Homework?

Teachers, does homework need to

Laura Ambler
Research Paper 2012
Language Arts, Mrs. Hopkins
February 29, 2012

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
Do bulging backpacks mean learning? (Down with Homework)
When students come out of school with depressed faces, hunched over
with one or more hours of homework it makes students and parents
think why. Many teachers thin homework is a way t further education,
but actually it has become a hazard to everyone. Many teachers argue
in favor of homework u there are statistics and fats that help provide
the information to support that there is no reason for homework.
Research has shown that homework is becoming overdone and does
not to the job that teachers believe it does. A closer look at the
benefits and detriment of sleep, stress, family, unneeded homework
and the effect of education, will help further prove that homework does
not need to e given in the quantities that is assigned.
Sleep is the greatest way to process information but homework
deprives students of that necessity. When were asleep, the brain is
not resting at all. Its almost unbelievable active! Its possible that the
reason we need to sleep is so we can learn. (www.brainrules.com) In
this quote this is saying sleep allows students to gain a more
understanding of a skill, while not being in school or doing homework.
Why would teachers take that from students? The more sleep students
get, the more the chance for a positive day and a superior potential for
learning. The average students gets one to two hours of homework,
leaving students exhausted, but with no other choice since school is a

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
top priority. The amount of sleep students is often determined by
homework. Researchers say sleep wellthink well,
(www.brainrules.com) but homework interferes with time for sleeping.
Albert Einstein a man considered a genius, slept a lot. The
recommending amount of sleep depends on the age but 10 hours is
the best. 80% of students dont get to meet that recommendation.
28% of students fall asleep in school, due to lack of sleep. Since
homework takes up time to sleep, 34% of students take drugs or fluids
to stay awake. Students make themselves sleep deprived. Homework
is that unhealthiest learning experience by not allowing students to get
the sleep needed for the day.
Although sleep is the most important thing in life, exercise come
close to second. Exercise is needed for the rain but homework keeps
students inside, as they do their homework in their houses, on a desk
or table. Exercise improves health, memory, and relieves stress. During
exercise the brain is getting lots of oxygen and the oxygen lets brain
cells develop for more learning. 70% of students are overweight due to
the laziness of homework, as they sit at a table with a pencil in hand
and eat and never exercise. Children need at least 5 hours of a source
of sunshine and fresh air every day, but school keeps students locked
up in a building. Exercise is needed for the brain but homework and

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
school frequently monopolize the time students could spend in
exercise.
Stress is okay of its 1 to 2 minutes long, but long term stress,
which homework creates, is unhealthy. Stress disrupts all things
needed to have for homework, like: thinking, memory, and sleep. Also
while experiencing stress, our immune system is weak so students get
sick more often. Two thirds of students report they are often or always
stressed. The very meaning of homework defies logic. (Jonathan
Ambler) Students under the age of 16 that experience dtress may
develop brain damage. 50% of students report headaches and
difficulty sleeping which are both by products of stress. In the 1990s
when test scores dropped, teachers and principals increase homework,
which didnt help, so the teachers expected a lot more than they
should have and it put students into a panic. The pushing hasnt
stopped. Students dont know the dangers of stress but teachers do,
and many dont care. When homework began it wasnt quiet
homework; it was done in school but with no help from a teacher
because students had to get home to their family because family was
important. Why not now? (Jonathan Ambler) Parents no have to spend
every night being a homework monitor. Almost half the time when
parents complain to a teacher that the child is getting to much
homework, the teacher gives more. Family time and communication

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
help develop things for life like: social skills, reasoning values, and
physical development. Many students may have one parent that
means there is more responsibility toward a student. Homework can
ruin family relationships and leave students a lone and worried for
everything. Family its the most important item to a student, and they
mean everything to them, but homework makes a relationship rough.
There are little pros to with out the significant cons, family to
homework. (Down with Homework)
Its not just the family thats affected by homework; its the
students personal life. More than half of students drop special
activates drop special activities and hobbies because of no time to do
them. Many times homework is hard, and a student gets frustrated.
After a while it makes a student mad, and it is possible that a student
may get anger management. Students often feel alone at school
because of individuality time at home. The social experience of a
student is destroyed. Theres no time to read for pleasure, make
friend, play games, get some exercise, get rest, or just be a kid. (The
Homework Myth) Students have a double shift, school and then
homework, and no time to be a child. (High Schools Worst Year) The
personality of a student is dull and bring, when the only thing they do
is homework. The most important kind of freedom is to be what you
really are. (Jim Morrison)

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
What is the difference in doing 50 problems than 5?
(www.stophomework.com) The quantity of homework is exaggerated,
and the quality doesnt matter anymore. The National Education
Association found the appropriate amount of homework to be 10 t0 20
minutes a night. Teachers exceed that amount by hours. Only 30% of
teachers dont exceed that amount. Homework is considered by many
people to disobey the Child Labor Law. Teachers think a law that allows
students to have free time is unnecessary. The Child Labor Law was
formed to help the education system. The Child Labor Law is trying to
win the fight for not homework but hasnt succeeded, yet. Homework is
becoming very copious and doesnt need to. Homework was designed
to reinforce the concepts taught in school not manipulate peoples
schedule. (The case Against Homework) Students want to achieve but
would rather not because they see the amount of homework is never
ending. When a students achieves something they are punished with
more homework because in most advanced class they is endless work
to do. Homework is pointless if a student doesnt know ho to do it. The
student may learn the skill wrong and not be able to fix it or even know
its wrong. Homework, by some teachers and parents is considered
busywork and forgettable information. After 8 hour school days
students get additional assignments to be completed at home, if you
stop and think about it, its rather curious. (Down with Homework) The

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
quality is more important than the quantity but in homework thats
forgotten.
Although some homework is helpful, most assignments dont
help a students education. In Japan, Denmark, and the Czech Republic,
teachers dont give over 5 minutes of homework and these countries
have the best test results in the world. As students grow up and see
high achievers they see they are overloaded with homework. In the
education system there is a low called No Child Left Behind. This law
was mad to let a single person not be left behind in education. It makes
students suffer. Homework was mad to expand learning but No Child
Left Behind closed that adventure. In the 1980s homework was hardly
ever given to students and test scores were high. In the 2000s
homework was given to 64% of students and test scores dropped 10%.
Homework is not helping education; its the students endurance to
finish. Homework is making learning a miserable experience. (The
Case Against Homework)
Whenever homework crowds out social experience, outdoor
recreation, and creative activities, and when it usurps time that should
be devoted to sleep, its not meeting the basic needs of children and
adolescents. (Down with Homework) Homework has been picked to
the bone in all ways possible, and teachers will now finally believe
homework is unhealthy, unneeded, and no help to students who want

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
to achieve. Teachers will not top and think, Homework the great evil
of our time? Homework is not needed in school for students to
achieve. Homework is endangering students brains. One brain use
it well. (www.brainrules.com) We only have one brain, we cant get
another one, and we need to make sure the things done in school dont
damage them.

Laura Ambler
Research 2012
February 29, 2012
Bibliography
Ambler, Jonathan. Teacher Laura Ambler. 5 February 2012.
Bennett, Sara. stophomework.com. 19 December 2011. 17 January
2012.
Bennett Sare. The Case Against Homework. New York City: Three Rivers
Press. 2006.
Hopkins, Gary. Education World. 5 December 2011. 28 January 2012
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin432.shtml.
Kaufman, Jonathan. High Schools Worst Year. Wall Street Journal
(2008): 1-9.
Kohn Alfie. Down with Homework. Scholastic Instructor (2011): all.
Kohn Alfie. The Homework Myth. Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2006.
Medina, John. http://www.brainrules.net. 19 January 2012. 2012