The 10 Proven Reasons Why Homework Is Good For Students
- Post author By admin
- October 13, 2022
What’s more important than getting good grades? Many students will say that nothing is better than good academic marks. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, good grades are a prize. Secondly, it is the symbol that you have accomplished something. Lastly, it is essential because they can indicate that you have earned the respect of your teacher.
There must be a connection between homework and higher accomplishments in Maths, Science, and English. In the United Kingdom, the Department of Education thinks that doing homework brings many benefits. If a student understands the value of homework, then homework can help increase productivity and motivate you.
This blog will help you understand why homework is good and discuss all its benefits. But let’s first know what homework is?
Table of Contents
What is Homework?
Homework is defined as tasks students assign as an extension or elaboration of a classroom work that students do outside of class, either at home or in the library. In other words, it is the school work that a student is required to do at home.
Homework serves various educational needs such as an intellectual discipline, reinforces work done in school, establishes study habits, helps you learn time management, and many more. Below are the ten benefits of why homework is suitable for students.
10 Beneficial Reasons Why Homework Is Good for Students
Homework is an integral part of your life because it develops core skills in young children that will serve them throughout school and their lives. According to a study, if you do homework regularly, it is considered an investment in your child’s future. Some vital life skills like improved grades, time management, discipline, using some resources, and improving communication can help your children succeed in their careers.
By encouraging regular homework and supporting students with their assignments, you can expect to see the following benefits why homework is good:
- Increase Memory Power.
- Enhances Concentration.
Homework Strengthens Problem-Solving.
Helps in developing analytical skills., discipline skills..
- Develops Time Management.
Better Understanding of Study.
Develop better future., homework helps students get better grades., better preparation for exams., increase memory power.
Homework is a great tool to practice something. The students use it to remember what they have learned in school. When students revise the same lesson taught in school at home, it will help them remember better.
If you revise or do your homework repetitively, this will help you with long-term memory. Homework can be used to improve a student’s memory power. This is the first reason why homework is good.
Enhances Concentration.
Students who spend more time on their homework without any distractions can focus better on what they are doing. Once you can concentrate better, it will also help you in exams. This is the second reason why homework is good.
Assignments are given as homework to help students solve problems on their own instead of asking for help from others which is very embarrassing. After solving many problems, students learn how to manage their time and find solutions to any problem on their own that they only encounter while working on homework. This is the third reason why homework is good.
Develops Time Management.
As we mentioned earlier, students who spend time on their homework assignments have a better understanding of time management. After you better understand time management, getting better marks in exams is straightforward. As a result, homework plays a crucial role in developing time management skills. This is the fourth reason why homework is good.
The main aim of education is to receive better academic marks, which will further help you get the job of your dreams. Higher academic marks can open up several opportunities in the future. Many teachers use homework as a tool for students who are not that good at studying. Teachers often give relevant homework to the students to add to the future exam. As a result, if you revise your homework before an exam, getting better marks is high. This is the fifth reason why homework is good.
As we mentioned above, if students do well in their homework assignments, it will automatically boost their grades. If a student can do well in their homework, it will reflect that they are capable of handling challenging tasks given to them in the future. As a result, if you have better grades in school or university, the chances of getting the highest paying job are much higher. This is the sixth reason why homework is good.
Students who do their homework without any complaints are likely to develop discipline. Discipline is an important life skill that will help you in school and help you further in the future. This is the seventh reason why homework is good.
Discipline will help you when you have to work for someone else because discipline is first noticed. This is the most valuable quality employers would look for while choosing between candidates.
When students revise the lessons again and again that they have learned in school at home, it helps them understand the subject better. If a student practices the same topic twice or more, then it is easier for the student to get an idea about the relevant topic. This is the eighth reason why homework is good.
Studying for the exams can be a difficult task for the students. But if they revise the lessons that they have learned in school at home, it is easier for the students to learn and memorize the subject better. As a result, it will give you more confidence for the exam. This is the ninth reason why homework is good.
Read our other blog to learn about the different facts about homework .
When students are given homework that requires them to analyze information, it will help develop their analytical skills. It is the most valuable quality that students can possess. In other words, homework helps the students develop the analytical skills necessary for solving problems in the future. This is the last reason why homework is good.
Bonus Tips For Homework For Parents
- Make sure that your child has a quiet place to do homework if your children are doing homework in front of the television or in an area with other distractions. Then make sure to either turn off the tv or tell the kid to move somewhere with no distraction.
- Always be optimistic about the homework, and tell your child how vital homework assignment is. Express a positive attitude regarding the task.
- Establish a set timetable for each day for your children. Help your child to maintain time. Don’t let your child leave homework until it’s done.
- Somehow, if your children ask for help, provide guidance, not answers.
- When the teacher says that you (parents) play an important role in homework, please cooperate with the teacher. Follow the directions that the teacher gives.
- Too much parent involvement is bad. If homework is meant to be done alone, please stay away from your children.
- Let your child take a short break.
- If your child is getting better marks due to homework, reward them for those things they like. If they get better academic marks, then you can celebrate that success with a small event.
What is the importance of homework to school students?
Improves students’ knowledge
Homework is a type of practice that needs to be done to achieve better results. If students get homework regularly, they become intelligent and answer questions effectively.
Have a chance to explore
To complete the homework, students must solve the problems by researching them. Students have to search for an answer from different sources. Students get to explore new things while working from home in this process.
Make you Responsible
Apart from increasing study skills, homework helps build a sense of responsibility in the students. It means students take responsibility for their work to ensure it is complete and submitted before the last date.
Brings Families Together
When students have homework, they usually ask their parents to help with the assignment. As a result, this allows the student to understand the work better. Asking for help from your parents or siblings will bring the family together.
Conclusion: Why Homework is Good
This blog provides you with ten reasons why homework is good.
Homework has many benefits for students. If they can complete all their homework seriously, it would help them improve their academic marks.
They can also prepare better for exams by studying the homework at home with the help of their parents. Overall, homework is an integral part of a student’s education, and it should not be taken lightly.
Also, Read: Is Homework Good or Bad
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. why is homework suitable for students.
The main reason homework is suitable for students is that it teaches students how to problem-solve . Homework also gives parents a chance to see what their kids learn in school.
Q2. What are the three benefits of homework?
It encourages the discipline of practice. It gets parents involved with a child’s life. It teaches time management skills.
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Why is Homework Important?
Why is Homework Important? Homework can be a divisive topic. In this article, we will discuss why it’s important and how it helps with your child’s development.
There is a strong connection between regularly completing homework and higher accomplishments in subjects such as English, Maths and Science. The Department of Education in the United Kingdom advises that spending time doing homework brings several benefits, more so for the students who put in two to three hours a night. Understanding the value of homework can help increase motivation and productivity. In this article, we’ll help you understand why homework is important and discuss all its benefits for both children and parents.
Benefits of Homework
Homework is important because it develops core skills in young children that will serve them throughout school and working life. Improved grades, discipline, time management, using resources and improving communication are all vital life skills that will open the door to unique opportunities and help children find success in their careers. Doing regular homework should be considered as an investment in your child’s future.
Through encouraging regular homework and supporting your child with their assignments, you can expect to see the following advantages:
1. Discipline of Practice
Repeating a task multiple times can feel arduous, but it’s necessary to help increase your child’s skill and understanding of a subject. Regular homework will make certain concepts easier to understand and put them in an advantageous position should they seek a vocational career.
2. Time Management Skills
Homework goes beyond just the task itself; it helps children take control of their workload and increase their time management skills. Homework is set with a deadline and taking ownership of this deadline helps them think independently and develop problem-solving skills. This is a prime example of why homework is important because time management is a vital life skill that helps children throughout higher education and their careers.
3. Communication Network
Homework acts as a bridge and can help teachers and parents learn more about how students like to learn, providing a deeper understanding of how to approach their learning and development. Many parents also want their child to receive homework so they can understand what they’re learning at school.
4. Comfortable Work Environment
Some children struggle to learn outside of their comfort zone, and while classrooms are designed to be warm and welcoming, there is often no place like home. Homework is an opportunity to learn and retain information in an environment where they feel most comfortable, which can help accelerate their development.
5. Using Learning Materials
Throughout a child’s education, understanding how to use resources such as libraries and the internet is important. Homework teaches children to actively search for information using these resources to complete tasks, and this is a skill that will be fundamental throughout their lives.
6. Revision Discipline
Regular homework helps children discover a pattern that will help them when they’re required to study for important tests and exams. Children who are familiar with a routine of completing homework will find it easy to adapt to a schedule of doing regular revision at home. Skills such as accessing learning materials, time management, and discipline will help improve how children revise, and ultimately, improve their grades.
7. Additional Time to Learn
Children learn at different paces, and the time spent in the classroom might not be enough for some students to fully grasp the key concepts of a subject. Having additional time for learning at home can help children gain a deeper understanding than they would if they were solely reliant on their time in school. Homework is important because it gives parents and children the freedom and the time to focus on subjects that they may be struggling with. This extra time can make a big difference when it comes to exams and grades.
Helping Your Child With Homework
We’ve discussed why it is important to do regular homework, but children may still find it difficult to stay motivated. Parents can play an important role in supporting their child with homework, so here are some of the ways you can help.
1. Homework-friendly Area
Having a dedicated space for children to do homework will help them stay focused. Make sure it is well-lit and stocked with everything they’ll need for their assignments.
2. Routine Study Time
A regular routine helps children get used to working at home. Some children work best in the morning, while others may prefer the afternoon. Work out a routine where your child is their most productive.
3. Make Sure They’re Learning
Homework is important, but only if children use this time to learn. If you do the work for them, they’re not going to see any of the benefits we listed above. It’s important you’re there to support and help them understand the work, so they can do it themselves.
4. Praise Work and Effort
Recognising the hard work that they’re putting in and praising them for it is a great way to get children to respond positively to homework. Pin their impressive test grades up in their homeworking space or around the house for extra motivation.
5. Make a Plan
Children can get overwhelmed if they have a lot of work to do. On homework-heavy nights, help them make a plan and break down the work into sections. This will help make the work more manageable. If your child responds well to this, you could do this each time they sit down to do work at home.
Understanding why homework is important and oftentimes necessary helps improve both motivation and productivity in young children. It also makes parents aware of the role they can play in supporting them. At Nord Anglia Education, we focus on bringing children, parents, and teachers together in a common effort to improve student learning through homework. You can learn more about our schools and the curriculum we teach by exploring our schools .
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Why is Homework Important — Importance of Homework in Learning Process to Student Success
June 3, 2019
Ask any nine-year-old if he or she likes homework, and you’re likely to see a vigorously shaking head and hear a resounding and strongly emoted: NO! When the novelty of school wears off after kindergarten, many children become disenchanted with this time-honored, but sometimes annoying mainstay of education.
While there’s no surprise that most kids would rather spend their time playing Roblox or riding bikes, what do grown-up experts have to say about the importance of homework in the learning process? You might be surprised to find out that the answer is somewhat complicated.
In recent years, the educational world has been rocked by school districts, parents, teachers, and educational researchers who have been voicing their concerns over the effectiveness of homework. On one hand, many districts around the country have been moving towards eliminating it altogether at the elementary level. On the other, researchers have shown that the right type of assignment can help students succeed academically and on standardized tests.
School might be out of session for the summer, but in just a couple of months as the fall semester begins, the debate will be heating up all over again as students head back to the classroom. Let’s take a closer look at both sides of the debate and come to a more balanced perspective on this growing hot-button educational topic.
The Great Homework Debate: What’s the Issue?
Homework has gotten a bad rap lately. Since the turn of the century, there has been quite a bit of negative talk, especially with the publishing of multiple books that critique its efficacy, like Alfie Kohn’s The Homework Myth: Why Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing. In his book, Kohn states his belief that there is no evidence that it helps elementary students succeed.
No matter which book or study you read, the main arguments against home-based assignments seem to revolve around the following ideas:
- It encroaches on important family time at home. Parents and researchers alike have noted that homework cuts down on the already limited time that parents have to spend with their children. In America’s past, many women stayed home to tend to the kids. But times have certainly changed, with many non-traditional one-parent households, and many nuclear families now consisting of two-parent earners both with jobs outside the home.
- Many homework assignments are checked for completion and not accuracy. Teachers are time-strapped and burdened as state funding gets slashed and class sizes soar. This often means that educators are unable to keep up with a workload that includes individualized feedback on differentiated homework assignments. In turn, this results in educators that simply check it as completed or not, earning students a participation grade instead of receiving much more meaningful feedback.
- Can be seen as “busy work” if it does not relate closely enough to a specific lesson. As a parent, you might have seen this before when working with your kindergartener or 1st grader on a “menu” that includes topics that the children haven’t even reviewed in class! In this way, some assignments can be seen as merely “busy work” assigned by the teacher because the campus or district says that a certain number of tasks must be given per week.
- For older kids and teens, it can contribute to sleep deprivation and stress. As students begin to earn a GPA and work towards class rank, school becomes much more competitive. Even in the older elementary years, too much homework can be seen as a major factor for a student’s lack of sleep or their stress related to earning a particular grade.
- Some say it lowers motivation and intrinsic interest in academic subjects. Some parents and experts call homework a “chore” and blame assignments for destroying their child’s love for learning. For instance, many rue the forced reading lists or sustained silent reading because kids usually do not respond well to an activity in which they’re made to do something without little choice in the matter.
At this point, you might be thinking to yourself, is homework important or not? It’s important to note that many educators and researchers do believe in the concept of homework. After all, a debate needs at least two sides! Let’s flip the coin to see the other side of the argument.
Start Learning
Why is Homework Important?
The case laid out above might seem to seal the deal on the argument, as it does offer valid arguments, but facts and statistics are hard to come by when the educational system varies across the country as much as it does. However, there are many teachable aspects of homework that are often looked over in the rhetoric against the assignments.
Here are 10 reasons why homework is important to student success:
- Helps build responsibility. Some current buzzwords and phrases in the educational community are all about making students accountable and taking ownership of their learning. Homework helps kids do just that because they learn to take responsibility for their actions. When completed, they get the reward of earning a good grade, but face consequences in learning and in class when leave it by the wayside.
- Develops work ethic from an early age. Children need to understand the value of hard work and to form the obligation and self-regulation to commit to their projects and see them through. That said, homework can help students form a hardy work ethic that they will take with them to college and beyond.
- Improves time management. From kindergarten to senior year, kids and teens struggle to manage time and prioritize their to-do list. For young children, parents tend to these assignments to guide kids to develop this important skill. The goal for high school students means eventually learning how to manage multiple tasks to fit it in their schedule, and plan which will take longer or shorter depending on their skill level, strengths, or weaknesses.
- Gives students confidence. Sometimes kids need to attempt problems or exercises on their own and realize that failure is an important part of the learning process. In working through math problems or constructing essays, students gain confidence and hone creative problem-solving skills.
- Enhances self-esteem. Once children gain confidence that they can complete an assignment or perform a skill independently, they build a healthy self-esteem, which is important to many aspects of everyday life.
- Teaches study habits. Students don’t enter kindergarten already knowing how to study. In fact, many kids still struggle with study habits when they enter high school! Consistent homework can help children realize the importance of practice, especially if their teachers provide timely feedback and offer tasks that directly relate to the unit quizzes or tests.
- Can offer valuable feedback. When used correctly in the classroom, home assignments can result in meaningful classroom discussions or conferences. Teachers can meet one-on-one with students to discuss observations about progress, or use generalized whole-class feedback to offer students tips on how to improve.
- Gets parents more involved in a child’s education. Like it or not, as a parent, homework forces us to stay on the same page with our children as they work through units and lessons. It also allows parents to contact the teacher if they notice their child struggling with any one subject or topic. Especially in the younger grades, at-home work can keep mom and dad informed about their children’s strengths and weaknesses, allowing for ample intervention opportunities, if necessary.
- The link between homework and standardized test achievement. According to some recent studies, there is a modest positive link between students who successfully complete homework and success on state standardized tests. When taken further, it’s not hard to believe that students who take their work seriously and value their education naturally perform better on not only state testing, but in classwork as well.
- Prepares students for professional careers. While most professions don’t require workers to take tasks home, there are indeed deadlines in the real world. Home assignments can help children prepare for the real world by teaching them to meet their obligations on time.
A More Balanced Approach
So how important is homework to student success, and what to kids really need to succeed? Ask most educational theorists, and they probably agree that homework, when given in moderation when and where appropriate, can be a useful tool to help kids learn and grow. The old adage “quality over quantity” applies to any home-based assignment, and timely feedback must be given to assist students learn the desired concept or skill. Students must understand the purpose and realize the relevancy for any assignment, whether done at home or in the classroom.
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The Pros and Cons of Homework
Homework is a word that most students dread hearing. After hours upon hours of sitting in class , the last thing we want is more schoolwork over our precious weekends. While it’s known to be a staple of traditional schooling, homework has also become a rather divise topic. Some feel as though homework is a necessary part of school, while others believe that the time could be better invested. Should students have homework? Have a closer look into the arguments on both sides to decide for yourself.
Photo by energepic.com from Pexels
Why should students have homework, 1. homework encourages practice.
Many people believe that one of the positive effects of homework is that it encourages the discipline of practice. While it may be time consuming and boring compared to other activities, repetition is needed to get better at skills. Homework helps make concepts more clear, and gives students more opportunities when starting their career .
2. Homework Gets Parents Involved
Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.
3. Homework Teaches Time Management
Homework is much more than just completing the assigned tasks. Homework can develop time management skills , forcing students to plan their time and make sure that all of their homework assignments are done on time. By learning to manage their time, students also practice their problem-solving skills and independent thinking. One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made.
4. Homework Opens A Bridge Of Communication
Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents can see where their children are struggling. In the same sense, parents can also see where their children are excelling. Homework in turn can allow for a better, more targeted educational plan for the student.
5. Homework Allows For More Learning Time
Homework allows for more time to complete the learning process. School hours are not always enough time for students to really understand core concepts, and homework can counter the effects of time shortages, benefiting students in the long run, even if they can’t see it in the moment.
6. Homework Reduces Screen Time
Many students in North America spend far too many hours watching TV. If they weren’t in school, these numbers would likely increase even more. Although homework is usually undesired, it encourages better study habits and discourages spending time in front of the TV. Homework can be seen as another extracurricular activity, and many families already invest a lot of time and money in different clubs and lessons to fill up their children’s extra time. Just like extracurricular activities, homework can be fit into one’s schedule.
The Other Side: Why Homework Is Bad
1. homework encourages a sedentary lifestyle.
Should students have homework? Well, that depends on where you stand. There are arguments both for the advantages and the disadvantages of homework.
While classroom time is important, playground time is just as important. If children are given too much homework, they won’t have enough playtime, which can impact their social development and learning. Studies have found that those who get more play get better grades in school , as it can help them pay closer attention in the classroom.
Children are already sitting long hours in the classroom, and homework assignments only add to these hours. Sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and can cause health problems such as obesity. Homework takes away from time that could be spent investing in physical activity.
2. Homework Isn’t Healthy In Every Home
While many people that think homes are a beneficial environment for children to learn, not all homes provide a healthy environment, and there may be very little investment from parents. Some parents do not provide any kind of support or homework help, and even if they would like to, due to personal barriers, they sometimes cannot. Homework can create friction between children and their parents, which is one of the reasons why homework is bad .
3. Homework Adds To An Already Full-Time Job
School is already a full-time job for students, as they generally spend over 6 hours each day in class. Students also often have extracurricular activities such as sports, music, or art that are just as important as their traditional courses. Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors. Homework prevents self discovery and having the time to learn new skills outside of the school system. This is one of the main disadvantages of homework.
4. Homework Has Not Been Proven To Provide Results
Endless surveys have found that homework creates a negative attitude towards school, and homework has not been found to be linked to a higher level of academic success.
The positive effects of homework have not been backed up enough. While homework may help some students improve in specific subjects, if they have outside help there is no real proof that homework makes for improvements.
It can be a challenge to really enforce the completion of homework, and students can still get decent grades without doing their homework. Extra school time does not necessarily mean better grades — quality must always come before quantity.
Accurate practice when it comes to homework simply isn’t reliable. Homework could even cause opposite effects if misunderstood, especially since the reliance is placed on the student and their parents — one of the major reasons as to why homework is bad. Many students would rather cheat in class to avoid doing their homework at home, and children often just copy off of each other or from what they read on the internet.
5. Homework Assignments Are Overdone
The general agreement is that students should not be given more than 10 minutes a day per grade level. What this means is that a first grader should be given a maximum of 10 minutes of homework, while a second grader receives 20 minutes, etc. Many students are given a lot more homework than the recommended amount, however.
On average, college students spend as much as 3 hours per night on homework . By giving too much homework, it can increase stress levels and lead to burn out. This in turn provides an opposite effect when it comes to academic success.
The pros and cons of homework are both valid, and it seems as though the question of ‘‘should students have homework?’ is not a simple, straightforward one. Parents and teachers often are found to be clashing heads, while the student is left in the middle without much say.
It’s important to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of homework, taking both perspectives into conversation to find a common ground. At the end of the day, everyone’s goal is the success of the student.
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Top 15 Reasons Why Students Should Have Homework
Homework is a must when students go back home after school. Many people argue that students should not have homework because it is unnecessary and tiring.
Although they are tired after school, students need to do homework to understand the subject better and improve total grades at the end of the semester. Here are the top 15 reasons why students should have homework.
Table of Contents
1. Build Up Momentum for Learning
2. build responsibility and discipline, 3. learn how to solve problems, 4. learn hard work pays off, 5. help manage time wisely, 6. improve school performance, 7. improves study habits, 8. know how to set priorities, 9. make sure they’re learning at home, 10. more comfortable self-learning method, 11. can give teacher a valuable feedback, 12. build healthy competition among peers, 13. encourage communication between parents and child, 14. open a bridge of communication, 15. practise makes perfect.
Homework has a positive impact on student’s motivation to learn because it provides them with the opportunity to practice what they have learned in school.
After doing their homework, students are able to review the information that they have studied in school and are motivated to study more because of the success gained from working hard on their homework.
Homework could build up a habit of doing things independently. It is also a good chance for them to train themselves to be independent and responsible in future life.
Homework allows students to solve problems by finding workable solutions and solving them. If they can not, then they will keep trying and find a solution until they do. They will also feel more confident about themselves as students if they are able to understand what is being taught in school and how it applies to everyday life.
Homework makes students understand that they need to do more study to work out. This way, homework becomes a stepping stone for them as it provides them with opportunities to build up their knowledge and abilities.
Doing homework makes them feel confident about themselves because they are able to do so much even though they are still children.
When students do their homework, they usually need to put lots of effort into it. This way, students will learn that hard work pays off and will be more motivated to try harder in school studies because they know that the effort is worth it.
Doing their homework makes them feel proud and confident about themselves because putting all effort into studying does not go to waste.
Homework helps students manage their time wisely because they have to complete the assigned tasks within a specific period of time after school.
Therefore, homework prevents students from wasting valuable hours playing or watching television and encourages them to spend time studying instead. It also makes them more efficient as they have to learn from their mistakes and find a way to maximize their time.
Homework helps students understand concepts better and improves their school performance. If they are not able to do well for one subject, then they would have lower total grades at the end of the semester. This motivates them to work harder because they want to excel in all subjects.
Homework helps students form good study habits because they learn how to manage their time and follow instructions so that they would know how to set goals for themselves. This enables them to develop a strong work ethic and cooperate better with others through doing group assignments if there’s homework that needs to be done together with other students.
Homework allows students to learn how to set priorities and become more organized. They can divide their time between homework and playtime with friends in order to study in the most effective way. They’ll also learn which homework to do first and which to put off until another time.
Homework gives parents peace of mind because they know their children are using the time to study at home. At home, the child will be able to get help from them if needed and not waste time because they are studying when they could be doing other things like watching TV.
Homework gives students a more comfortable learning environment as they do not feel like the teacher is watching over them all the time. This enables students to learn how to study independently and manage their own time as well as follow instructions so that they could become better at studying.
Homework provides teachers with valuable feedback on how students are absorbing the knowledge taught in school. Teachers will find out if students have understood what they have learned by seeing their homework. If there are some things that students do not understand, then the teacher would be able to explain them more clearly during class lessons.
Meanwhile, homework helps teachers identify which students need additional help and support to understand the concepts taught in school.
For instance, there might be a student who is struggling with completing his or her homework and receiving low scores for not understanding what was taught during class lessons. This allows the teacher to provide the necessary help and support that the student needs.
Homework encourages students to compete with each other because they need to do well in all subjects so that they can have good total grades at the end of the semester. The competition motivates students to study hard because they are afraid of being beaten by other students.
Homework encourages communication between parents and their children as they can ask what homework their children have been given to do.
Parents will know what their children are learning in school and their performance in homework. They can also find out if their child is having difficulties in school as well as get the awareness of the problems that they might be having.
Homework opens a bridge of communication between parents and teachers which allows them to know how school is going for their children. Parents will see if there are any problems that need to be solved by communicating directly with teachers.
Practicing what they have learned at school enables students to remember things better. This is because when they are doing homework, they are actually practicing using their knowledge rather than simply following the process shown in textbooks.
They may make mistakes but in this way, they can learn from them and perfect themselves slowly over time.
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Homework – Top 3 Pros and Cons
Pro/Con Arguments | Discussion Questions | Take Action | Sources | More Debates
From dioramas to book reports, from algebraic word problems to research projects, whether students should be given homework, as well as the type and amount of homework, has been debated for over a century. [ 1 ]
While we are unsure who invented homework, we do know that the word “homework” dates back to ancient Rome. Pliny the Younger asked his followers to practice their speeches at home. Memorization exercises as homework continued through the Middle Ages and Enlightenment by monks and other scholars. [ 45 ]
In the 19th century, German students of the Volksschulen or “People’s Schools” were given assignments to complete outside of the school day. This concept of homework quickly spread across Europe and was brought to the United States by Horace Mann , who encountered the idea in Prussia. [ 45 ]
In the early 1900s, progressive education theorists, championed by the magazine Ladies’ Home Journal , decried homework’s negative impact on children’s physical and mental health, leading California to ban homework for students under 15 from 1901 until 1917. In the 1930s, homework was portrayed as child labor, which was newly illegal, but the prevailing argument was that kids needed time to do household chores. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 45 ] [ 46 ]
Public opinion swayed again in favor of homework in the 1950s due to concerns about keeping up with the Soviet Union’s technological advances during the Cold War . And, in 1986, the US government included homework as an educational quality boosting tool. [ 3 ] [ 45 ]
A 2014 study found kindergarteners to fifth graders averaged 2.9 hours of homework per week, sixth to eighth graders 3.2 hours per teacher, and ninth to twelfth graders 3.5 hours per teacher. A 2014-2019 study found that teens spent about an hour a day on homework. [ 4 ] [ 44 ]
Beginning in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the very idea of homework as students were schooling remotely and many were doing all school work from home. Washington Post journalist Valerie Strauss asked, “Does homework work when kids are learning all day at home?” While students were mostly back in school buildings in fall 2021, the question remains of how effective homework is as an educational tool. [ 47 ]
Is Homework Beneficial?
Pro 1 Homework improves student achievement. Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicated that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” [ 6 ] Students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework on both standardized tests and grades. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take-home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school. [ 10 ] Read More
Pro 2 Homework helps to reinforce classroom learning, while developing good study habits and life skills. Students typically retain only 50% of the information teachers provide in class, and they need to apply that information in order to truly learn it. Abby Freireich and Brian Platzer, co-founders of Teachers Who Tutor NYC, explained, “at-home assignments help students learn the material taught in class. Students require independent practice to internalize new concepts… [And] these assignments can provide valuable data for teachers about how well students understand the curriculum.” [ 11 ] [ 49 ] Elementary school students who were taught “strategies to organize and complete homework,” such as prioritizing homework activities, collecting study materials, note-taking, and following directions, showed increased grades and more positive comments on report cards. [ 17 ] Research by the City University of New York noted that “students who engage in self-regulatory processes while completing homework,” such as goal-setting, time management, and remaining focused, “are generally more motivated and are higher achievers than those who do not use these processes.” [ 18 ] Homework also helps students develop key skills that they’ll use throughout their lives: accountability, autonomy, discipline, time management, self-direction, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving. Freireich and Platzer noted that “homework helps students acquire the skills needed to plan, organize, and complete their work.” [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 49 ] Read More
Pro 3 Homework allows parents to be involved with children’s learning. Thanks to take-home assignments, parents are able to track what their children are learning at school as well as their academic strengths and weaknesses. [ 12 ] Data from a nationwide sample of elementary school students show that parental involvement in homework can improve class performance, especially among economically disadvantaged African-American and Hispanic students. [ 20 ] Research from Johns Hopkins University found that an interactive homework process known as TIPS (Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork) improves student achievement: “Students in the TIPS group earned significantly higher report card grades after 18 weeks (1 TIPS assignment per week) than did non-TIPS students.” [ 21 ] Homework can also help clue parents in to the existence of any learning disabilities their children may have, allowing them to get help and adjust learning strategies as needed. Duke University Professor Harris Cooper noted, “Two parents once told me they refused to believe their child had a learning disability until homework revealed it to them.” [ 12 ] Read More
Con 1 Too much homework can be harmful. A poll of California high school students found that 59% thought they had too much homework. 82% of respondents said that they were “often or always stressed by schoolwork.” High-achieving high school students said too much homework leads to sleep deprivation and other health problems such as headaches, exhaustion, weight loss, and stomach problems. [ 24 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] Alfie Kohn, an education and parenting expert, said, “Kids should have a chance to just be kids… it’s absurd to insist that children must be engaged in constructive activities right up until their heads hit the pillow.” [ 27 ] Emmy Kang, a mental health counselor, explained, “More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies.” [ 48 ] Excessive homework can also lead to cheating: 90% of middle school students and 67% of high school students admit to copying someone else’s homework, and 43% of college students engaged in “unauthorized collaboration” on out-of-class assignments. Even parents take shortcuts on homework: 43% of those surveyed admitted to having completed a child’s assignment for them. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] Read More
Con 2 Homework exacerbates the digital divide or homework gap. Kiara Taylor, financial expert, defined the digital divide as “the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology and those that don’t. Though the term now encompasses the technical and financial ability to utilize available technology—along with access (or a lack of access) to the Internet—the gap it refers to is constantly shifting with the development of technology.” For students, this is often called the homework gap. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] 30% (about 15 to 16 million) public school students either did not have an adequate internet connection or an appropriate device, or both, for distance learning. Completing homework for these students is more complicated (having to find a safe place with an internet connection, or borrowing a laptop, for example) or impossible. [ 51 ] A Hispanic Heritage Foundation study found that 96.5% of students across the country needed to use the internet for homework, and nearly half reported they were sometimes unable to complete their homework due to lack of access to the internet or a computer, which often resulted in lower grades. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] One study concluded that homework increases social inequality because it “potentially serves as a mechanism to further advantage those students who already experience some privilege in the school system while further disadvantaging those who may already be in a marginalized position.” [ 39 ] Read More
Con 3 Homework does not help younger students, and may not help high school students. We’ve known for a while that homework does not help elementary students. A 2006 study found that “homework had no association with achievement gains” when measured by standardized tests results or grades. [ 7 ] Fourth grade students who did no homework got roughly the same score on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math exam as those who did 30 minutes of homework a night. Students who did 45 minutes or more of homework a night actually did worse. [ 41 ] Temple University professor Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek said that homework is not the most effective tool for young learners to apply new information: “They’re learning way more important skills when they’re not doing their homework.” [ 42 ] In fact, homework may not be helpful at the high school level either. Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, stated, “I interviewed high school teachers who completely stopped giving homework and there was no downside, it was all upside.” He explains, “just because the same kids who get more homework do a little better on tests, doesn’t mean the homework made that happen.” [ 52 ] Read More
Discussion Questions
1. Is homework beneficial? Consider the study data, your personal experience, and other types of information. Explain your answer(s).
2. If homework were banned, what other educational strategies would help students learn classroom material? Explain your answer(s).
3. How has homework been helpful to you personally? How has homework been unhelpful to you personally? Make carefully considered lists for both sides.
Take Action
1. Examine an argument in favor of quality homework assignments from Janine Bempechat.
2. Explore Oxford Learning’s infographic on the effects of homework on students.
3. Consider Joseph Lathan’s argument that homework promotes inequality .
4. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the “other side of the issue” now helps you better argue your position.
5. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives .
More School Debate Topics
Should K-12 Students Dissect Animals in Science Classrooms? – Proponents say dissecting real animals is a better learning experience. Opponents say the practice is bad for the environment.
Should Students Have to Wear School Uniforms? – Proponents say uniforms may increase student safety. Opponents say uniforms restrict expression.
Should Corporal Punishment Be Used in K-12 Schools? – Proponents say corporal punishment is an appropriate discipline. Opponents say it inflicts long-lasting physical and mental harm on students.
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Should Students Have Homework?
by Suzanne Capek Tingley, Veteran Educator, M.A. Degree
Look before you leap at giving to much or to little homework.
It used to be that students were the only ones complaining about the practice of assigning homework. For years, teachers and parents thought that homework was a necessary tool when educating children. But studies about the effectiveness of homework have been conflicting and inconclusive, leading some adults to argue that homework should become a thing of the past.
What Research Says about Homework
According to Duke professor Harris Cooper, it's important that students have homework. His meta-analysis of homework studies showed a correlation between completing homework and academic success, at least in older grades. He recommends following a "10 minute rule" : students should receive 10 minutes of homework per day in first grade, and 10 additional minutes each subsequent year, so that by twelfth grade they are completing 120 minutes of homework daily.
But his analysis didn't prove that students did better because they did homework; it simply showed a correlation . This could simply mean that kids who do homework are more committed to doing well in school. Cooper also found that some research showed that homework caused physical and emotional stress, and created negative attitudes about learning. He suggested that more research needed to be done on homework's effect on kids.
Further reading: Get Homework Done and Turned In
Some researchers say that the question isn't whether kids should have homework. It's more about what kind of homework students have and how much. To be effective, homework has to meet students' needs. For example, some middle school teachers have found success with online math homework that's adapted to each student's level of understanding. But when middle school students were assigned more than an hour and a half of homework, their math and science test scores went down .
Researchers at Indiana University discovered that math and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they found no difference in course grades between students who did homework and those who didn't. These researchers theorize that homework doesn't result in more content mastery, but in greater familiarity with the kinds of questions that appear on standardized tests. According to Professor Adam Maltese, one of the study's authors, "Our results hint that maybe homework is not being used as well as it could be."
So while many teachers and parents support daily homework, it's hard to find strong evidence that the long-held practice produces positive results.
Problems with Homework
In an article in Education Week Teacher , teacher Samantha Hulsman said she's frequently heard parents complain that a 30-minute homework assignment turns into a three-hour battle with their kids. Now, she's facing the same problem with her own kids, which has her rethinking her former beliefs about homework. "I think parents expect their children to have homework nightly, and teachers assign daily homework because it's what we've always done," she explained. Today, Hulsman said, it's more important to know how to collaborate and solve problems than it is to know specific facts.
Child psychologist Kenneth Barish wrote in Psychology Today that battles over homework rarely result in a child's improvement in school . Children who don't do their homework are not lazy, he said, but they may be frustrated, discouraged, or anxious. And for kids with learning disabilities, homework is like "running with a sprained ankle. It's doable, but painful."
Barish suggests that parents and kids have a "homework plan" that limits the time spent on homework. The plan should include turning off all devices—not just the student's, but those belonging to all family members.
One of the best-known critics of homework, Alfie Kohn , says that some people wrongly believe "kids are like vending machines—put in an assignment, get out learning." Kohn points to the lack of evidence that homework is an effective learning tool; in fact, he calls it "the greatest single extinguisher of children's curiosity that we have yet invented."
Homework Bans
Last year, the public schools in Marion County, Florida, decided on a no-homework policy for all of their elementary students . Instead, kids read nightly for 20 minutes. Superintendent Heidi Maier said the decision was based on Cooper's research showing that elementary students gain little from homework, but a lot from reading.
Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington, Vermont, followed the same path, substituting reading for homework. The homework policy has four parts : read nightly, go outside and play, have dinner with your family, and get a good night's sleep. Principal Mark Trifilio says that his staff and parents support the idea.
But while many elementary schools are considering no-homework policies, middle schools and high schools have been reluctant to abandon homework. Schools say parents support homework and teachers know it can be helpful when it is specific and follows certain guidelines. For example, practicing solving word problems can be helpful, but there's no reason to assign 50 problems when 10 will do. Recognizing that not all kids have the time, space, and home support to do homework is important, so it shouldn't be counted as part of a student's grade.
Further reading: Balancing Extracurriculars with Homework in High School
So Should Students Have Homework?
Should you ban homework in your classroom? If you teach lower grades, it's possible. If you teach middle or high school, probably not. But all teachers should think carefully about their homework policies. By limiting the amount of homework and improving the quality of assignments, you can improve learning outcomes for your students.
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{{article.topic}}, {{article.title}}, suzanne capek tingley.
Suzanne Capek Tingley started as a high school English/Spanish teacher, transitioned to middle school, and eventually became a principal, superintendent, and adjunct professor in education administration at the State University of New York. She is the author of the funny, but practical book for teachers, How to Handle Difficult Parents (Prufrock Press). Her work has appeared in many publications including Education Week, and her blog, Practical Leadership, was featured on the Scholastic website. She has been a presenter and consultant, and with Magna Publications she developed videos on demand highlighting successful strategies for classroom teachers. Among her honors is a Woman of Distinction Award from the New York State Senate. She is a strong believer that all kids can learn and that teaching requires art, skill, and a good sense of humor.
Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?
A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher
“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography
Do your homework.
If only it were that simple.
Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.
“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.
She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.
BU Today sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.
BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.
Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.
We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.
That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.
You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?
Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.
What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?
The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.
Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?
Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.
Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.
The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.
What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?
My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.
Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?
Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.
I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.
The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.
Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.
It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.
Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.
Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.
Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.
Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?
Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.
Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”
Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.
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Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile
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Comments & Discussion
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There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?
Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.
when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep
same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.
Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.
I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids
The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????
I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic
This is not at all what the article is talking about.
This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.
we have the same name
so they have the same name what of it?
lol you tell her
totally agree
What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.
Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.
More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.
You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.
I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^
i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.
I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.
Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much
I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.
homework isn’t that bad
Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is
i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!
i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers
why just why
they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.
Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.
So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.
THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?
Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?
Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.
But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!
why the hell?
you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it
This is more of a political rant than it is about homework
I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.
The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight
Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.
not true it just causes kids to stress
Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.
homework does help
here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded
This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.
I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.
Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.
I disagree.
Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.
Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.
As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)
I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!
Homeowkr is god for stusenrs
I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in
As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.
Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.
Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.
Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.
As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.
I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.
oof i feel bad good luck!
thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks
thx for the article guys.
Homework is good
I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.
I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.
It was published FEb 19, 2019.
Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.
i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids
This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.
There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.
What lala land do these teachers live in?
Homework gives noting to the kid
Homework is Bad
homework is bad.
why do kids even have homework?
Comments are closed.
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Homework: the basics
Homework can take many forms. For example, primary school children might be asked to:
- do worksheets or longer projects
- do some reading or writing
- collect interesting objects to share with the class.
Secondary school children are more likely to get different homework tasks or assignments for each subject. These might be maths activities, writing tasks, research projects, practical or creative tasks and so on.
Academic benefits of homework? In the early school years, there’s no clear evidence that homework helps children do well academically at school.
As children get older, homework does have academic benefits – there’s a strong link between homework and achievement for children in secondary school.
Other benefits of homework In general, homework can help your child:
- practise and get better at skills they’re learning in class
- get ready for the next day’s work
- work on longer research or creative projects
- learn to manage their time, work to deadlines, and balance work and play.
Homework has benefits for parents too – it gives you the chance to see what your child is learning about at school. And showing interest in your child’s homework is a great way to let your child know that you value learning and education.
Finding the right time for homework
For some children, the best time to get homework done will be soon after they get home from school. Others might like a break to play and unwind before starting on homework.
Young children can concentrate for only about 15 minutes at a time before they need a brief break. Even older children need breaks. When it’s break time, you can encourage your child to do some neck stretches, arm shakes and finger wriggles or play outside for a few minutes.
You might be able to motivate your child to do homework by setting a time limit and encouraging your child to do the things they enjoy, like watching TV or playing outside, when they’re finished.
No matter when your child does homework, it’s useful to have a regular time for homework each week . And it’s great if this can be when you’re around to support and encourage your child.
Whenever and wherever your child does homework, try to minimise distractions by turning off the TV and asking younger siblings to play somewhere else. One idea is to make homework time a quiet time for your whole family to read or do other quiet activities.
Finding the right space for homework
A good spot for homework is somewhere with:
- plenty of light
- good-quality air
- space to spread out with books, pens and other resources.
Younger children are more likely to work better in family areas like the kitchen table, where you can supervise and help more easily. Older children will most likely need their own quiet space.
If your child needs to use a computer, laptop or tablet to do their homework, it’s important to help your child use screens in a way that reduces their risk of physical problems . This includes making sure screens are at eye level and at a comfortable distance away to reduce neck and eye strain. You could also talk with older children about not using their mobile phones, laptops, computers or tablets for entertainment until homework is finished.
Getting organised with homework
Children often have trouble getting started on projects or coming up with ideas. You might be able to get things off to a good start by helping your child break projects into smaller parts or map out steps. Your child might then plan to do one task each night. If your child has several different assignments in one week, help them plan what to do each night.
Older children might benefit from a homework planner or planning app so they can see when assignments are due and get themselves organised with a plan and study reminders. They might find it helpful to mark their plans on a wall calendar too.
Developing a positive approach to homework
Schoolwork isn’t always easy. Your job is to help your child develop a positive approach to academic and organisational challenges.
If your child avoids challenges, encourage them to sort tasks into those they find easy and those they find difficult. Your child might prefer to do ‘easier’ tasks first to build confidence before tackling the more difficult tasks. Or your child might want to do the most challenging tasks first, before they’re too tired.
If your child is struggling with an assignment , you could help them approach the problem positively by getting them to pinpoint what they’re finding difficult. From there, you can brainstorm some solutions together, weighing up the pros and cons of the different options to find the best one. You can also help your child identify people or resources that could help them further.
It can help to think of yourself as your child’s coach . You can support your child by creating the right time, environment and approach for homework, but doing the work is ultimately your child’s responsibility. If you do the homework for your child, your child won’t develop important academic skills. They also won’t learn how to handle challenges like lack of time, conflicting priorities or tasks they don’t understand.
When your child has homework troubles, try talking with them about what they could do better next time. Always praise your child for trying and doing their best, especially on tasks they find hard. It’s OK if your child doesn’t finish things perfectly or even ‘fails’ sometimes. The attitude you both have to challenges and failures is what really matters.
Working with teachers on homework issues
Try to set up a friendly working relationship with your child’s teacher . That way, you can easily talk to each other about your child’s schoolwork and homework. If your child is in secondary school, you could start by talking with their home-room (or home-group, pastoral or form) teacher or subject teacher.
If you have concerns about homework, it’s best to talk with the teacher early , rather than giving the problem time to grow.
Concerns that teachers need to know about include the following:
- Your child is spending too long on homework. Find out how much time other children in your child’s class are spending on their homework. Other parents might be able to tell you this. If your child regularly spends more time on it than this, talk with the teacher. There might be some underlying learning issues that your child needs help with.
- Your child doesn’t understand the work. If this is the case, your child might be missing concepts in class. If you let the teacher know, the teacher can fill in these learning gaps during class time.
- Your child can’t concentrate. It’ll help you to know whether this is just a problem at home (perhaps because your child is overtired), or whether it’s also happening at school.
- Your child is struggling in one particular subject. The teacher might be able to suggest another approach to the subject. For example, you could use blocks for addition and subtraction practice, or there are many fun online educational games, which can be great for older children.
If your child needs help with a particular subject, ask the school about additional assistance. You might also want to think about tutoring, either with a professional tutor or by a trusted family member or friend.
If you’re worried about homework
If you feel your child is struggling with homework or learning, talk to your child’s teacher first. The teacher can suggest some ways to support your child’s learning.
If your child’s teacher is also concerned about your child’s learning or concentration in the classroom, it might be worth talking to your GP, a paediatrician or psychologist to look at possible reasons for the problems.
How much homework?
There are no hard and fast rules about homework. In the early years, some schools give no homework other than nightly reading. Some schools, as well as different teachers within schools, give much more homework than others.
More homework doesn’t always mean higher achievement levels, especially in primary school. If students get too much it might be overwhelming, or get in the way of other healthy activities like strong friendships, play, sports, music lessons, hobbies or relaxation. If you feel your primary school child is getting too much homework you might like to talk to your child’s teacher.
If you feel your child isn’t getting enough homework or is getting no homework at all, there are still many learning activities you can do at home. For example, you can read together, write stories or letters, research interesting topics or plan a budget for a family event.
If your child has additional needs – for example, autism , learning difficulties or disorders , intellectual disability or other health concerns – it might help to talk with their teacher about modifying homework expectations.
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Homework helps teachers determine how well the ... Homework teaches students that they may have to do things—even if they don't want to.
Increase Memory Power. · Enhances Concentration. · Homework Strengthens Problem-Solving. · Helps in Developing Analytical Skills. · Discipline Skills. · Develops
Improved grades, discipline, time management, using resources and improving communication are all vital life skills that will open the door to
Why is Homework Important? · Helps build responsibility. · Develops work ethic from an early age. · Improves time management. · Gives students
Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents
1. Build Up Momentum for Learning · 2. Build Responsibility and Discipline · 3. Learn How to Solve Problems · 4. Learn Hard Work Pays off · 5. Help
Pro 1. Homework improves student achievement. ; Pro 2. Homework helps to reinforce classroom learning, while developing good study habits and
This could simply mean that kids who do homework are more committed to doing well in school. Cooper also found that some research showed that homework caused
It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible
Homework · In general, homework can help children practise skills, work on projects and learn time management. · You can help children by making