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Is Homework a Waste of Time? Teachers Weigh In

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The debate over homework rages on.

In response to an Opinion essay by a teacher titled “ What Do You Mean My Kid Doesn’t Have Homework? ”, many Facebook users took to the comments section to voice their perspectives on whether assigning homework is outdated and unnecessary—especially during a pandemic—or whether it’s a critical step to cultivating learning.

The benefits of homework have long been disputed, especially at the elementary school level. In 2018, Marva Hinton wrote about how homework was assigned at early grades and the potential effects on these young students. Some schools embraced homework, like Arlington Traditional School, a countywide elementary school in Arlington, Va., where kindergartners were expected to complete a minimum of 30 minutes of homework a night, Monday through Thursday. But some teachers such as Cathy Vatterott, a professor of education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the author of Rethinking Homework worried that adjusting to school routines combined with homework could sour young students on school.

But what about the benefits for older students? In a 2019 article , Education Week Assistant Editor Stephen Sawchuk unpacked the results of a Center for American Progress analysis, which found that while much of the homework assigned to the students in the study aligned with the Common Core State Standards, it did not contribute to building more difficult skills called for in the standards, like analyzing or extending their knowledge to new problems.

Beyond considering the efficacy of homework, the debate over how much time students should spend daily on take-home assignments dates back to the early 1900s. The public furor even led some state lawmakers to ban homework entirely at one point. Multiple studies over the years have examined different angles of the homework debate, including just how much homework students were assigned. In 2003, a pair of national studies found that most American students spent less than an hour daily on homework, and the workload was no bigger than it was 50 years prior.

“There is this view in the popular media that there has been this terrible burden of homework on children, and that the homework is increasing,” said Tom Loveless, the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution to Education Week’s Debra Viadero in a 2003 article . “That is not the case.”

Fast-forward to the present, teachers and students alike might find themselves at another crossroads in the homework debate. The pandemic brought with it the advent of strategies like “flipped learning” , which relies heavily on homework as an integral component of the lesson. While this might work for some, many students grew weary of the reliance on homework during remote and hybrid learning. This is on top of the potential equity issues arising from lack of internet access affecting students’ ability to complete the steady stream of homework being assigned, and the uptick in mental health issues in students .

So what do teachers really think about homework? Here’s what they had to say in response to the recently resurfaced essay by Samantha Hulsman.

A Disconnect Between Parents and Educators

“i teach 1st grade. i had parents ask for homework. i explained that i don’t give homework. home time is family time. time to play, cook, explore and spend time together. i do send books home, but there is no requirement or checklist for reading them. read them, enjoy them, and return them when your child is ready for more. i explained that as a parent myself, i know they are busy—and what a waste of energy it is to sit and force their kids to do work at home—when they could use that time to form relationships and build a loving home. something kids need more than a few math problems a week.”.

- Colleen S.

“I tried the ‘no homework’ policy one year and received so much pushback from my parents that I began sending home a weekly packet. I pass it out on Monday and it is due on Friday. Parents [are] happy, I’m happy, and life goes on. I say pick your battles. Now, I refuse to give packets over school breaks (winter/spring). If a parent asks, I simply tell them to have them work on any app that we use in class.”

“i literally only assign homework because some parents always make a huge deal of it if i don’t.”, “parents are the driving force behind homework ... they demand it and will complain about not receiving it even after explaining your philosophy of education and providing them with pedagogy that refutes the ‘benefits’ of it.”, homework can be useful for certain subjects or grades, “as a teacher of nearly 40 years, i believe homework has its place. especially in math math needs to be practiced to learn it. i don’t believe in giving homework just because. i think it should be purposeful.”.

- Sandra S.

“For those leading the charge against homework, please think about the expectation for students beyond your classroom. If you teach elementary school, will they be asked to do homework in middle school, high school, and beyond? If so, organization, time management, and study skills are not so easily learned at a later age, when the expectation has never been present. I can’t imagine being a student, who enters college, having never had the expectation of nightly HW.”

- Bobbie M.

Is Homework Actually Helpful for Learning?

Some agree that at its core, homework is practice, which is a needed element to achieving learning.

“Homework is practice. Practice the skills we learned about in class so we can review and add to them. My instrumental students are required to practice every day. When they don’t it’s evident.”

Others aren’t as convinced it’s actually a good tool for assessing comprehension.

“As a teacher, if the kids were assigned homework, guess when the papers were graded ... After discovering a Mom had been doing the homework and was making failing grades ... I gave it up ... taught 25 years without it and my students did much better ...”

- Martha H.

Heightens Equity Issues

“no homework ever it is unnecessary it is so elitist and ableist and teaches kids that it is expected to take work home after hours of a job. nope never”, “homework just further separates the students. those who have parents home who understand the work, or can afford a tutor will do so. families already struggling financially tend not to have parents home to help and cannot afford tutors.”.

- Rebecca J.

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August 16, 2021

Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in

by Sara M Moniuszko

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide-range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas over workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework .

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy work loads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace, says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework causes, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high-achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school ," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely, but to be more mindful of the type of work students go home with, suggests Kang, who was a high-school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework, I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the last two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic, making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized... sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking assignments up can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

©2021 USA Today Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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10 Chrome Homework Extensions That Really Work for Students

Chrome helps you research your homework. But did you know about these extensions that help you plan and execute your school assignments as well?

If you mainly use Chrome to do research academic papers, projects, or assignments, why not use handy browser extensions to manage that homework for you?

These learning tools in your browser let you plan your tasks, help you research, and assist with your studies. And best of all, you don't have to worry about opening a separate application.

Lists for Assignments

Quick lists can help you stay on track. These cool tools let you add and mark off items as you go.

Synchro is a task tracker extension built for students. A clean, intuitive tool, it lets you add tasks, specify the deadlines, and choose the current status.

Synchro lists all the tasks under three columns- to-do, in progress, and completed. As you work on your tasks, you can drag and drop them into the relevant columns.

Once you're done, you can completely delete the task. Synchro also color codes the tasks, depending on the due dates, and sends task reminders. It integrates with Canvas LMS and automatically adds assignments from Canvas as tasks.

Download: Synchro (Free)

2. Tasks for Canvas

If you use Canvas LMS, then Tasks for Canvas is a must-have Chrome extension. The extension integrates with your Canvas account and adds a sidebar, showing all the tasks you need to do.

Since it is linked with the Canvas LMS, tasks will be automatically added and categorized according to the course. You can create custom tasks and mark them as complete. By default, it shows a weekly view, but you can adjust it to daily or monthly.

What's best about the\is extension is its beautiful layout. The extension adds colored rings for each course to show the progress.

Download: Tasks for Canvas (Free)

3. Homework Tracker

Sometimes simple is sensational. Maybe you just have a basic list of assignments or projects that you want to track. Homework Tracker is ideal for this. Click the toolbar button to add or view your items and see a count of uncompleted tasks with the icon badge.

Enter your class, assignment, and due date (if you have one) and click Add . Then, as you complete your work, hit the Done button. You can sort by due date, so the closest items are right at the top. Homework Tracker is basic yet effective.

Download: Homework Tracker (Free)

4. My Homework Reminder

My Homework Reminder is another good assignment list extension for Chrome. Click the toolbar button , add your assignment and due date, and hit Save .

You can sort by assignment or due date, mark the boxes for items you finish, and review your completed assignments easily. If you need to delete an item, just click the trash can and away it goes. Just like Homework Tracker, My Homework Reminder is simple but gets the job done.

Download: My Homework Reminder (Free)

Homework Helpers

Instead of random Googling, try these extensions to get the homework help you need quickly.

In case you don't know, Quizlet is a popular education website with learning tools and study guides. Thanks to the textbook solutions available on the site, you can easily find homework help. But this extension called Quizlit makes the process even easier.

The add-on lets you search Quizlet from any webpage, so you don't have to open the Quizlet site every time. Just click the Quizlit button , enter your question in the search bar, and press enter to see the relevant answers from Quizlet. Even better, you can select any question and choose Search for from the right-click context menu.

The extension shows multiple answers for each question and lets you copy the suggested answers with a single click. If you don't find the answers on Quizlet, you can try searching for them on the other tutoring sites for homework help .

Download: Quizlit (Free)

2. AIR MATH

If you need homework help specifically for mathematics, AIR MATH is a great extension. Just use the extension to take a screenshot of the question, and the tool solves the problem along with a step-by-step solution.

Although it does offer free credits, you'll likely need to purchase extra credits or upgrade to a paid subscription. If you're not keen to pay for this extension, there are other online tools for solving math problems . AIR MATH is also available as a mobile app.

Download: AIR MATH (Free, Paid)

Buttons for Searches

When you need to do a fast search, a basic button can be the answer. These Chrome extensions let you search with a click.

1. Google Scholar Button

Google offers a ton of search tools and some are specific to patents, images, and of course, education. The Google Scholar Button lets you search for a topic easily. Click the button in your toolbar, pop in your search term, and then get your results.

You will receive a short number of results within the search window and can select a title to go right to the page. Or to view all results, click the full-screen button at the bottom of the pop-up window and a new tab will open for you. This is one of the must-have online tools if you're doing academic research .

Download: Google Scholar Button (Free)

2. Course Hero

Course Hero is similar to Google Scholar in that you click the button to search for a topic and then head to the site for the results. What's a bit different is that you need to create an account to obtain the resource. But, you can create one for free in just a few minutes.

Then, you will have access to documents and flashcards relating to your topic. Plus, you can get help from educators. You can also bookmark sources, keep track of your recently viewed items, and download the mobile app to study on-the-go.

Download: Course Hero (Free, Paid)

Helpers for Focus

Don't get distracted by social media when you are doing homework. Use one of these awesome tools to help you focus and finish.

1. ReCall Study Time

Set up your study session, mark the pages you want to monitor, and get to work with ReCall Study Time. You can choose from two hours for those quick homework sessions or 24 hours for the all-nighters. Then, select the social media sites to block like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

If you feel yourself weaken and head to one of the monitored sights, you will instead be greeted with a nasty-gram like the one above. If you have trouble staying away from social media to get your homework done, check out ReCall Study Time.

Download: ReCall Study Time (Free)

2. Focus Mode

Focus Mode is another site-blocking tool to use while you are doing your homework. The extension monitors four sites by default, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. You can choose which to unblock and add a custom blocked site if there is an additional temptation not on that list.

When you start your study or research session, just hit the extension button in the toolbar and turn on the toggle button . Then, when you try to access one of the monitored pages, you will view a blurred screen with a message that focus mode is on.

When you finish, turn off the toggle button and check out your distraction attempts if you're curious. You can also take a five-minute break when you're tempted to check your feed.

Download: Focus Mode (Free)

Get Your Homework Done

We get it. Managing all the deadlines for assignments, projects, and quizzes can be challenging. But with the right tools and a bit of planning, you can get your homework done without sacrificing fun.

This is exactly what these Chrome extensions let you do—tracking your tasks, improving your productivity, and helping you complete your homework. If you find these homework add-ons helpful, you should try mobile apps for students.

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Student Opinion

Should We Get Rid of Homework?

Some educators are pushing to get rid of homework. Would that be a good thing?

By Jeremy Engle and Michael Gonchar

Do you like doing homework? Do you think it has benefited you educationally?

Has homework ever helped you practice a difficult skill — in math, for example — until you mastered it? Has it helped you learn new concepts in history or science? Has it helped to teach you life skills, such as independence and responsibility? Or, have you had a more negative experience with homework? Does it stress you out, numb your brain from busywork or actually make you fall behind in your classes?

Should we get rid of homework?

In “ The Movement to End Homework Is Wrong, ” published in July, the Times Opinion writer Jay Caspian Kang argues that homework may be imperfect, but it still serves an important purpose in school. The essay begins:

Do students really need to do their homework? As a parent and a former teacher, I have been pondering this question for quite a long time. The teacher side of me can acknowledge that there were assignments I gave out to my students that probably had little to no academic value. But I also imagine that some of my students never would have done their basic reading if they hadn’t been trained to complete expected assignments, which would have made the task of teaching an English class nearly impossible. As a parent, I would rather my daughter not get stuck doing the sort of pointless homework I would occasionally assign, but I also think there’s a lot of value in saying, “Hey, a lot of work you’re going to end up doing in your life is pointless, so why not just get used to it?” I certainly am not the only person wondering about the value of homework. Recently, the sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco and the mathematics education scholars Ilana Horn and Grace Chen published a paper, “ You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities .” They argued that while there’s some evidence that homework might help students learn, it also exacerbates inequalities and reinforces what they call the “meritocratic” narrative that says kids who do well in school do so because of “individual competence, effort and responsibility.” The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students. Calarco, Horn and Chen write, “Research has highlighted inequalities in students’ homework production and linked those inequalities to differences in students’ home lives and in the support students’ families can provide.”

Mr. Kang argues:

But there’s a defense of homework that doesn’t really have much to do with class mobility, equality or any sense of reinforcing the notion of meritocracy. It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background, which is why, I imagine, Calarco, Horn and Chen found that most teachers weren’t thinking in a structural inequalities frame. Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility. A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchist at this moment, but if we truly believe that schools should teach children lessons that fall outside the meritocracy, I can’t think of one that matters more than the simple satisfaction of mastering something that you were once bad at. That takes homework and the acknowledgment that sometimes a student can get a question wrong and, with proper instruction, eventually get it right.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Should we get rid of homework? Why, or why not?

Is homework an outdated, ineffective or counterproductive tool for learning? Do you agree with the authors of the paper that homework is harmful and worsens inequalities that exist between students’ home circumstances?

Or do you agree with Mr. Kang that homework still has real educational value?

When you get home after school, how much homework will you do? Do you think the amount is appropriate, too much or too little? Is homework, including the projects and writing assignments you do at home, an important part of your learning experience? Or, in your opinion, is it not a good use of time? Explain.

In these letters to the editor , one reader makes a distinction between elementary school and high school:

Homework’s value is unclear for younger students. But by high school and college, homework is absolutely essential for any student who wishes to excel. There simply isn’t time to digest Dostoyevsky if you only ever read him in class.

What do you think? How much does grade level matter when discussing the value of homework?

Is there a way to make homework more effective?

If you were a teacher, would you assign homework? What kind of assignments would you give and why?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column . Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Jeremy Engle joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2018 after spending more than 20 years as a classroom humanities and documentary-making teacher, professional developer and curriculum designer working with students and teachers across the country. More about Jeremy Engle

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Is Homework a Waste of Students’ Time? Study Finds It’s the Biggest Cause of Teen Stress

It’s the bane of every teen’s existence. After sitting through hours at school, they leave only to get started on mountains of homework. And educators are mixed on its effectiveness . Some say the practice reinforces what students learned during the day, while others argue that it put unnecessary stress on kids and parents , who are often stuck nagging or helping.

According to a new study, conducted by the Better Sleep Council , that homework stress is the biggest source of frustration for teens, with 74 percent of those surveyed ranking it the highest, above self-esteem (51 percent) parental expectations (45 percent) and bullying (15 percent).

Homework is taking up a large chunk of their time , too — around 15-plus hours a week, with about one-third of teens reporting that it’s closer to 20-plus hours.

The stress and excessive homework adds up to lost sleep , the BSC says. According to the survey, 57 percent of teenagers said that they don’t get enough sleep, with 67 reporting that they get just five to seven hours a night — a far cry from the recommended eight to ten hours. The BSC says that their research shows that when teens feel more stressed, their sleep suffers. They go to sleep later, wake up earlier and have more trouble falling and staying asleep than less-stressed teens.

“We’re finding that teenagers are experiencing this cycle where they sacrifice their sleep to spend extra time on homework, which gives them more stress — but they don’t get better grades,” said Mary Helen Rogers, the vice president of marketing and communications for the BSC.

RELATED VIDEO: To Help Or Not To Help: Moms Talk About Whether Or Not They Help Their Children With Homework

Another interesting finding from this study: students who go to bed earlier and wake up earlier do better academically than those who stay up late, even if those night owls are spending that time doing homework.

To end this cycle of sleep deprivation and stress, the BSC recommends that students try setting a consistent time to go to sleep each night, regardless of leftover homework. And their other sleep tips are good for anyone, regardless of age — keep the temperature between 65 and 67 degrees, turn off the electronic devices before bed, make sure the mattress is comfy and reduce noise with earplugs or sound machines.

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Homework’s rubbish — and now ofsted has stopped checking it, why bother, i’ve always been strictly hands off when it helping, pointing out teachers expect them to do the work, not me.

Few issues divide parents of school-age children more than the question of homework : should kids get it and how much should they get?

Thank goodness, then, for John Humphrys , the erstwhile BBC Radio 4 presenter, who cleared up the issue in forthright form in a recent interview , ascribing his success – all £400,000-plus-a-year of it – to doing his homework.

“My success is down to my mother,” he said. “She believed in education, insisting her kids always did their homework – when no other mothers did – in the tiny front room contenting the sacred encyclopedia she bought on tick.”

That clears that up then: homework works, at least if Humphrys’ bank account and career longevity are any sort of a barometer. Sorry, children, but you can all expect your teachers to ramp up the amount they set each night. Cue – even more – tears from my Year 4 son, who is already aghast at the amount he’s had since term started.

Can schools be outstanding by setting no homework?

Except, in a dramatic change of heart, school inspectors no longer care whether teachers are setting any homework at all. Since last month, Ofsted, the government body responsible for maintaining standards at state schools, has stopped checking whether or not schools are dishing out a daily dose of misery, removing all references to homework from its inspection framework. A question on homework in Ofsted’s parent survey has also been dropped.

The upshot is primaries and secondaries in England can be rated good or outstanding even with a no-homework policy. (Estyn, the equivalent body in Wales, does still monitor homework, although it has suspended most school inspections for year while a new curriculum is introduced. Education Scotland, the national body that supports Scottish schools, is relaxed on the issue, stating that benefits tend to be modest if homework is routinely set.)

A parent’s perspective

Frankly, I hope my childrens’ primary school (ranked good) takes Ofsted’s new policy on board, especially for the sake of my four-year-old who has just started Reception but is already finding reasons not to do anything in her “Home-School book”.

I hold out less hope for my older son’s secondary despite the issues there being more entrenched given most pupils seem to spend each evening begging anyone who has finished their assignments to snap them and send them via WhatsApp. (That’s according to his new form messaging group, which, sorry kid, I can’t help checking because I find it fascinating.) And that’s before you consider that they can plug most of their homework straight into Google to find the answers.

Read More: Parents angry with school after pupils, 9, set homework asking: ‘Is Father Christmas real?’

As the 11-year-old himself puts it: “Homework is a waste of time because either you learnt the stuff during the day and you can already do it, or you can’t do it, and feel stressed.”

Ah yes, the stuff they can’t do and you haven’t a clue about. I’ve always been strictly hands off when it helping, pointing out teachers expect them to do the work, not me.

Needless to say my children won’t be attributing any future success to me, but I’m fine with that if it saves me from worrying about homework.

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Is homework a waste of time.

Homework has always been one of the biggest challenges to school and home life, causing family tension, stress and time pressures.

Research from Stanford Graduate School of Education  conducted amongst 4,300 students highlighted that over 56 per cent considered homework to be a primary source of stress, whilst others reported increased levels of anxiety, sleep deprivation, exhaustion and weight loss.

After considerable review and debate, ACS Egham has decided to drop ‘traditional’ homework for students aged four to eleven.

The educational debate over the merits of homework has been going on a long time, with different countries taking very different approaches. Wanting to discover the best approach to setting homework to achieve optimal wellbeing for students and parents, our teaching team collaborated on a research project to help find the solution. Our findings highlighted that for homework to be truly effective, it must be highly personalised for each student. So we set about making these changes.

Traditional homework

Traditional homework or ‘busy work’, as we like to call it, is generic across a class, and does little to enhance the individual student learning experience. This kind of homework assumes that every student is the same, that each has the same maturity, concentration and ability level. It is, therefore… a bit lazy. As we all know, in real-life abilities vary enormously from one person to the next, and students can often find this type of homework very stressful, especially if they feel they have been set impossible tasks that they must face alone.

Children are already at school for some seven hours a day and ‘busy work’ simply eats up their free time, which they could be better spending with their families, or taking part in extra-curricular activities to refresh their minds and bodies. Younger students especially should be encouraged to use time after school for unstructured play and developing their own creativity.

Reflecting upon these issues, we decided to replace ‘busy work’ with a personal, guided approach building on class work and learning, which parents and students can share together, making the work more meaningful, manageable and worthwhile.

Personalised approaches

Instead of setting homework, ACS Egham teachers share with parents the learning topics for the upcoming term and suggest that these subjects are explored at home. The Lower School intranet hosts ‘talk topics’ which link in with lessons and can be discussed at home around the dinner table or during car journeys. We also include extra-curricular activities which tie in to each unit, such as visiting a museum, art exhibition, or hands on activities.

Arithmetic and literacy skills can also be enhanced at home without endless sums and compulsory reading times. Parents can help their children practice mathematical skills in everyday scenes; calculating a grocery budget, or measuring furniture on a trip to IKEA. Equally, parents are actively encouraged to read with students as much as they can, and for as long as it’s enjoyable. When reading is not a chore but an enjoyable activity, students’ literacy skills increase.

All these opportunities allow students to apply their class-based learning in a different context. In a multi-cultural class, exploring topics at home can be particularly important for students who have a native language other than English, giving them the forum in which to widen their vocabulary in their mother tongue. If students have struggled with a specific task, parents can notify the teachers, enabling teachers to give more targeted support in these areas.

Alternative education systems

In Finland, students are generally assigned virtually no homework; they don’t start school until age seven, and the school day is short. Despite this, Finland is considered to have one of the leading education systems in the world. Finnish students achieve some of the world’s best international PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test results; in 2016 achieving fourth place in reading compared to the UK in 22nd place, and 12th place in maths, compared the UK in 27th place.

According to a BBC article, a key concept in the Finnish school system is trust, where there’s little homework and no culture of extra private tuition. This trust is built from parents’ trusting schools to deliver a good education within the school day, and schools putting trust in the quality of their teachers. This certainly resonates with our opinions on homework; if a student has been delivered a quality education in the school day, there should be no need to spend hours in the evening carrying out a rigid schedule of homework.

Developing skills for the future

We prepare our nine to eleven year olds for secondary education through ‘I-Inquiry’ projects. These are individual research topics which students investigate over a period of four to six weeks. Recently students designed, created and built virtual models of their own imaginary planets, following a unit of inquiry that explored the solar system.

Using their iPads, students researched the characteristics of different planets before creating and naming their own. The final projects were then presented back to the class using iPads, artistic drawings and in some cases, hand built models.

Through the I-Inquiry project, students developed a whole range of essential life skills. These included time management and organisational skills, as students were required to work on the project both at home and at school; independent inquiry, exploring different sources to create their planet; as well as helping develop a creative mindset. Students also enhanced their communication skills and public speaking through their final presentations. Most importantly, students were energised by their learning and engaged with their subjects on a much deeper level.

We strongly believe that setting homework for the sake of it doesn’t benefit children or prepare them in a robust way for their next steps. It can also be a cause of family stress and tension, and potentially even hinder the wellbeing of the student. Where we’ve adopted our new approach at ACS Egham, we can see our students develop life skills through extra-curricular activities, spending time with their friends and family, and engaging at home with meaningful, highly personalised tasks, like the I-Inquiry Projects, which equips them for success beyond education and develops a curious mind as well as a lifelong love of learning.

More Future Focus Blog Articles

IB or A Levels: which will get you further?

The IB Diploma and A Levels have spent decades trying to convince UK students that they each offer the best preparation for success at university. 

Looking forward to university: a gateway to the world

With university admissions officers increasingly looking out for students with a particular set of skills, Fergus Rose, Advancement Director at ACS International Schools, delves into the argument that the IB Diploma better prepares students for university and the world beyond. 

Can our global community of post-millennials change the world?

On Friday 25th May, ACS Doha International School hosted its High School graduation ceremony to celebrate the achievements of 32 graduates, who are ready to start their journey into the world.

How classrooms are changing for the next generation of students

The BBC recently conducted some research exploring ‘Grand Challenges’ facing humanity. It explored the growth in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the use of robots.

5 Alternatives to HomeworkIsTrash: A Comprehensive List of Similar Websites

By Gregor K. published about 2022-12-14 03:56:25

Are you looking for an alternative to the popular website " HomeworkIsTrash "? If so, you're in luck! This article will provide you with a list of similar websites that offer the same services and more. Whether you're a student struggling with homework or an educator looking for some extra help, these websites have you covered. From online tutoring to study help forums, you'll find a variety of websites to help you out. So, keep reading to discover the best websites like HomeworkIsTrash.

HomeworkIsTrash

HomeworkIsTrash is a student advocacy website dedicated to the fight against excessive homework in the educational system. We believe that homework has become a burden on students and has taken away from the valuable learning time in the classroom. We provide resources and information to help students fight excessive homework and to help teachers provide more effective and meaningful learning experiences in the classroom.

• Articles and resources on the effects of excessive homework
• Connect with other students and teachers to share knowledge and experiences
• Advocacy tools and resources to help fight excessive homework
• Community forum to discuss educational issues and share information

Table of Contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 HomeworkIsTrash Alternatives
• 3 HomeworkIsTrash History
• 4 HomeworkIsTrash Status
• 6 Further Links

HomeworkIsTrash Alternatives

Assignment Expert

Provides online tutoring services, including homework help.

More focused on providing tutoring services instead of just helping with assignments.

More focused on providing step-by-step help for completing difficult assignments.

My Homework Done

More focused on providing a marketplace for finding experts to do assignments.

More focused on providing personalized tutoring services from experts.

More focused on providing access to study materials and textbooks.

More focused on providing a platform for connecting with experienced tutors.

Course Hero

More focused on providing access to a library of course materials and resources.

History of HomeworkIsTrash

HomeworkIsTrash is an online community that was created to help students manage their workloads. It provides tips and advice on how to reduce stress, organize tasks, and increase motivation. Additionally, users can post questions, find solutions, and share their experiences. The site was established in 2019 and has since grown to become a popular resource for students of all ages and academic backgrounds.

HomeworkIsTrash Status

The HomeworkIsTrash website on online and reachable (last checked on 2024-06-06 01:00:27 ).

Finally, a way to dispose of homework without getting in trouble!

I'm sure these websites are very popular in school hallways.

How about "CramItInTheTrash.com"?

Homework is more like a never-ending cycle of trash.

No more excuses, just burn that homework!

I'm so glad there are other websites that can help me get rid of my homework!

It's like a homework recycling center!

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Letters to the Editor: Schools teach kids not to slack off. How would no more homework help?

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To the editor: Reading your editorial favoring a school grading system that deemphasizes homework and task completion , I though what great news this might mean to journalists. Just turn your articles in whenever, no consequences, and don’t worry about work outside your official hours.

Advertisers, turn in your ad copy whenever. Delivery folks, take your time, because deadlines don’t matter. Custodians, clean the toilets whenever you feel like it.

Now, to real life: There are very few tests given once we are adults, but there are many daily chores that must be done and deadlines that must be met. My job as a teacher is not only to educate my students, but also to turn them into employable and responsible adults.

That means daily practice with a routine that becomes ingrained. Completing homework teaches a student organization and planning; it also improves academic skills and reinforces knowledge.

Kathleen McCarthy, Torrance

To the editor: After raising a family of seven quite successful students and teaching public school for 10 years, I agree with your editorial about homework and grading.

I graduated from Reed College in Oregon, a school that deemphasizes grades and is renowned for sending many alumni to graduate school. As students we got many comments on the margins of our papers and tests followed by a conference with the professor or our advisor.

I was also influenced by a book I read early in my career pointing out that if you gave a test on the first day of school, some children would ace it, others would have mixed results, and some would fail. If you did a good job, by the end of the term, everyone should do fairly well on the test, even those who initially failed. The grade should reflect the knowledge gained.

I did my best to follow this advice, and I am encouraged that people are once again considering what education is really all about — and it certainly should not be about averaging test scores.

Sharon Toji, Irvine

To the editor: Letter writers brought up important issues on homework and education . Missing, however, was the fact that students are different, with different interests and talents. The human race depends on this diversity.

As the late psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi pointed out: “If we were all more or less alike, humans would grow into narrowly specialized organisms. It would be difficult for us to adapt to changing conditions.”

An important function of school is to help students discover and develop their interests and pursue their strengths. Overemphasizing “requirements” not only leads to boredom, it also doesn’t result in as much learning as encouraging students to engage in tasks they find natural and interesting.

Plato understood this: “Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”

Stephen Krashen, Los Angeles

The writer is a professor emeritus of education at USC.

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Nov. 15, 2023

Editorial: We know how to turn students into better readers. Why doesn’t California do it?

Nov. 3, 2023

Letters to the Editor: Why calls to restore discipline in the classroom are troubling

Aug. 12, 2023

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Homework: Keep it, Trash it, or Reinvent it

Boosting confidence and fluency.

Ah yes, homework: the never-ending source of tension and discussion between parents and children.

If you’ve heard bits and pieces of the new homework debate, then you’ll definitely want to read today’s post for highlights of the new discussions and homework trends in classrooms around the GTA.

Now more than ever, there is a new tendency to complete homework assignments in class, while students are expected to complete their lessons at home. This is a more hands-on approach that many teachers have been adopting into their daily class regime. This movement is called “flipped classrooms”, and it is being embraced around the world, including right here in Canada in our own backyard .

When it comes to learning a language, would it not make more sense to do the “hands-on practice” (reading and speaking) part of the learning in class with the French speaking teacher? And then the “listening to a lecture “ part of the learning on a video at home?

Beyond this new tendency, there is increasingly a trend toward assigning less homework.

Do you think there should be more or less homework?

This is another important point of debate.

According to various research papers, there is little evidence connecting the length of homework and school achievement. In fact, Stanford’s research results suggest that too much homework can actually diminish its effectiveness, or even be counterproductive. Their prior studies cite that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school. 

At best, for some students, there might be some minor improvement in test results.  However, it is more likely that homework does not have a lasting effect on learning. According to Alfie Kohn, a widely known researcher and writer in the areas of education, parenting and human behavior, homework appears to benefit only certain groups of students and only in particular conditions .

He suggests that instead of assigning homework merely because of “policy”, it is best to assign homework only when it enhances the learning of the student.

Advice for French homework: One of the reasons many parents dread homework time is because a fight often results from asking their children to do their homework with them.So if when you ask your child to do their “dictée” with you, and you hear: “Mom/ Dad you don’t know what I have to do!” You’re not alone.

Another way to keep up French practice is to suggest your child keeps a journal in French to record fun events and interesting parts of their day. This works especially well during vacation time or when you take a family trip. Homework is rarely completed during vacations, so instead, you might want to encourage your child to keep a journal to discuss the holiday, including: landscape, money, houses, villages, and way of life. Plus it makes for a great keepsake! 

How do you approach homework with your child? Let us know in the comments below.

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