Students push back against too much homework

By Fayezon Dowd                                                                                         

Opinions reporter 

The school year only began two months ago, and allegedly, students have already received a lump sum of homework from different classes.

Student Danielle Perez shows his frustration over all the work that has piled up.

Students around the school have complaints and concerns about the amount of homework received weekly, sometimes even daily. 

Administrators and teachers have known overtime homework to help students and benefit them academically, but a Stanford study found that “too much homework is associated with ‘greater stress’ and 56 percent of students considered homework a primary source of stress according to survey data.”.

“Homework for me can be mentally draining, and I often lose sleep trying to get it done on school nights,” X’Zallyn Lloyd said. “It affects me negatively, creating bad sleeping habits and a lot of cramped time for studying.”

But I also think homework is just for students to understand and comprehend the lessons they learn. Given the large amounts of homework, student-athletes suffer from time consumption and have less time to focus on after-school activities and personal tasks at home.

Most teachers don’t find homework negatively affecting them because it is used to scale the students’ strengths and weaknesses. 

According to Leslie Weekly, “Homework can shorten the time for student-athletes such as myself and can also be a setback. Homework can be repetitive most times and can cause frustration, which could drive students to not complete it.”

Staff members try to assign homework as a beneficial task when it only creates more of a burden on students, which has been proven scientifically. Also, adults can’t rely on students to be trustworthy and honest about doing their homework, which can be degrading to students who complete assignments efficiently.

“No, it is not fair for some students to have better resources because it can deprive students who give a full effort and have no help,” Weekly said. “Yes, homework encourages students to try on their own regardless of what they might not know.”

Makkia Spraggins also thinks that homework does not always positively impact students and that it negatively affects her mental health.

“Yes, it limits time for things after school because a lot of people have things they have to get done at home, and homework can cut into that time,” Spraggins said, inferring that homework is inconvenient. “Homework mentally stresses me out, and most of the time, when I get a lot of homework, I forget most of the stuff I learned.”