Image Credit: calibermag.orgThe other day, one of my friends told me he’d gotten ten minutes of sleep the previous night.
Something isn’t right. It’s not that I don’t understand the necessity of homework. In fact, I think it’s crucial to reinforce what was taught in class. However, a seemingly reasonable amount of homework for a single class quickly becomes excessive when multiplied by six or seven. Then add practice, rehearsal, clubs, or even just time spent eating and driving into the mix and it’s easy to see why kids are overworked and under-rested. After a point, valuable reinforcement becomes tedious and counterproductive. From a school’s perspective, I see why homework is valuable. I also see that it teaches hard work and efficiency. And I understand that there might not be enough time in the school day to satisfactorily fulfill curricular requirements. Sure, some all-nighters could’ve been prevented with better planning on the part of the student. But why? Why give students all this stress? Why force them to work constantly from the moment they get home in order to finish at a reasonable time? Any student will tell you that the pressure is on to do more; more AP classes, more extracurriculars, more community service, more everything. Any student will tell you, in a twisted form of bragging, how late they were up last night working on homework. The more I think about it, the more I wonder why we need to work around the clock, why we don’t get to have a life outside of school. It would take some ingenuity in order to reach a balance, but the well-being and happiness of students is worth it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about learning, it’s that it can and should be enjoyable. However, one must be motivated and inspired to do it. Overloading students with work fails to accomplish this.
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AuthorMegan. Student. I wrote this. Archives
April 2015
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