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Koby Rikard

Mrs. Grubb

English lll honors

26 March 2019

Why Homework Is Not Beneficial

Multiple studies have shown that most students are getting too many homework assignments that

is leading to loss of sleep. Giving many homework assignments to students can cause problems.

Some health problems that can result from overloads of homework are stress, anxiety, and sleep

deprivation. Giving homework to students is not always the answer, some students do not

benefit from homework. ​Overloads of homework that are not necessary can negatively

impact a students academic performance and even grades.

When a student receives homework assignments that require lots of time spent on it, loss

a sleep become a problem. The average amount of sleep for adolescents is about seven hours to

seven and a quarter hours. The recommended amount of sleep for adolescents is nine and a

quarter hours (Johnson 4). A study showed that students lose about 1.6 to about 2.4 hours of

sleep when given a big amounts of homework at once (Spruyt 1). Some students just do not

complete their homework assignments. When researching information about why homework is

not beneficial a couple of reasons why students say they do not do their homework came up, this

helped me find what was needed for the topic. Students say they just do not enough time to

complete their homework. Things such as jobs, relationships, clubs, and after school activities

are all factors in why homework is not beneficial. It is possible that a student could start on their

homework until late at night.

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Too much homework is also a bad thing for students. Overloads of homework can have

negative impacts on students health and even their personalities. When students are having to

do too much homework, they spend less time with family and friends. A push against homework

is beginning to become popular. Researchers have found out that all homework given does

provide academic gains for all students (Zalanick 6). Basically what zalanich is saying is that all

students do not need the same type of homework, some students may need help or may need to

focus on something different that another student. Some schools have pulled away from giving

homework all together. A homework study showed that one school hat had pulled away from

giving homework had more curious and engaged students (Zalanick 8). This research proves that

giving homework is not always the answer. Many students would prefer that homework would

not be given, nobody likes doing it, teachers have to grade it, and it could only help certain

students. Personalized homework could help solve whether homework should be given or not.

If personalized homework becomes popular, it is possible many schools all around we turn to it.

In conclusion, overloads of homework or just assigning homework is not always the

answer. Too much homework leads to stress and possibly loss of sleep. We seen that some

school even withdrew from giving homework all together and it showed no negative impacts. If

anything positive effects were shown through the students, they ended up being more curious

and engaged in their work and lessons. Other schools could possibly learn from this research

and not give homework. More students would be more engaged throughout all schools of the

research holds up to be true. When students are not getting enough sleep then the attention span

will be less and no information will be retained. If students are not completing their homework

assignments then their grades could drop. Some people argue that students should do homework
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because it will pay off in the long run. Some also argue that it is an essential part of learning,

and although it may not be fun to do right now, it will be worth it later in life. This is not always

true because some occupations may not require the knowledge you receive from all homework.

More schools should pull away from homework because students will enjoy their classes more.

It is obvious that if a student is not required to do homework then they will be more active in the

class, it is one less thing that they will have to worry about doing later. Homework tends to give

students bad attitudes and makes them not wants to pay much attention. Class work should be

done in school. Having to sit in school all day and learn many new things and difficult things is

not to easy. The school day takes up pretty much the whole day starting at 8 in the morning and

ending at 3:09 in the afternoon. After a long day no one wants to go home and have to do

homework, it is demoralizing. All students deal with the same problems as well, staying up late

to complete homework assignments. Sleep is a really important part of young people's lives, it is

crucial to get sleep. When a person is sleeping their body is restoring many things (Hopkins 2).

Teachers sometimes questions students about why they are always seem so tired, staying up late

for homework is part of the problem. A counter argument could be doing your homework earlier

so you will not lose any sleep. It is mistaken that not all students get to go straight home after

school to start their homework. By focusing on giving to homework to all students, Matt

Zalaznick (Author) overlooks the deeper problem of giving homework assignments to students.

Although homework may seem of concern to only a small group of high school students and

teachers, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about homework or the education field.

In conclusion, teachers giving students homework is not always the answer. Now

knowing the effects of staying up late due to homework assignments, and also knowing that
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some students have things to do after school, it is easy to see that homework should not be given.

Research can back up this argument, stating that students were actually more engaged when

homework was pulled out of their school all together. Health problems can be related to

homework too if staying up late becomes a factor. Sleep deprivation, stress, headaches, and

exhaustion. In the future maybe we will see schools pulling away from homework once and for

all.

Work Cited
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Bay, Mark. “The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing.” ​Library

Journal​, vol. 131, no. 14, Sept. 2006, p. 159. ​EBSCOhost​,

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db=a9h&AN=22171865&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Hinchey, Pat. “Why Kids Say They Don’t Do Homework.” ​Clearing House​, vol. 69, no. 4, Mar.

1996, p. 242. ​EBSCOhost​,

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db=a9h&AN=9605304083&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Hoover-Dempsey, Kathleen V., et al. “Parental Involvement in Homework.” ​Educational

Psychologist,​ vol. 36, no. 3, Summer 2001, pp. 195–209. ​EBSCOhost​,

doi:10.1207/S15326985EP3603pass:[_]5.

Killoran, Isabel. “Why Is Your Homework Not Done? How Theories of Development Affect

Your Approach in the Classroom.” ​Journal of Instructional Psychology​, vol. 30, no. 4,

Dec. 2003, pp. 309–315. ​EBSCOhost​,

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db=a9h&AN=12010661&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Marzano, Robert J., and Debra J. Pickering. “The Case For and Against Homework.”

Educational Leadership​, vol. 64, no. 6, Mar. 2007, pp. 74–79. ​EBSCOhost​,

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Zalaznick, Matt. “Homework Overhaul.” ​Education Digest,​ vol. 84, no. 3, Nov. 2018, pp. 29–32.

EBSCOhost​,

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db=a9h&AN=132333833&site=ehost-live&scope=site.