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.
3 Comments
kylie
4/29/2015 02:21:21 am
Megan, It is interesting I did a post just like this. I think you did a better job of understanding why there was so much homework given. I can understand why teachers would want us to do what we did in class, at home but there is a point when the repetitiveness is not necessary. I agree that it is twisted how we, as kids, compare how little sleep we got like it is a contest and am just waiting for summer so the contest turns into how late we slept in.
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Beverly
4/29/2015 11:38:24 am
Hey, Megan! I found your post interesting, since you looked at both the pros and cons of homework, while most other people just rant about the excessive amounts of work. I have also found that there is a pressure that pushes students to do more of almost everything. However, you said that "it would take some ingenuity in order to reach a balance" which got me thinking, perhaps that's part of the cause of the aforementioned pressure to do all the things. Surviving all of that clearly means that the person can plan and not fold under an enormous workload, which are desirable traits. In response to your friend who got 10 minutes of sleep: that's rough. This is a little off topic, but I read somewhere that it's better to just pull an all-nighter than sleep 2 hours or less since your body's better suited for that. Thoughts?
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Ms. D.
5/4/2015 11:20:27 pm
Megan,
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AuthorMegan. Student. I wrote this. Archives
April 2015
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