by Brenna Mae

Created on: December 24, 2008

There is a strong difference between the kids in school that do their homework, and the kids who ignore it to play after school. However, does this mean the homework is actually improving their skills? Or is it just improving their grade?

I've been through elementary school, to junior high and high school, and then moved onto college. All I can say after my own experience, and through the experiences of what I can see through others, is that, it depends. I definitely do not agree that homework should be completely absent, although I have seen a number of assignments over the years that were just busy work. How do we find balance between the right homework and the busy-work homework?

I think this is something all instructors should focus on. Some teachers teach less, meaning they have more time to grade assignments. On the other end, some teach more classes, or have busier lives and rarely give out assignments. Either way, I have this to say to them: Keep in mind the personal lives of your students, and give out assignments that are worth them doing!

Don't give students 50 math problems to do in one night that cover the same topic. Most understand it after a few problems. I actually had an assignment like this entering my freshman year in high school. Determined to do well, I completed the ridiculous assignment and cancelled my plans for the night. The assignment took me about 3 1/2 hours without breaks included. After this, I started my assignments for other classes.

Now if I hadn't had math homework, I genuinely believe I'd be struggling a lot more in college-level calculus than I am now. However, I didn't need those multiple-hour long assignments to learn the material. All nighters for high schoolers should only be pulled by the students who deserve it; the students who are trying to catch up. Students who do their assignments regularly, and have a great deal of responsibility should not have to deal with nights of no freedom.

I don't believe homework should last any student more than two hours a night. For most nights, I don't believe it should surpass one hour. There are, of course, exceptions when projects are due, or a test the next day. Keep in mind, teachers, that you're not the only instructor giving out assignments. The biggest problem with time-constraints is that teachers will say, "Oh this assignment shouldn't take you more than a half an hour." The problem is, once four teachers say that, students have their 2-hour time block filled up.

So what's good,

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