Stop Homework is the blog of Sara Bennett, co-author of The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It. Stop Homework provides up-to-the-minute homework news, opinion articles, and guest editorials. If you need help advocating for change, need materials, or are looking for a guest speaker, email me.

Archive for Students Speak Out

Guest Blogger: A High School Student Speaks Out

The school year has just started and I’ve been inundated with letters from students, mostly high schoolers, who are crying out for help. I’ve run pieces by students in the past, but I intend to run even more this school year. I hope their words will move you to action.

Today’s entry is by Abigail Chao, a senior at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. In her own words, “She is the owner of a 4.0/4.0 GPA, founder of one of the largest clubs on campus, and a varsity tennis player. She is a near-perfect product of the education system. She is drowning.”

Too Busy to Dream
by Abigail Chao

Tell me if this is healthy.

Over Labor Day weekend, my hometown throws a carnival. Instead of going, I spent Saturday sleeping till noon, and then started homework. Instead of watching a movie with a friend, I went to bed at 8:30pm because I was still so tired. On Sunday, I spent over five hours trying to make a dent in one homework assignment – reading Aristotle’s Ethics. Admittedly, I spend a couple hours at a sweet sixteen party, but I left early to work. I didn’t finish Ethics until well into Monday, and then I started my other homework – physics, computer science, English, etc.

It’s okay though, right? I’m a senior at one of the best high schools in the nation. I’m supposed to be working hard.

Now tell me if this is healthy.

Over Labor Day weekend, a family with young children is going to their town’s carnival. But the father has work to do. He stays up late Friday night after work to get a little ahead, but then sleeps in until noon; he’s exhausted from sleep debt over the week. He starts working again so he can join his wife and kids later, but by eight o’clock he’s too tired…

I won’t continue the analogy because I think my point is pretty obvious. The kind of rigor that is routinely demanded from students is outrageous in the context of working adults. And it’s not just the stereotypical overworked father – it’s the college grad who works 80 hours a week too. If anyone is wondering why Americans are such workaholics, I’d say that homework has something to do with it.

As students, we are told to put school first. We must do our homework before we hang out with friends, play sports, or just relax. That time at the mall could have been better spent hitting the books. If your grades are dropping, the first thing you do (or your parents make you do) is quit your extracurriculars. Never mind that it’s pointless to spend an hour entering data into Excel, that social skills are more important than academic abilities will ever be, that America is struggling against obesity.

I know that the stress of projects and homework has gotten ridiculous when going to class is relaxing in comparison. I know something is wrong when I explain why I don’t have “me time” except maybe my shower. I know our priorities are out of whack when we hardly hear the answer to “How are you?” but we show that our genuine interest by asking, “Were you productive?”

Does anyone notice that there is a generation of brilliant minds drowning in homework?

Sometimes, I dream about what I’d do with the extra time. I can’t promise it’d be all “productive,” but I’d play more tennis. I’d get published. I’d learn another language. I’d start a business. I’d just… breathe.

A High-Achieving Teen’s Thoughts on Homework

I’m posting a recent comment posted by a teenager on an old blog entry, because I want to make sure everyone gets to see it:

I am in high school and have a GPA of 4.214.

The price I pay is far too high. It sucks the life out of me and my teachers do not care. (I swear that they torture me on purpose.) I end up spending my Saturdays dreading having to do my projects on Sunday. The state just keeps passing laws that continue to raise the bar, but don’t help students learn. What frusturates me the most is that all the work is done for nothing. I end up learning so little after working so hard. I can’t even explore interesting topics, I have to work specifically on one thing. My teacher finished her curiculum early and decided to create a massive project that was due two weeks later (which just happened to be the day my 20 minute english presentation was due, on an African poet!).

This is ridiculous!

A Seventh-Grader’s Views: Homework Indirectly Ruins my Life

A 7th grader from Virginia wrote to me:

Hello, my name is Chris and I’m in the 7th grade. I currently attend an IB (International Baccalaureate) World School (also known as a “smart kids school”). I enjoy the aggressive strategy of education IB schools have, and also like the curriculum of my county and state.

However, we are supposed to set away 2 HOURS for homework every single day, but some days, that is just not enough time. Sometimes, I get back from school and I work on homework all the way until I go to bed, with few breaks. To be honest, I’m a very good student in my school, so I like to take my time on assignments; it’s obviously not an educational problem. Homework indirectly ruins my life. Sure, I have lots of time to do stuff on weekends/breaks, but when I have homework there’s not much time to do anything. I do not like getting 0’s on homework grades, so there’s no choice about it.

I have little time to spend time with my friends, family, or even have time to do something fun when I get loaded on homework some days. Projects - don’t even get me started. Projects slam me in the face left and right. Finally when homework loosens up, I get a huge project I need to focus on. Don’t get me wrong - school is fun and interesting; but working your butt off should be done at school, not when you should be spending time with people close to you at home.

From a South Dakota Middle Schooler

A middle-schooler from South Dakota has this to say about homework:

Homework: It’s Not Worth It
Homework: it stresses you out, causes writer’s cramps, and simply takes up your time to relax and be yourself. Teachers assign homework because they believe that it builds character, academic skills, and work habits. What homework really builds is an immense pile of textbooks and paper resembling a mountain. For middle school students, homework should be less than one hour per night, but the average middle-school student has 1-2 and a half hours of homework. If you have less than an hour of homework each day, you really don’t know how blessed you are.

Research says this: Homework demands limit the amount of time students spend in sports and community projects. Too much homework may cause students to dislike the subject, or even learning. Students may also get confused by their parents’ teaching methods because they may be different from the teacher’s teaching methods. Homework also may (believe it or not) encourage cheating.
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Guest Blogger: A High School Sophomore’s Essay on Homework

A sophomore at a Rhode Island public high school sent me this essay he wrote for English class. When he’s not doing homework, the student likes to do yoga and is a member of two clubs, People Respecting Individual Differences and Equality (formally known as the Gay-Straight Alliance) and Students for Social and Environmental Justice.

Homework Should be Optional
by a Rhode Island Sophomore

The time a student spends in school is generally six and a half hours. The bus ride can be anywhere from five minutes to over an hour, each way. The day begins at seven thirty-two in the morning, with a twenty-two minute lunch and a five minute break between classes. And when the student reaches home, more work awaits him or her: some times many hours, if the student does all of his/her homework. Yet, this nightly practice is often unneeded and causes much unnecessary tension and stress. Homework should not be mandatory; rather, it should be optional.
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From My Mailbox: Letter from an Anonymous Freshman

Do you have any advice for this anonymous freshman?

Dear Sara,

You’ve devoted a lot of space on your website to the issues surrounding homework in elementary and secondary schools, but I couldn’t find any information on what to do when the onslaught continues into college. As a college student, I continue to experience the detrimental effects of excessive homework described in your articles (I had to sideline an independent study that I had wanted to pursue for years because I was falling behind on my homework). Since parents aren’t expected to have much of a role in the college curriculum (no PTA) and students are expected to be more independent, what can I do? How can I organize other overworked students? How do I raise the issue without looking like I’m just trying to get out of doing work (my parents are in another state and can’t vouch for me on this one)? I’ve been in college for less than a year, and I’m already exhausted. Help!

Eleventh-Grade Stress, New York City Style

New York magazine’s recent issue, “Peace and Quiet,” profiled an eleventh-grade student at Dalton, a private school in Manhattan. This is how the student describes his life:

Especially around college-application time, things get pretty stressful at school. In addition to all my academics, I take creative writing, percussion ensemble, and jazz ensemble. I don’t have time to play a sport, so I have to take a gym class, but the only time I can go to the gym is during my lunch period. Last month, in addition to regular homework, I had one week to write an English essay, a history essay, a creative-writing piece, a math project, and a proposal for a Spanish presentation—plus study for a math test, a Spanish test, and a physics test. Sometimes I’ll eat pure coffee beans to stay awake, but there is no day when I get to sleep late. Saturday mornings I get up at eight for driver’s ed, and Sundays I get up at eight for SAT prep. I have to utilize what I like to call “the nap factor.” I usually take naps on my couch. If I’m staying late at school, the English lab is pretty comfy.

I make sure I see friends on the weekends so I don’t fall into a dark spiral of depression brought on by hours of homework and a lack of human interaction. But probably the thing that helps me most is playing drums. I’ve been playing for a while, in school (as my art credits) and outside of school, in my band, Ibid. It’s nice to be able to rent out practice space for a few dollars and just beat the crap out of the drums for a while. It’s even nicer to think that beating the crap out of the drums might help me get into college.

Guest Blogger: An Eleventh Grader Speaks Out

You might have noticed that I am featuring more guest writers than I did last year. So whether you’re a student, teacher, mental health professional, or parent, please send me your thoughts. Because I think it’s important to see students’ work in its original form, I don’t edit it or correct grammar and spelling errors. I don’t think teachers see enough of students’ original work. (Too much of it has been gone over by parents, peers, or tutors before students pass their work in.)

Today’s guest blogger is Jordan Swogger, a junior at Calvary Christian Academy in Cresaptown, Maryland. Jordan wrote and presented this speech for his Speech/Writing class. Needless to say, his classmates loved it.


by Jordan Swogger, 11th grader

Did you know that in 1948, a national survey of high school students showed that the average amount of time spent on homework was three to four hours per week? In 1957, the American government became concerned that U.S. students were not keeping up with their fellow Russian students, and so made a movement to increase homework and studies in order to catch up with the Russians, who had launched the first artificially made satellite, Sputnik, into space. After the end of the communist crisis in the 1990’s, the U.S. was still a strong advocate for keeping up the large amounts of homework, and so continued to give students much more homework. In my opinion, the level of homework given today is far more than is necessary, and is bordering on the unhealthy.

My problem with homework is not in the idea of homework itself, but in the amount of it, and what we are required to do. Also, homework takes up time. Think about it for a second. We get up in the morning. On average, we spend seven hours in school, not counting extra-curricular activities and events, or after-school Read the rest of this entry »

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