Late-night homework cram sessions are a common occurrence for many high school students. While I acknowledge the need for assignments that reinforce the lessons taught in school each day, whether or not that means assigning so much work that students are forced to stay up late to complete their homework.

Teenagers need sleep. Most teens require a larger amount of sleep than adults in order to properly develop and grow. The suggested amount of sleep for teens is more than nine hours each night. A study conducted by the Journal of School Health reported that fewer than 10 percent of students get the recommended amount of sleep on school nights. In many cases, homework is a contributing factor to teens staying up too late.

To put that in perspective, this school has roughly 850 students. If only one out of every 10 students gets the suggested nine hours of sleep, more than 750 students are not getting the recommended amount of sleep each night.

Many students would love to participate in more extracurricular activities. However, the desire to maintain acceptable grades and a fear of having too much homework to do each night are what keep some from taking part in these activities. Students who work or who are involved in band, theater, sports or other activities face the homework struggle on a daily or weekly basis.

While one study says the recommended amount of time that should be spent on homework each night is 10 times the student’s grade level. So, a senior should spend approximately 120 minutes on homework. But another study indicates that high school students should only spend about two hours on homework because there is little academic value obtained beyond that.

If teachers truly believe homework is needed, then maybe they should consider assigning work at the beginning of the week so students can pace themselves on assignments rather than having a full load of homework to do every night.

Homework is a necessary evil that must be assigned, though it shouldn’t take up nearly as much time as it currently does.

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