Debates Against Homework - Essay Example

I am not sure that there are positive effects of homework. I know myself that if I understand the class, homework goes very fast. When I do not, it does not matter whether I have homework because I do not understand what I am doing. I often think that homework is redundant and it does not help me. I think it is a good idea to practise things, but if your parents cannot help you it does not make a lot of sense.

Students have to do more homework because of the No Child Left Behind legislation. Because teachers teach standardized tests, we have more homework than ever before and it takes a long time to complete, depending on what grade you are in. There are no statistics that say that homework is valuable to a student and it is not something that everyone likes to do or that they do it well.

Homework also can lower self-esteem. When a student does well on their homework, they get a better grade than if they do not. Many times homework is graded as a separate part of what a student must do to pass. If they do their homework well, they are often happy to do more of it. However, if they do not do well their self-esteem suffers. I know many students who are upset because their homework scores are lower than their test scores and they do not know why; teachers do not explain why these scores are different.

Some teachers agree that homework should be abolished. According to Shola Adenekan, some schools are trying to get rid of homework in England. One of the reasons that teachers state is the fact that many children do not have time to play when they have to spend so much time on homework. Many teachers are looking at ways that they may be able to change how homework looks.

Research does not support that homework is of value. A 2006 report in Time Magazine by Claudia Wallis describes information from two books about how homework is not of value. Some of the statistics from the report include:
- a 2004 national survey done by the University of Michigan showed that the amount of homework has increased by 51%.
- Small children have bigger loads of homework because of the No Child Left Behind legislation.
- Harris Cooper, from Duke University, did a study that showed that kids who did homework in middle and high school could score somewhat better on standardized tests, but if they had to do more than 60 or 90 minutes at home, their scores went down (1).

This information shows that homework is not doing what teachers expect it to do. Instead, there could be other ways for children to understand learning.

Homework is stressful. More children are going into therapy because of the stress in school. According to Daniel DeNoon, children begin to have stress from the time they get into kindergarten. Most of it is due to a child's need to perform well whether it is academically or through sports. Homework adds more stress to the child because it puts more pressure on them.

There are many things that we could do that do not involve homework. Although many teachers feel that they should grade homework, it does not have to be done that way. Perhaps homework could be done in class as a way to practice a difficult concept. Small groups could be put together to work through certain problems instead of taking the work home.

In conclusion, homework is not healthy for children and it puts too much pressure on them to succeed. Many times they do not understand how to do it and parents have difficulty with it also. Homework should be abolished so that children can differentiate between school, playtime and time with their friends.