If I’m being honest, despite my adamant dislike for homework throughout my entire school experience, I do see its value. Homework in moderation, and especially for advanced courses, has definitely helped my understanding of material in many classes.

In AP classes, or even just core subjects, homework ensures that students get a more thorough understanding of complex material. Because homework mirrors what students learn in class, students receive a first teaching of the material, and then homework locks the information in when they return to the material later in their day or week. In my own classes, I have found that even if I don’t always want to do additional work when I get home, hitting the subject again definitely aids in my understanding of it.

For advanced or AP classes, many could not adequately prepare students without the use of homework. Time in class is limited, and it would be impossible for teachers to teach all the AP coursework and sufficiently prepare and review for the exam only using the in-class time. In the case of AP classes, homework is definitely necessary.

However, even for regular level classes, a certain amount of homework can still be very beneficial. As students progress through high school, most classes build upon something that was learned the previous year. Because of this, it is imperative that students have a good understanding of classes and can maintain this understanding for the future. Again, homework helps cement students’ learning so they can carry it with them throughout high school.

Finally, homework also helps students learn to manage their time since they must get work done at home rather than at school, supervised by a teacher. Homework requires students to get work done on their own time, and allows them to balance their free time by themselves. This is an important life skill, and learning it in a safe high school environment can be invaluable to students.

To put it simply, I do not think students, especially high schoolers, are benefiting from homework. Homework needs to be banned because it would help decrease burnout in students and it would help the mental health of students. 

Right now students on average spend about 7 hours a day in school and on top of that the majority of students before or after those 7 hours have countless other commitments. This means that if students are even completing their homework it is happening in a crammed timeline not giving students time to even fully invest in the homework. Furthermore a lot of students end up messing up their sleep cycles because they are trying to catch up on homework which quickly creates burnout. If homework were to be banned this issue of burnout in students would decrease immensely. The Connect Us Fund says, “One of the most cited reasons for students dropping out of school is that they cannot complete their homework on time.” Not only would it decrease burn out in all students but it could also have the potential to create more high school graduates. 

Secondly, homework tends to have a very negative effect on students’ mental. If students are having busy days and then filling their little bits of free time with homework they are missing out on crucial things that benefit mental health for example, socialization.  In addition homework can negatively impact mental health by making students feel like failures by not completing assignments on time. Connect Us Fund explains, “When students experience failure in this area, it can lead to severe mental health issues. Some perceive themselves as a scholarly failure, which translates to an inability to live life successfully. It can disrupt a desire to learn.” It is more important that students have a desire to learn and stable mental health than doing homework on time or at all. 

Overall homework has a negative impact on students mentally and physically and because of that it should not be continued in school. School is where students should be doing the work and the rest of the day should be time for students to be kids like they are.