Smah Riki

Per. 4 English
Mr. Kapp
8 March 2018

THIS Is What You Call REAL Homework

“Oh great… Time to endure eight more painstaking periods after 35 minutes of sleep!”

the typical high schooler would say after pulling an all-nighter with his or her homework from

twelve other classes. After all, homework is an integral part of a student’s academic

performance, and a lack of commitment in this category can result in a grade drop. Students

complain about the increasing burden of homework as they climb through their high school

years, but little do they understand the significance of their struggles. If anything, homework

should be an integrated part of a student’s life as opposed to being banned or reduced because

these educational practices promote a student’s social collaborations beyond school, creates

success from within school, and ultimately allows students to practice time-management in

preparation for the daunting college experience.

To start things off, homework assignments allow students to excel beyond the school

environment both socially and intellectually. Students usually view homework assignments as

budens to their lives, but what they fail to see is the social skills they accumulate as they

complete the work. In fact, when homework assignments are done within the duration of after

school programs, students benefit from their social interactions with peers and coaches alike

(​Lucas, Kobrin​)! When in an enriched and promoting environment, students begin building upon

their existing knowledge by discussing homework problems and answers with people with

similar issues. After all, problem-solving is a crucial skill to have throughout life, and possessing
the ability to collaborate with others in the process is equally as vital. Even if a student does

NOT participate in an after school program, homework help is available from the comforts of

one’s own home. Hand-held devices such as phones and laptops allow us to communicate with

friends and family alike, and simply discussing the assignment in question can be an effective

source of social growth. Practice makes perfect, after all, and communication in regards to

homework is a form of social practice. In terms of social and intellectual growth, homework

assignments lack the element of torture when a student takes the time to collaborate on an

assignment with another individual.

Speaking of torture, even though homework assignments are usually a point of

discomfort for many individuals, they force students to think critically about their subject of

interest, thus promoting their academic achievements in school. Several studies conducted on

secondary school students, namely the Duke University studies, confirmed that students who did

homework every night on average retained higher scores on exams in comparison to secondary

students who failed to complete their assigned tasks (​Gilmer​). Though the mere mention of

homework may send shivers down many people’s spines, studies confirm at face value that

homework assignments enhance a student’s performance academically. With a little bit of review

and/or practice for the students to complete at home, homework enables a student’s potential to

achieve higher scores.

Many teachers and parents would argue that instead of helping students grow within the

boundaries of school, homework assignments hinder a student’s performance because they

provide “unnecessary tension” for the students to endure at home. This is evident in a particular

article, within which the writer states, “[I]f students have several hours of homework per night,
how can they find time for other endeavors in their lives (including extracurricular activities,

leisure, and social time)? (​Strauss​).” Many students do indeed have extracurricular dedications to

attend to, so fully focusing on academics can be very challenging. However, many adults fail to

understand that the addition of homework to extracurricular dedications improve a student’s

ability to manage their time when they have several pending assignments — a crucial skill to

have in life. If a student is confronted with homework worth two hours in addition to three hours

of soccer practice, the student will naturally attempt to fit the two dedications within the same

day in order to be on top of things. This is an example of self-regulation, a process which

describes a student’s mental processing of their needs and wants in terms of the end results

(Ramdass, D. & Zimmerman, B.). In the end, students develop a skill important to their college

lives and eventually their adult lives, where managing one’s time can be the deciding factor

between leading a miserable life and enjoying a prosperous career.

In conclusion, the positive benefits that homework offers to an average student outweighs

the stress and torture said students feel in the long run. These assignments provide both academic

excellence and social experience when it comes to discussing the topics introduced within the

subject in question. They may additionally be a burden to students who participate in various

extracurricular activities, but in the long run, a daily schedule with both extracurricular activities

and homework can refine a student’s sense of time management. Colleges are becoming more

and more competitive to get into due to the sheer amount of perfect-scoring entrants willing to

maximize their potential in various non-academic fields, but homework and its positive

connotations in effective study habits may be the tipping factor in a college’s decision of

admittance.
Bibliography
- Gilmer. “Duke Study: Homework Helps Students Succeed in School, As Long as There Isn't
Too Much.” ​Duke Today​, today.duke.edu/2006/03/homework.html.

- Lucas, Natalie, and Jennifer Kobrin. “Well-Designed Homework Time as a

Quality-Building Aid in Afterschool.” ​Well-Designed Homework Time as a
Quality-Building Aid in Afterschool | The Expanded Learning and Afterschool Project​,
www.expandinglearning.org/expandingminds/article/well-designed-homework-time-qual
ity-building-aid-afterschool.

- Strauss, Valerie. “Homework hurts high-Achieving students, study says.” ​The

Washington Post​, WP Company, 13 Mar. 2014,
www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/13/homework-hurts-high-achi
eving-students-study-says/?utm_term=.45e3b6c8bb93

- Ramdass, D., and B. Zimmerman. “Search Database.” ​Davidson Institute for Talent
Development​, www.davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entry/A10702.