As we come towards the middle of the year and the end of the first semester, students are being bombarded with large amounts of homework to prepare them for midterms and finals. The amount of homework put onto students stresses them out and doesn’t give them the time of relaxation that every student should have everyday. Students end up missing out on opportunities and quality time with others because homework hinders them.
AP English III teacher, Britt Groters describes the benefits and declines of homework, “I certainly think the amount of homework assigned is pretty lengthy.”
As being one of the many AP teachers in the school, Mrs. Groters also assigns homework for her students, but it benefits her students instead of making them fall behind.
“I feel that a lot of times when I do give out homework it doesn’t get done or it gets copied by someone who did have time, so it loses its benefit,” said Groters. “For those students who don’t care to put in effort…end up having consequences. Ultimately the punishment becomes the summative when they are not capable of completing whatever task is supposed to be handled in the end.”
Groters thinks that homework aids more than hinders depending on the type of learning the student is comfortable with.
“There’s a difference between assigning homework so that we can put it in our mandated number of daily grades and homework grades,” said Groters. “Which is another policy of Keller[ISD] vs. practice that will actually be beneficial.”
AP U.S. History teacher, Colman Roach, also gives his students homework almost everyday in order for the students to gain the knowledge that will be quickly gone over in class.
“I have two different views on homework,” said Roach. “There’s the on-level courses that usually only give out homework once or twice a week…but when students are taking advanced placement classes like what I’m teaching, this is a six college level course.”
As there are many different sides to homework along the lines of the amount and how much depth the work goes into.
“Not doing homework is not sensible,” said Roach. “That being said, I think Keller ISD as a whole tried to do a pretty fair job with the academic level.”
Going along with the Keller ISD system, Roach has to put in mandated grades just like every other teacher in the district.
“Really the best choice is the limit homework and the amount of AP classes being taken,” said Roach.
From a different standpoint aside from teachers, some students have a completely different view on this topic. To a student, many of the homework assignments may seem outrageous, but understandable. Some students share their different opinions and feelings on homework.
Junior, Franko Johnson, shares his perspective on how homework affects him and other students around him.
“In a sense homework has an educational purpose, because if you don’t practice the things being taught, then you won’t know how to use them in real life. Being a student who’s taking eight classes just like most of the students here. Just having a small amount hinders a student from getting the time and rest they deserve. Me saying it’s useful as a student, I don’t think so because it takes up so much of our time,” said Johnson. “We have eight classes, I think some students would benefit from homework being lessened or not as much given.”
Sophomore, Jackson Arnold, discusses how homework affects his day to day life, “personally I think is helps people learn easier.”
Students truly begin to experience the amount of homework they recieve once they attend high school and the material that goes into it. When homework begins to make an impact in the classroom, students are often caught off guard.
“If there are those teachers that give you homework just to give you homework, it’s like I don’t understand it,” said Arnold.
Senior, Erin Obregon, takes four AP classes and has many encounters with large amounts of paperwork and stress.
“Sometimes teachers who just give you homework to give you homework tend to give you a lot,” said Obregon. “Like yesterday I had five different things to do for english and that was kind of ridiculous.”
Being a senior, Obregon is preparing for college, while at the same time worrying about her grades.
“If you manage your time well and you kinda spread it out,” said Obregon. “Because a lot of my teachers will give us something, so if I spread it out and manage my time well it’s easy to get it done and not get stressed out.”
Giving yourself time to lean on while doing homework is vital. Along with giving yourself some breaks to relax will benefit students while working.
As there are different perspectives on homework, but overall it is beneficial for the process of gaining knowledge for that certain course. Each grade level and every student has a different sense on how much homework they have and if it helps or if it just stresses them out.