Why Homework should be Banned Forever

Homework. An absolute nightmare for all kids. Besides it being work in general, have you ever wondered the effects it has on you? Homework may seem harmless when you are young, like it is just a chore but doesn’t really matter. Homework actually has major effects on the child and most of the time, it is useless work. That’s why homework should be removed in schools.

Homework is horrible for young kids, and make impacts on them that affect their whole life.

Staying up until 12 o’clock, papers all over your desk, and the empty mug of what was once coffee is not a fun experience. Homework, when you were in elementary school, took little to no time to finish and your grades didn’t really matter that much. Now, in high school and middle school, you have tremendous amounts of work. In fact, in 2013, research conducted at Stanford University found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives, and alienation from society. The time it takes to do homework is absurd, not to mention how useless it is. The entire point of homework is to get to practice the subject but, do we really need 50-100 practice math problems to get the point across? At some point, it becomes useless, busy work.

Researchers at Sydney University in Australia found that too much homework can often have the opposite effect on students. Instead of enhancing their intellect, they become bored and unhappy, leading to absolutely no academic advancement. ‘What the research shows is that, in countries where they spend more time on homework, the achievement results are lower,’ Dr. Richard Walker, from Sydney University’s Education Faculty, told The Telegraph. This just goes to show that homework is reversing the effects that it is actually supposed to have. Sleep is essential for everyday life. It’s how you recharge, and a good night’s sleep can mean everything. However, kids in high school and middle school with homework are actually losing this necessity. Homework, taking up too much time, leads to kids not going to bed on time and having sleeping problems. An example of this is from Craig Canapari, who said that “A few years ago, I had a sixteen-year-old come into a sleep clinic for insomnia. He was a hard-working student in a good school district. I asked him to describe his sleep problems to me. “I finish my homework at midnight every night,” he said, “and I can’t fall asleep by 12:10 AM.” Each of his Advanced Placement classes had 1-2 hours of assigned homework per night and he was not routinely finishing homework until 11 PM or 12 AM.” This just clearly shows that kids are having too much homework for no good reason.

Sleep loss is not to be taken lightly. The effects that sleep loss can have are mood changes, such as stress, depression, lack of motivation, etc. The overload of homework has begun to change kids personalities and has gone far past the original good intent of it. The reason that homework was invented and why people are still implementing it is that students need the practice to learn the subject. Yes, there is some gain from getting some practice, but there are way too many harms that outweigh the benefits. It is a little more practice, for possible illnesses and sleep deprivation. Schooltime could also increase a little more, so the students can learn more during class with the teachers help, rather than doing endless hours of work.

To summarize, the reasons why homework should be removed from schools and changed is that it takes up too much time, it’s useless, and it causes sleep deprivation. The fact that by doing homework when you are young can affect your entire life and cause you illnesses shows that the harms far outweigh the benefits. The excessive amount of time it takes and how it leaves you less time to do other things, such as pursue hobbies or spend family time is not something that can be taken lightly. Homework has lost its original purpose and has caused too many problems, which is why it needs to be expelled from school. 

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