Should We Ban Homework?

Glancing at the Concept of Homework from being Fully Mandated to None and Optional in Between!

This article was initially published by Illumination on Medium

Homework is one of the most controversial subjects. Depending on what background one comes from, everyone seems to have a different view of having school-home assignments.

I had a childhood riddled with HomeWorks, so I often had to spend half of our “spring holidays” doing assignments. And many of my classmates disdained holidays merely because we knew we would not enjoy our vacation.

Looking back at those days, I wonder what difference too much Homework made in our lives that other systems with less or no homework did not!

Some believe Homework invites discipline and order onto youth life, but those opposing the idea see that as equal to overtime hard labor coupled with many missed opportunities from other valuable experiences in life that a kid could have relished. The same people may also agree that excess Homework encroaches on quality family bonds and hinders child motivation simply because it can come across as hard labor rather than a quality education. Furthermore, that even cause sleep deprivation.

Putting the side effects of the Homework aside, many criticize the concept based on the notion that teachers typically check Homework for their completion and not their accuracy.

The opposing argument supports the homework concept because it helps children build responsibility, cultivate work ethic early, and provide students confidence. And that kids must attempt problems or exercises on their own. That helps them realize that failure is integral to the learning process. Homework also gets parents involved in a child’s education and prepares students for professional careers, which many accept as accurate.

Another group of people believes Homework should be optional because offering students the choice of making Homework affords them control over their deeds. Some students might take prerequisite support in a particular class, while others necessitate none. They believe optional Homework can teach self-discipline by figuring out how to know if they need more or less practice for each subject.

Whatever the reason for either pro or against Homework, one must observe the entire concept within that prevailing community’s cultural and societal norms. Understanding what Homework means for a student and their parents are vital. For instance, those who believe Homework will encourage parents to spend more time with their children’s academic accomplishments need to realize the following:

Homework serves as a pretext to avoid spending time with offspring in some families. Whenever a child requested to spend quality time with family instead of a positive attitude, parents bought their way out by stating that they had Homework to finish. Excessive Homework fired the already burning bridges of a healthy family climate and bond.

Or, on the other end of the argument spectrum, less responsible for school chores would mean either more unproductive duties or simply a sense that one deserves spoon-feeding as it is the responsibility of the teachers to teach and not the responsibility of the student to learn. The latter is something we see commonly happening in societies that rely less on Homework and more on school time.

Homework as an optional choice is also a slippery slope and leaves a lot of unknown territories to explore. It requires a dedicated resource to evaluate family and student dynamics as to who is better off with Homework and how much of that is healthy.

The option is always a good thing as long as it is driven by a personalized approach and educated decision-making for the student, parents, and the social norms by which they live.