WOODBURY — Homework is something that every kid despises. No one wants to come home from a day of school and do more school.
When you’re a high schooler, you have extracurriculars, sports, and clubs, and then when you add on homework, it can become overwhelming.
The most common problem that kids complain about is the amount of homework. The more homework they have, the longer they have to spend doing it, which causes long nights and stress.
There are many kids who are willing to get their homework done, but it doesn’t mean that they love to do it.
“I think we get way more than enough homework. I think teachers don’t take into consideration how we have other classes, too,” says sophomore Katie Savulak, “and by the end of it, we have seven times the amount of homework that we should have.”
I dance at Main Street Ballet here in Woodbury. Our classes are at night — sometimes until late at night — six days a week. Because I’m there all the time, I don’t have much time to complete my homework.
Like me, most people usually have lots of homework to bring to dance practices and rehearsals that get done whenever we can.
By the end of the day, we are drained. Doing homework and a sport at the same time is tiring — and it’s worse when you know you don’t have another choice.
Homework stresses out lots of students, including freshman Ethan Butkus.
“It makes me stay up really late,” says Butkus. “Sometimes I have to stay up until 11 to finish my homework. It stresses me out very bad. There’s so much and it puts pressure on me.”
According to Healthline.com, “More than 70 percent of students said they were ‘often or always stressed over schoolwork,’ with 56 percent listing homework as a primary stressor.”
Some of the most affected students are student-athletes because of their busy schedules.
“I stay after school to play sports, and then sometimes I don’t get home until 8 o’clock, and then I still have to eat, shower and do homework,” sophomore student-athlete Olivia Gwiazdoski says. “Then I sleep, wake up and do it all over again. It’s definitely tiring.”
Similar to Gwiazdoski, sophomore student-athlete Sean Crawford also has his fair share of homework mixed with a busy schedule.
“It adds to all of the other stuff I have to do, either my job or sports,” Crawford says. “If I have to stay up too late doing my homework, I don’t have enough energy for the next day.”
Juggling a busy schedule mixed with the added stress of homework can burn kids out and take a toll on their mental health. According to University of California student Uday Chopra, who wrote about the downsides of homework on LinkedIn, “The pressure to complete assignments, especially when juggling multiple subjects, can lead to anxiety and negatively impact mental health.”
Also, according to media professional Sarah Hill, “One study published in the Journal of Experimental Education found that students who reported spending more than two hours per night on homework experienced higher stress levels and physical health issues. Those same students reported over three hours of homework a night on average.”
This is not only the teachers’ fault but the students’ problem as well. Some possible solutions could be teachers assigning less homework or working out a system where they only assign homework on certain days of the week, and students should learn how to manage their time better and create a system to keep themselves accountable.
What solutions can you suggest? Students can manage their time better? Teachers can assign less homework? Can there be some combination of the two?
This is the opinion of Chief Advocate reporter Morgan Willis, a freshman at Nonnewaug.
