What makes school so painful? Homework.

By Owen Smith

June 1, 2021

Homework is, without a doubt, the most stressful aspect of education. The amount of time students spend on work at home is too much compared to how much free time they have. Students can typically take two to four hours a night on homework after their seven hours of class time already. This can be up to eleven hours of school a day.

High school students should be sleeping eight to ten hours a day, according to the CDC. If you combine the sleep, school, and homework, that can be up to 21 hours of the day. And that leaves three hours of free time for teenagers.

The low amount of free time given to teenagers is clearly not enough. It has started to intrude on their health. The recommended eight to ten hours of sleep a night is only met by 27.3% of high school students, according to the CDC. What should be “sleeping time” has now been turned into free time, since students get so little of it.

We are often told our teenage years should be some of the best of our lives, but this is not possible with three free hours a day.

Kids in school also have outside activities I haven’t even accounted for. Sports and clubs are school sponsored activities but still leave students without much time. A varsity sport takes up at least two extra hours a day.

In addition to sports and clubs, many students have jobs. Most don’t work every day, but shifts typically can take up to four hours or more. With the amount of time school occupies, students struggle to find time to have fun, pursue their passions and work a part time job.

Since they are so busy, students sacrifice their sleep schedule to have some peace and find some fun on their own time.

A lot of the schoolwork that students do at home is unnecessary. School is structured around students being able to complete and turn in assignments rather than learning. Students are often assigned homework that does not help them learn the material, instead it becomes an added stress, and seems like busy work.

This all leads to students learning how to find the quickest way to complete work, increasing the desire to cheat. Cheating is the easiest way to do things and that is how it is often done. Efficiency is prized higher than knowledge for high school students, and I can’t help but blame homework.

Homework should be removed or at least reduced from student’s lives and teacher’s curriculums. It has little to no benefit for students but increases stress and can take over their lives.