachers, parents, and students alike. Teachers who assign large amounts of homework are often unable to do more than spot-check answers. This means that many errors are missed. Teachers who assign less homework will be able to check it thoroughly. In addition, it allows a teacher time to focus on more important things. "I had more time for planning when I wasn't grading thousands of problems a night," says math teacher Joel Wazac at a middle school in Missouri. "And when a student didn't understand something, instead of a parent trying to puzzle it out, I was there to help them." The result of assigning fewer math problems: grades went up and the school's standardized math scores are the highest they've ever been. A student who is assigned less homework will live a healthy and happy life. The family can look forward to stress-free, carefree nights and, finally, the teachers can too.

Some schools are already taking steps to improve the issue. For example, Mason-Rice Elementary School in Newton, Massachusetts, has limited homework, keeping to the "10 minute rule." Raymond Park Middle School in Indianapolis has written a policy instructing teachers to "assign homework only when you feel the assignment is valuable." The policy also states, "A night off is better than homework which serves no worthwhile purpose." Others, such as Oak Knoll Elementary School in Menlo Park, California, have considered eliminating homework altogether. If these schools can do it, why can't everyone?

So, my fellow Americans, it's time to stop the insanity. It's time to start a homework revolution.