Mariah Gray

Mrs. Pettay
March 14, 2015
Bell: B-2
Should Students Have Homework?
For years now, students have been the main focus of the debate topic of homework.
Students have decided to do their homework or not, but the main question is should they have to
decide. Should students be assigned four or five hours of homework each night while being the
age of four. Homework should not be assigned to students because it causes stress, it establishes
issues between the child and their parents, and it does not have a necessary purpose.
According within the articles we received within our class, homework should be given to
students because they benefit of homework is that it allows students and teachers to work more
closely together. They can discuss their assignments or any problems that they are having with
parts of their textbooks, before or after classes. The second benefit is that it can bring families
closer together as students may ask their parents or siblings for help on their homework. Not
only will this help the students get a better understanding of their work with any parts they are
stuck on, it will also allow parents to get more involved in their child's educational life and it also
creates a greater since of responsibility. I believe the complete opposite.
The first reason that children should not be given homework is that they need time to
relax and take their minds off work. The pressure of having to complete homework every night is
quite daunting for most children and they need time to refresh their minds and bodies.

Homework just causes pressure to students, they should have time to communicate with their
family especially on the weekend. Without homework students wont be as pressured and will
have a greater future, in Finland there is no homework and it tops other countries in success I
think we need to learn a few things from Finland. The researchers studied 4,317 students from
10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities (median
household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went
on to college). Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues interviewed the students
about their views on homework. Students in these schools complete an average about 3.1 hours
of homework each night. Students who did more hours of homework experienced greater
behavioral engagement in school, but they also experienced also more academic stress, physical
health problems, and lack of balance in their lives.
Secondly, it reduces the amount of time that children could be spending with their
families. Family time is especially important to a growing child and without it social problems
can crop up and a family unit can be compromised by a lack of time being spent together.
Homework can cause conflict between children and parents when the parent wants to the child to
do their homework but meets resistance from the student to do an overwhelming task.
Homework causes arguments in a third of families, parents have admitted, with some confessing
to avoiding helping their children altogether.
And finally, a lot of teachers don't often have the time to grade papers properly as they
are too busy with designing lesson plans and consulting teaching resources in order to just
manage lessons. So by the time students are getting their papers back, the class has moved on to
a new topic. Home work is stupid because its like taking class work home its supposed to be
done in class in class student will have no bad grades if they do it at school at home we will not

get it done because were probably using our free like at a friends house or something. Many
students said their homework burden led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The
researchers asked students whether they experienced headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation,
weight loss, and stomach problems.
The researchers also found that spending too much time on homework meant that
students were not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills.
Students were more likely to forgo activities, stop seeing friends or family, and not participate in
hobbies. Whats more, many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over
developing other talents or skills. Many students said that they often do homework they see as
"pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up. To this, Pope argues that homework
assignments should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning
and development.
In conclusion, I believe that homework should not be assigned to students are four to
thirteen years old. If homework is assigned, it should be relevant to the topic at hand and it
should be used properly within the class. Too much homework may cause health and
psychological issues, and seeming that these children are so young, it should not be given to
them.

References
"The 10 Most Important Factors in Homework." The 10 Most Important Factors in Homework.
N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

Lauro, Sarah Juliet. "Why Should Homework Be Assigned for Class." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

"Five Reasons Homework Should Be Assigned." Articles Advice. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.