Is homework a waste of time?

Is homework beneficial?

Does homework cause depression?

Many students and parents feel that homework is nothing but an unnecessary burden to them. But many teachers feel that homework is necessary to help students take responsibility for their work. This debate about homework has been there for decades. We wanted to dig deep and find out more about the topic to present an informative article to our readers.

Is Homework Good or Bad?

There have always been mixed opinions regarding this topic. So, here are the pros and cons of homework.

What are The Advantages of Homework?

1. Self-learning – Homework helps students to learn to study on their own. Students can use various resources to complete their homework independently. Also, there are cases when students might not understand what has been taught in the class. So, they can try to learn and understand the subject at home while doing homework.
2. More Practice – Subjects like Maths, Physics, and Chemistry require more practice. So, homework helps students to give more time to those subjects. Furthermore, classroom sessions are not enough for students to learn and remember lessons. So, regular homework helps students to get prepared for exams.
3. Better Grades – Homework is beneficial for students to understand the question patterns of the teachers. Besides, there have been many types of research that showed a significant rise in scores of the students who spend time doing homework.
4. Life Skills – Homework helps students to learn some skills that can be used throughout their lives. Homework helps them to learn time management, critical thinking ability, problem-solving, self-discipline, and accountability. Besides, students learn to use different strategies to complete homework. They can apply the same strategies to solve higher problems in life.
5. Goal Setting – Students are often found confused in their lives. Also, they might not be able to prioritize things in their lives. But when it comes to homework, they are in a position to decide which one needs to be done first. This helps them to learn to prioritize things and eventually can help them set their goals in life.
6. Support Network – Students often tend to connect to classmates or siblings for homework support. This support can help him improve his academic score and social skills.
7. Parental Involvement – Parents tend to get involved with their children’s homework so that they can track their progress in school. Moreover, parent’s involvement helps the students to become more serious about their lessons.

What are The Disadvantages of Homework?

1. Too Much Stress – Many students feel that homework makes them feel stressed. They feel the pressure of completing on time too much to bear. Also, homework can be challenging to students with low IQ or learning disorders. Besides, after spending more than 5 hours in school, students like to be stress-free.
2. Lack of Interest in Studies – Do students like homework? Too much homework can cause fear and phobia in students towards studies. If kids do not get free time to play or do things that they like they may start showing a lack of interest in learning their lessons.
3. Health Problems – Many students have complained about exhaustion, headaches, sleep problems, stomach disorders, and lack of appetite due to excessive homework pressure over some time. The alarming thing is that these problems can result in chronic illnesses if not treated early.
4. Unfair Practice – Many students have admitted to having copied someone else’s homework. Also, they tend to take help from other peers and try to take the shortcuts instead of learning on their own. This unfair practice might turn into a habit that will be detrimental to one’s growth in academics and career.
5. Imbalanced Lifestyle – Does Homework take away free time? Many parents and students feel that homework does not allow the students to have family time or playtime. Moreover, students even do not get time to take part in extracurricular activities. Also, students do not get to spend time with their friends. This damages their social life. This can make a student unable to socialize. This can create some problems in his or her personal life and career.
6. Less Self-study Time – Many students complain that they get less self-study time due to excessive homework. Students tend to give more self-study time to the subjects that seem too difficult for them. But, in case they have homework related to other subjects, they can not get enough time to learn the difficult subjects or lessons.
7. The Problem for Low-income Students – Many times students need to use resources like the internet, computer, stationeries to complete homework. Students with a low-income background may not have access to these resources. Moreover, they might need to work after school to take care of the family. So, they might not get time to do homework.

How to Make Homework Beneficial?

There are certainly some benefits of doing homework. But the fear and pressure have some detrimental effects on students. Let us find out how homework can be made useful to the students.

Focus on Quality, not on Quantity – Is Too Much Homework bad? Psychologists state that the quality of the homework matters more than the quantity to produce academic benefits. They suggest 10 minutes of home study in the first grade and adding 10 extra minutes for the next grades. So, a high school student can spend a maximum of about 1.5 to 2 hours in self-study.

Focus on Individual Needs – Teachers should be able to understand the individual needs of students. One student may need more time to comprehend one subject than other students. So, the homework should be given accordingly to that student.

Discussion with the Students – An open conversation between a teacher and students can lead to a healthy learning environment. It is a good practice to discuss with the students and ask them how much homework should be okay for them.

Just like no play can make Jack a dull boy, the same way no work can also make Jack’s academics and career dull. Since self-learning is the best method of learning, homework is a blessing in disguise. However, excessive pressure can ruin its main purpose. So, educationalists need to take proper measures to help the students reap the benefits of homework.