Tag Archives: homework

Homework: A Gain or a Loss

Homework. A word that makes most kids cringe at the sound of it. The issue of homework being banished is just a small argument, but has become reality in certain towns, cities, and states. Homework does not improve academic achievement which is shown in a study that “kids who do 60 to 90 minutes of homework in middle school and over 2 hours in high school actually score worse [than average on standardized tests].” This shows the possibility that kids do not actually learn the information but instead rush through to try and finish homework as soon as possible. Homework also takes away a kids time to hang out with their friends or play a game and playing can build both academic and social skills. Homework is taking away many children’s childhoods.

Why parents should stop helping their kids with homework

I believe that homework is not important and that we should be able to choose when we study and how we study the material given to us in the classroom. As we grow up we learn to find certain ways of studying that are right for ourselves. Homework isn’t individualized to specific students needs and it might make the topic more confusing in the long run. Another reason homework confuses people is that when a child is sent home with homework they can not ask questions. When we don’t have a teacher or someone who knows the material that we’re learning it might become more of a challenge then necessary. As you can see homework causes more problems than it helps students.

~Kayla

When is it Too Much?

School, homework, sports, and time for family and friends? Some days this doesn’t even seem possible. Even with great time management skills, there is just not enough time in the day for all of it! Most kids of this generation have a full plate and are being jam packed with activities. Although sports, school, and even homework are all apart of a healthy lifestyle, is it still healthy when kids are up until 2 a.m cramming for a Science test the next day?  So when does it all become too much is the question.

Studies have shown that a “too busy” schedule can cause nervous breakdowns, lack of sleep, anxiety and even worsening grades. Around 90% of kids and teens play in an organized sports team and around 73% are involved in at least one other sport. Although this might not seem like a hard challenge, when is there time for homework?  Per day, an average teen has 6 hours of school, 2-3 hours of homework (not including studying), and a 2 hour sports practice. With all of this, days seem to go by too fast and teens are spending more time in a car driving to a sport or sitting at home doing homework. This rush is causing more fast food stops, less family time, and less time sleeping.

Personally, I think that a majority of kids have too busy schedules and just need time to relax and remember what it’s like to be a kid again. As a swimmer, I am aware of long practices. Our  5 days a week practices range from a 2 hours – 2 hours 45 minutes. On top of a swim practice there is also homework that has to be accomplished and extra curricular activity promises to uphold. This has been a problem for many generations but people always manage. Even though I agree with it being too much, time management and prioritizing can play a major role in evening out a schedule. But when it all seems like it is becoming too much to handle, remember, skipping one practice every now and then is surely understandable.

~Jenna Tubby

Enough is Enough

Imagine yourself at ten o’clock at night. Most kids are sleeping, while others are doing homework. Many people believe it is the kids fault for being up so late. People say it is about time management. That is true. How our body is being treated at a young age is important but many people don’t fulfill the requirement of number of hours slept. What is unfair is the amount of homework they get. Each subject’s homework should be an overview of the class and not anything additional. Homework is designed to test kids learning and see if they were paying attention and understand. So I question how much homework is too much?

 Too much homework can affect kids sleep, family relationships, and can cause serious amounts of stress.  I agree that teachers do give an abnormal amount of homework. I am probably not the first to say that I don’t like homework, but there is really nothing you do about it. Homework can cause large amounts of stress because kids stress about their grades and homework is only half the question. Homework separates us from the real world. It deprives us of what is important in our life. Homework keeps kids and teens from daily exercise too. Instead getting an hour of exercise, instead they get 3-4 hours of homework, and by the time they finish it is too late out.

In my opinion I think that kids should be given no more than a total of 2 hours of homework. This may change or fluctuate between different grades. This is also important for kids and teens too. Time management is also key for success. This also depends on the kids and teens to see if they can balance their schedules  Therefor I believe the amount of homework that students receive should be reduced.

~Evan Sokolik

Should Schools Accept Bring Your Own Device?

I think schools should definitely embrace kids bringing their own devices, such as smartphones and tablets. With the ever increasing advances in technology, students should learn how to use these new devices. In Durham, N.H. students are learning how to keep track of homework, what they should and shouldn’t post on social media sites, and how to make presentations on a smartphone. They can also serve as agendas, planners, and libraries all day long. Also, if kids are allowed to use their devices, school will become more fun for them and they will be more willing to learn and participate in class.

A study in 2010 found that more than 75% of Americans from the ages of 12 through 17 own their own cellphone and 19% own tablets, according to a Pew research study. This only leaves a few kids in each class that need to be provided a device by the school. For schools that have a dwindling budget, they can save some money because now they only have to worry about a few students instead of all 20. BYOD programs have started in Ohio, Minnesota, Texas, and Georgia with many more states on the way. Finally, teachers can record their lesson in a podcast and have the students listen to them as homework. Therefore, I think kids should be allowed to bring their own devices to school.

 ~ Pascal Preud’homme

Homework, on Homework, on Homework

Teachers all around Dodd Middle School are questioning the idea of giving more homework to their students. Personally, I already think they are giving enough homework and sometimes too much. I do not think that any student should be staying up late to finish all their homework, but it happens a lot. Not only are kids staying up too late due to their homework, their lives are becoming more stressful. More homework should not become an option.

The amount of homework given in middle schools are making kids more stressed than ever before. With keeping up with schoolwork, friends, sports, and family, homework makes everything harder. For the kids who play sports, their life consists of going to school, going to practice, and then doing homework. This leaves no time for friends and family. For example on Thursday’s I go to school, and then have basketball practice right after until 5:00 p.m. Once I get home from that, I have to eat and then do homework for an hour. Since I play on two teams, I have to go to another basketball practice and I get home at around 9:45. Usually I would be in bed by then, but I have to complete all the rest of my homework. If teachers didn’t give all this homework, my life, and many other teenagers, would be very less stressful and just give us time to be kids.

~Allison Leonetti

Getting Enough Sleep is Very Important for Kids

Is sleep important for children? A new study says yes. A new study published this week in the journal Pediatrics shows that children who do not get enough sleep have less control over emotions and are less focused at school. The National Sleep Foundation recommend that children who are between 5 to 12 should get 10 to 11 hours of sleep. Getting enough sleep does not just wake you up in the drowsy morning.  If you get enough sleep, your behaviors and grades can get improved. Before the survey had began, students were asked to sleep the same amount of time as they normally would, and their teachers were asked to score down their behaviors and grades. After five nights of kids’ sleep change, the teachers were asked to do the same again. Compared to the original score, those who slept less had the worse behaviors, and those who had enough sleep were normal.

I think sleep is just so important, sometimes you can pass out if you’re way too tired. If you’re tired at school, you won’t be able to pay attention in the class. If you don’t pay attention, you won’t be able to do your homework at home, therefore you can get  bad grades. If sleep is that important, why don’t kids just go to bed earlier? Do they spend too much time on the screen? I know some kids do that, but also, I know most kids in my school do not spend a whole lot of time on the screen, and they couldn’t get enough sleep either. It’s because when kids get to high school and middle school, they get more homework than before. In addition, they have to wake up early in the morning. Especially in high school. So I strongly suggest that middle school and high school should delay the school time, if you want kids to pay their whole attention in the class, you need to let them wake up late. If kids want to go to bed early and be awake the next morning, and they have sports or activities after school, they will have too much pressure. In a long period of time, they will be stressed, and we definitely don’t want kids to get too stressed. So, if the schools want kids to get better grades, you have to delay the school time, then kids can get an amount of sleep they need.

~Oscar Cai

Whats Happened to Schools!

When you think about school, what do you think of? I bet anyone 13 years old would say learning. But what has come to my attention, is what kids actually have in mind. I know for me, when I get home from school the last thing I’m worried about is getting my homework done. For most girls, were thinking about what were gonna wear tomorrow, or how were going to wear our hair. Like most kids, I find myself doing my homework at 10 at night everyday, but yet my clothes for tomorrow and note to go on my friends bus is all ready sitting in my room. In addition, when everyone gets to school, all the teachers seem to be saying is “ wah wah wah wan”. If any teen is reading this, I bet I got you so far. Instead of caring when to use a comma, guys are thinking “ yea, I want pizza for lunch, and when I get home, mw3! Yea buddy!” While most girls are thinking about how they look, or what their doing after class.

With that being said, I don’t really think of school anymore as a place of learning, but more as a place of horsing around. Go figure! Even for students who do focus in class, with all the chattering going around, you start to wonder if the true meaning of school has changed. In my honest opinion, I feel like I learned and understood 1st grade more than I have in 8th. I wonder if things are going to start to change after more people start to realize that less and less learning is going on. Also, I don’t feel like our teachers push us to actually focus. I’m not going to lie, I talk a lot in class, but I’ve noticed that I rarely find myself getting in trouble for it, even when the teachers staring at me talking to my friends on topics not even closely related to ours. In contrast, teachers yell at kids in the halls for hugging friends, and talking. I think the halls are the time to be talking and having a little fun before class, rather than in class. I believe teachers should start putting more effort into trying to grab students attention. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want teachers screaming at me for every time I open my mouth, but even if they don’t do that, they should at least do things to get students more interested in the topic. In conclusion i think schools have greatly changed over the last few years, and not always for the better.

~Brianna Mariano

Too Much Homework?

In 2004, the University of Michigan conducted a survey asking 2,900 six to seventeen- year-old students how much time they spend on homework. Apparently, students of those ages use approximately 3 hours and 58 minutes a night on homework. That is a 1 hour and 20 minute increase from 1981. A little shocking? As a middle school student, I would say that I spend about 1 hour on homework, not including studying, and I feel overwhelmed. Being at only the middle school level, I can definitely expect more from my high school teachers.

With the torture of homework, it’s kind of hard to see the purpose of it. Ultimately, it’s supposed to better our understanding of our studies, and prepare us for any upcoming quizzes. A study performed by the Goldman Children Association found that students were 65 % more likely to succeed on a test when assigned 45 minutes worth of homework (in that class) 3 days leading to the test, than if there was only 20 minutes of homework assigned the day before the test. But with that extra 45 minutes tacked on to the homework schedule, it does mean 45 minutes less of sleep, which can make all the difference to a teenager’s growing body.

So, with all that considered, the ruling is really dependent on the age. A teacher could say our homework amount is too little, a student may say it’s way too much, and a parent could say its just fine. How do you feel?

~Alexis Giosa

Under Pressure

When I was in first grade life was very simple. I went to school, caused chaos on the jungle gym, went home, maybe colored in a picture for my homework and then it was off to bed. But these days, things are not even close to that simple. Some nights I’m up till almost 11:30 trying to finish off my work load. People are already hitting me with serious head on questions about the future. But, I honestly don’t think any of us have a clue, even if we do, that doesn’t mean that 8 years from now were going to be thinking the same things. I wonder if this is a difference because I’m older or a difference because times have changed. Are young students being worked harder than they ever have?

My personal opinion is that these days, pressure and work is put on kids and pre-teens more than ever. For example, I am only in eighth grade and we are already talking about which profession I’m going to choose or what college I’m going to. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a great thing to be prepared for the future, to know what’s on the road ahead. However,  I still need time to be a kid and enjoy adolescence without having such serious things put on my shoulders. I don’t even know what I’m going to wear to school tomorrow, so how am I supposed to know what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life?

~Kaylee Scinto

Is Homework Really Necessary?

Most students ask me if homework is really necessary. To me I just think teachers assign homework because they don’t want us to forget what we learned in school. They fear that if they don’t give us homework, then we’ll forget all the information we’ve learned during school. So homework is just like studying but you don’t realize it. I personally do like homework because it helps me remember what we learned. Most kids that don’t do their homework end up forgetting what they’ve learned, so they end up failing a test

 

Some kid’s still think it’s a waste of time. They don’t realize that without homework, then they’ll fail a test and have no way to bring up their grade. Homework is good for a little boost. Say you have a C, if you do your homework then you could have at least a B, depending on how many points the assignment is. Homework can be a good thing and a bad thing. Sometimes over achieving is a good thing.