By Madeline Bailey
Managing Editor
[dropcap]D[/dropcap]on’t forget about that essay. The book you have to finish by Friday. The math problems you need to do. That Chemistry test you need to study for. The two worksheets for history and the art project, too.
High school can be a challenge for some students, no matter what classes they take.
“I don’t think the regular homework we have is excessive,” senior Lydia Hazelwonder said. “When you add it in with the senior project and college applications, it can be hard to deal with it all, though.”
A study conducted by researchers in Australia and published on HuffingtonPost.com found that too much homework leads to lower tests scores. One to two hours a week of homework is fine but many hours of homework can be detrimental to students, according to Richard Walker, an educational psychologist at Sydney University.
Walker says most homework serves only as busywork that does not help students do better in class. Long hours of homework often discourages students from doing the assigned work.
Teachers disagree with Walker’s findings.
“I do give homework with the purpose of building on concepts from daily, weekly and semester curriculum,” math teacher Juan Ramirez said. “The homework is not always written work. Sometimes homework requires the student to think in a higher-order process that will prepare them for engaging conversation the next day in class and in the future. This method enables me to assess a student’s knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of the concept studied.”
Newly-released North Carolina testing results back this study. The test results tell whether North Carolina schools met the state and federal targets. Of the 2,463 school assessed, 25.5 percent met the targets set by Common Core, and 74.5 percent did not. In the case of the federal targets, 34.4 percent met the targets, while 65.6 percent did not.
Homework can also affect students in other ways. Some get fewer than the recommended nine hours of sleep a night because of homework. Choosing between sleep and homework can be stressful, making it hard to concentrate in class, according to PsychologyToday.com.
“My lack of sleep makes it harder to think in classes,” senior Sam Eure said. “I become very tired in fourth period and am unable to think deeply. I just have to keep going until I get home, where I can have some coffee.”
Teachers say students need to learn to budget their time.
“I assign homework to practice concepts that will be on the test,” Chemistry teacher Ray Richards said. “If students manage their time properly, there will never be too much homework.”
Sophomore Maggie Roberts says the negative impact of homework outweighs the positive.
“I am very opposed to homework,” Roberts said. “I believe students should learn in ways suitable to them. Giving a person busywork is stifling. Plenty of creative minds have been squandered by the stress and dullness of extra work. A good teacher can teach their material in a class period. If someone feels the need, they can study independently.”
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