Is homework worthwhile or wasteful? persuasive essay – Lucy Phan
Many students, including myself, agree that homework over the holidays is an inconvenience. It can be beneficial, it can give students extra help in difficult topics and also help us prepare for exams. Still, are large amounts of homework causing more Stress? Many schools insist on the homework policy and many parents want homework for their children because they believe ‘you get what you put in’, work now means success later. The Daily Mail newspaper states, “Yes, too much homework really can be bad for children: Results begin to drop if it takes longer than 90 minutes with an hour being the perfect time. “. I believe there are more valuable ways for students to spend their time after school, hanging out with friends or family for example. I simply think that homework is very time consuming, teachers sometimes give homework almost daily, this can leave us stressed and hostile towards the subject. We live in a new day and age, technology is more accessible and solutions such as google make things easier. With this in mind, it seems pointless to assign homework with information so readily available.This can be backed up by the Huffington Post website as their headline reads “Students Not That Web-Savvy, Rely Mainly on Google: Report” The article even states that “Students evidently, blindly lean on Google as their one-stop shop for web research”, Showing that there is evidence, I can also conclude from personal experience, that I also just rely on Google to find my answers. Since I started my Highers in 5th year, I realised that for me, 7 hours of school time is fairly adequate, yet to go home with homework from every subject, now that for me is more than the limit I can take.
My teacher will probably be reading this, jaded and miserable of all the marking. But sir, surely there are things you would rather be doing? In other words, yes I want less homework because I just can’t be bothered sometimes but we can all relate to the feeling here. Here are a few reasons why teachers shouldn’t issue homework.
As a student, studying 5 Highers can be very tiring, but one of the biggest things that causes stress for me is homework. I do not find it beneficial at all. I feel like I learn more in classes than I do completing homework. At first homework consisted of simple questions and answers, however it has become more difficult as I am now in 6th year, which means harder work. These days, I realised that I have been staying up at night more than usual doing homework. Doctors and scientists recommend teenagers get at least 8 hours of sleep to stay healthy. Yet, occasionally I get less. Teachers say homework takes an hour or so to complete, but for me it takes much longer and I actually struggle to finish homework for each subject in less than 4 hours. This is difficult especially for students with a part-time job.
After my job, I sometimes have to go food shopping with my mum and help her to prepare dinner for the family. Each of that can add up to an hour and a half, plus homework which would be around 9 or 10pm that I would have finished everything. I then have to prepare for the next day at school, iron my uniform and go to sleep. Not to mention the days with added assignments, timed essays and unit tests, which means I have to stay up later than 10pm. It actually stresses me out to be marked down for uncompleted homework or the troubles of having letters of concern sent home. Despite the fact that sometimes I even forget I had homework from a certain subject, but then magically remember when I am about to go to sleep. This leads me to then stay up longer doing the homework, to avoid being in trouble and embarrassment with the teacher or in front of the full class.
I am in school 7 hours already, but by having 3 more hours on top of that tackling paperwork at home time can be actually very frustrating. These days, the use of social media sites have increased tremendously such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram etc. and majority of teenagers spend most of our times on our phones. In my opinion I feel like I have little time to keep in touch with family and friends with the burden of homework. It is essential that teenagers have time to relax and hang out with their friends, enjoying their youth while it lasts. There is so many valuable things I wanted to do, pursuing my interests, spending time with family etc. But with teachers assigning homework just because it’s our weekend and feel like we have all the time in our world to do their homework and practice for exams, we don’t get a chance.
Let’s all admit we hate to do more work during free time. I occasionally feel as though the teachers despise it also, having to mark it during their time and spending free time planning homework, only for it to be ignored. It not only wastes their time but also our time. Supported studies, homework/lunchtime clubs could be a much more effective way to replace homework and get additional help, but taken into consideration, some pupils fancy a break between their classes and just want to head home to rest, therefore some pupils may not even bother attending these.
Once in a while my parents can dislike it too, just because once in blue moon, when they decide to go out to family events, I am at times not able to go because of homework. To be honest I do feel sorry for them because then they have to deal with me complaining about the problems of it. Similarly I don’t think teachers particularly enjoy e-mailing the deputes or their bosses that work isn’t getting done, while wasting their time making us them. It is just a burden to everyone. Moreover, the purpose of giving out homework is to see if we can do it ourselves and to test how much we have learnt in class. Although now and again, we rely too heavily on the internet,by simply copying down the answers at home. Hardly anyone genuinely does their homework without help from an outside source. We just copy the answers down that are already provided for us and never understand them, which can lead to failure in the subject.
But despite these reasons, although I hate to admit this,but indeed maybe by giving us homework,it can enhance our knowledge and the capacity to take on the subject better.If you are steuggling, the teacher can then help you with your problems, as it is a way of letting the teachers know if you are having difficulties. Homework can be a tool to teach students time management skills,which are very essential to have for exams but also important to be good at once they become adults as this is a skill we would need to use in the real world. On top of that,it gives the students more practice in exam style questions and can prepare us for the upcoming exams.
On reflection, there is a portion of exceptional things about homework. But by indicating contrast, to my way of thinking, I personally believe that by giving us a great quantity of paperwork to tackleat home can be harmful and not beneficial to our learning. As I mentioned, I despise it, and think it wastes my time. Maybe one day the homework system will be replaced with something that encourages students to learn further to succeed.