Are you Team Homework or Team Free-Time?

What do you think about homework? Did you enjoy it or was it a miserable job you did at the last minute? How do you think your child’s teacher feels about it? Do they see it as a welcome opportunity to share knowledge or a daily nightmare of grading papers?

Teach-nology.com, an online resource center for teachers, polled their subscribers to ask, ‘How often do you assign homework in an average school week?’ The results? Almost 50% reported that they assigned homework four to five days per week. Less than 10% said they never assigned any.

What is the reason behind homework? Why assign it?

Professor of Practice Joseph Lathan, PhD, writing for San Diego University Online reviewed two decades of studies to ask, ‘When Does Homework Actually Help?’ His conclusion on the study results: “take them with a grain of salt.”

Pro-homework factions believe it improves student success rates, helps reinforce classroom learning, improves students’ standardized test results, and argue that students who complete their homework are more likely to go to college.  

Homework not only helps students develop good study habits and life skills that lead to better grades, but it also allows parents to see and participate in what their children are learning in school every day. It can show them their children’s strengths and weaknesses and even help identify possible learning difficulties.

A valid case for homework, yet the no-homework side has equally compelling points. 

Having trouble getting your student to finish assigned homework? Nemours Kids Health’s Top 10 Homework Tips can help you establish good study habits that work from 1^st grade through high school. They also offer simple tips to help your child get organized.

Students with too much homework report elevated stress levels, not to mention it takes time away from the activities that can boost students’ social-emotional development, such as sports, hobbies, and socializing. Higher-achieving students — who may have more homework — are at greater risk for stress-related health issues including sleep deprivation, weight loss, stomach problems, and headaches. While some students with too much homework are tempted to find ‘hacks’ just to turn something in, parents of other students may jump in and do the homework for them to curb stress and anxiety. 

Homework highlights digital inequity. Many students from low-income families still lack access to a computer and/or internet connection outside of school, widening the social, academic, and economic divide between them and their peers. Kids from disadvantaged homes are also more likely to work at afterschool jobs, to be home alone in the evenings, or assume responsibility for younger siblings while their parents work multiple jobs.

The American Psychological Association has made the case for homework, with qualifications for quantity and quality.

Students should do no more than 10 minutes a night per grade level up to a maximum of about two hours in high school, a formula supported by the National Education Association and National Parent Teacher Association. 

The quality of the homework matters, too. Only 20-30% of students in the study felt their homework was useful or relevant to their studies.    

So, who wants homework?

Education Week, an industry resource for K-12 education news and information, looked at what teachers on Facebook had to say on the subject and came up with the same results.

Some said they only assigned it because parents expected or demanded it, others refused to send work home. Some said meaningful homework was effective for older students in certain subjects, while others felt that it put students without parental support at an academic disadvantage. 

Every teacher has a horror story to tell about bad parenting. Teachers in the BuzzFeed Community recently shared These Children Are Being Raised To Feel Entitled — 29 Honestly Shameful Ways Teachers Had to Beg Parents to Be More Involved, a list of ways they wished parents would take on a more active role in their child's education.

So, whatever camp you’re in, if your child’s teacher assigns homework — or doesn’t — trust their judgment. They are likely aware of the arguments and know their students, as well as school policies. If there’s work to be done, support your student in getting it completed. If not, there’s always a library card.

THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys are a proud sponsor of Beasley Best Community of Teacher Appreciation Month.