Throughout my school years, there has always been one continuous debate, usually between students and teachers, although there is some divide between both groups. Is homework helping or harming students’ education?

There are many pros and cons to teachers assigning homework, leading to heavy disagreements; however, like all topics, there is a lot of gray area. But where do we draw the line? How do we decide what material should be homework and what should stay inside the school?  

First, we can look at the supposed pros and cons. Regarding the pros of homework, one of the most common arguments is that it promotes good study habits and time management skills. Homework can teach students responsibility and self-discipline. 

Taking notes and prepping for the next day’s tests, is a good way for someone to learn how to organize, as well as utilize, their time, helping to prepare them for college and real life. Doing your homework when you recognize that you might need to study more, is a good way to learn self-awareness.  

Another pro of homework is that it helps to review the day’s material, consolidating and summarizing its lessons. This helps a lot of teachers to keep up with the curriculum. Homework can also allow parents to see what their child is learning throughout their day. 

But, as helpful as homework can be, it also can harm students, both mentally and physically. For most students, homework is a stressful part of their routine, especially if they are involved in after-school sports and extracurricular activities.

That stress can stretch students’ limits, damaging their mental health to the point where they can begin to accidentally self-sabotage themselves in daily life. Mental issues can start to attack students physically, one of the most common target points being sleep.

A lot of teenagers don’t get the recommended amount of sleep for their age group, and homework is a huge contributing factor. Sometimes students will stay up all hours of the night, working on homework, not having the time to do it earlier in the day. Sometimes it’s simply the stress of it all, creating a mindset where students are unable to relax and fall asleep. 

The loss of sleep from homework can lead to even more problems such as headaches and nausea. Additionally, when you don’t get enough sleep it becomes difficult to keep up with the expected level of academic performance. 

When you enter your freshman year, many teachers will encourage you to get involved in the school, join clubs and sports, and be a part of the community. But it’s tough to enjoy and attend these things, knowing there’s a stack of homework for you to do when you get home.

Not being able to do extracurriculars, just because of homework, can impact a student’s mental health and social life. Joining clubs with people of common interests is a good way to make friends, but what do you do if you don’t even have time for that?

Another negative aspect of homework is it can drive students to cheat and can take away productivity in free time. 

Most students have cheated on an assignment at least once, whether writing down answers before a test or copying someone else’s work (Look at Reagan Bouchard’s article Is cheating a problem in high school? What surveyed Oakmont students responded). Being at home with work that you don’t want to do, many students will choose to cheat, using the internet or sending answers to a friend. How much information are we attaining from just copying something down in five minutes?

Overall, whether homework should be assigned or not does not have a clear answer, depending on the person. For some, the more you think about it, the more obscure the question becomes; on the other hand, for some, it simply solidifies their choice.