In todays world, students are given lots of homework, but is it to the point that student’s can’t balance their school and personal life? As a student, I would say so. At home, I often spend around four hours, sometimes even more, simply working on homework. This excludes the fact that many students have after-school activities, such as athletics and clubs. In the Tracy Unified School District Board Policy AR 6154 (b) under Guidelines for Teachers it states, “Keep in mind the pupil’s obligations to home, community, and other school-related activities.” You can argue some teachers don’t consider this. Some might even work after school, which is another challenge. After all those considerations, students have little to no time to have a “personal life” on weekdays. Even on weekends, when students have the most time for themselves, they’re assigned loads of homework. This once again takes away from the balance between school and personal life.
I think that the typical students should receive one to one and a half hours of homework daily, three to four hours max with more advanced classes.
Sophomore Yuvraj Kalathil says, “I think the typical student should get around one hour of homework in total every night.” Five other students who were interviewed all gave answers in the range of 1-2 hours. There’s also the problem of stress that comes with homework.
Receiving homework and being expected to turn it in in a short period of time brings lots of stress and even anxiety to students. These large amounts of stress can be very unhealthy and could heavily affect one’s mental health. A compromise could solve this issue.
A good compromise I believe both students and teachers could agree on would be twenty minutes of homework maximum per class, forty minutes for more advanced/difficult courses, and possibly a bit longer if necessary. Other students gave ideas like, “A limit on how much homework is assigned would be a good compromise”, and “Students should have a whole separate class period just to do their homework.” In the Tracy Unified School District Board Policy AR 6154 (a) under Homework for Grades 9-12, it states, “Students should expect to spend an average of ten hours or more per week in learning activities outside regular school hours.” This is something that should be altered because this allows teachers to assign as much homework as they please. I think a limit placed would be ideal for students and teachers. In the same section, under Guidelines for Teachers, it states, “Be sure that the assignments are reasonable.” I think it would benefit all students if this guideline was enforced more, as teachers often give unreasonable amounts of homework.
I believe that students should get homework, but a fair amount so that they can balance their personal life and not constantly be stressed. If the average school day is seven hours excluding extracurriculars and athletics, students shouldn’t have to do work at home for countless hours. Although large amounts of homework might be seen as beneficial in some people’s eyes, too much can affect someone’s day-to-day life. Finding this balance is something we all, as students, need to do.
