Homework is an integral part of schooling. Students of past decades, and future generations as well, have to undergo it. Homework is reinforced learning and hence teachers and schools mandate it. There has been an outcry against homework citing various reasons.
It would be impossible for teachers to teach all lessons only during school/class time. They utilize homework time to make students learn new concepts. From a parent's perspective, if not for homework, they will not have a clue as to how their children are progressing in their studies.
Homework has for and against points for calling a ban on it. Let us look at some of them in this post.
1. Homework Makes Students Days longer – It is not unusual for parents to bring work back home and slog it out. However, the same happening to their children is a strict No. Parents feel that this makes:
2. More Homework Does Not Mean High Grades – It has not been established that students who do a lot of homework have scored high scores.
3. More Homework Does Not Mean More Recollection – Some homework will engage students while others are purely monotonous and hence the retaining power is lost. Homework’s goal should be to understand the “Why” behind concepts taught rather than to purely memorize the concepts. This will also eliminate the need for giving homework assignments for the sake of it rather than having a productive outcome.
4. Homework needs a special place that is conducive and this cannot be available for all – It is universally accepted that to work on homework, a quiet room or place with zero distractions is required. The majority of students will not have such a luxury and they will have to work on their homework amidst family fights, or blaring sounds of TV or a Vacuum cleaner or some of them might even have to work part-time after school for their livelihood. Hence this puts a majority of students at a disadvantage. Hence by banning Homework a level playing field can be achieved as students will have a controlled environment like a classroom.
1. Homework Allows Teacher to Evaluate
Homework enables teachers to determine or assess how well students have grasped what they had taught in class. This will allow them an opportunity to do any course correction during the academic year to ensure what they teach reaches the students and how they can do this effectively.
2. Homework Reduces the Anxiety and Stress of Test
The more students review and recollect, understand the concepts, they become far less stressed out and less anxious to face tests or exams. They will feel more confident sitting for exams and easily clearing it. Banning homework will only lead to increased stress and anxiety levels in students when they approach exams. Besides, homework is a great avenue for students to reflect on the areas that they weaker in and focus to become stronger in those subjects.
3. Parents Involvement
Parents have a wonderful opportunity to see what their kids are learning and the progress they are making. It also enables parents to connect with teachers and opens up a lot of opportunities for the students to benefit from this interaction.
5. Homework Teaches Life skills
To complete homework successfully, students must plan the resources available, create a time table, and adhere to the schedule. These are life skills that will help them through their life. Some assignments need research and this is another skill that students learn and become good at. Finally, completing homework is every student’s responsibility, but they usually pay to do homework for them online instead of accomplishing it on their own. They learn to take responsibilities and ownership of their actions.
There is no conclusion as it is subjective whether homework should be banned or not. Some students have made the most of the homework and enhanced their learnings while some have felt that the weight of homework is pulling them down. Schools, Teachers, Parents, and Students have to work together to find a balance and thereby equalizing the opportunities to learn.