The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article this week by Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, a clinical psychologist, family therapist, and author of, among other things, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life. I was excited to read Dr. Gottlieb’s article because he talks about what students themselves can do to deal with the homework problem. Only days earlier, I’d been asked by Teen Vogue what teens can do. It’s unfortunate that we don’t hear very much from students, since they’re the people most affected by homework and education policies. (On this blog, I’ve posted a poem by a teenager and a few students have left comments, but I’d love to have more entries by students. So spread the word.)
I asked Dr. Gottlieb whether I could post his article and he graciously told me I could. I hope you like it as much as I did.
Inside Out | Teenagers Drastically Need More Downtime
By Dan Gottlieb
To all adolescents,
You need more time.
Ninety percent of the high school students I speak with say they are under great stress. Most of it is time-related, and much of that is a combination of too much homework and too little sleep. You need time to sleep (physicians say nine hours a night at your age), to read whatever you want to read, to dream about your future, to just hang out. You and I are not the only ones who know this. A new study by local pediatrician Kenneth Ginsburg demonstrates how important unstructured play (a.k.a. hanging out) is for children’s development. The same is true for adolescents.
Free time fosters creativity and emotional development. It gives you the opportunity to deepen relationships and learn about yourself. Without free time, I worry that you could grow into adulthood valuing yourself more for your performance than for your humanity – therefore putting yourself at greater risk of self-absorption, depression and anxiety disorders.
Mental health professionals all over the country are concerned, but nothing seems to change. Perhaps, in talking to adults, we’ve been addressing the wrong people.
So, how can you create more time? Let’s start with homework. The three to four hours a night I’m told is typical is way too much. Many well-respected educators say students should be assigned about 10 minutes of homework per grade (20 minutes in second grade, etc.).
For seniors in high school, that means two hours or so a night. Harris M. Cooper, a psychology professor at Duke University and author of The Battle Over Homework, agrees; so does the National Parent Teacher Association. In their new book, The Case Against Homework, Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish find no evidence that homework helps elementary school students at all. And the U.S. Department of Education has said elementary students should be given a maximum of five math problems a night. Yet many children are sent home with dozens of math problems and words to memorize.
Convinced? Here’s what you can do about it:
At each school, form a committee to deal with this issue. Check at least one of the above books out of the library and start gathering evidence for your argument.
Have every student on the committee document how much time he or she is spending on each subject – and tell each teacher how much time it all adds up to. Many teachers may not be aware of how much homework you get from other teachers.
Try to get parents on your committee. I know many parents resent all the homework because it virtually eliminates precious family time. But parents should not take the lead in this project. They should be there to support you because this is your project, not theirs.
Set up a meeting with school administrators. Show them your data. Ask them for evidence of the benefits provided by this amount of homework. Perhaps you could begin a dialogue about how much homework is reasonable and relevant – and how it could be coordinated among teachers.
Ask administrators if they would designate a “homework coordinator” so students are not buried by multiple large assignments.
If you believe you are not being heard, try getting more parents to join your committee, and then bring them – and your argument – to the PTA.
Finally, keep me posted on your successes and failures so we can continue the discussion.
Any good education teaches you how to navigate your way in life. If, when you graduate, you see injustice in the world, I hope you will feel a sense of responsibility backed by the power to do something about it.
Begin now. If you believe your homework assignments are unjust, do something about them. Do it for yourself, for your future, and for the younger children behind you. You might end up changing the culture.
Stop Homework 
I’m in 7th grade… ugh…. homework. The abomination that has caused me to lose my love of school, make me go to sleep way beyond my normal hours, and cause me to have a migraine every, single, day!
I mean, maybe it’s just me, I probably don’t get as much homework as many other people. But I am SLOW when doing it. My brother causes everyone to yell in the house, which totally puts my concentration off by a mile. Then I stress out over the projects. We have to turn in a daily reading log every week, which is harder to do than you would expect, a book report every month, and a 2-5 page essay every 9 weeks.
I could probably finish most of these quickly but i’ve been struggling in math now because we’re doing something COMPLETELY different from last year. Added onto that, concentrating in class is no easy task. My classmates talk about drugs, sex, prostitutes, “dukes” (butts), “cootchis” (vaginas), etc. I can hardly concentrate when the girl next to me is giggling her butt off about some guys “size”. Absolutely revolting.
Anyways…. homework is pretty much daily. I could probably finish it in 1:30 – 3 hours or so if i wasn’t so distracted. I’ve been thinking about suicide on 3 occasions… I don’t like seeing my grades go down because of something that I will never learn from…
Sorry if my wording was bad… I wrote this at 12:00 A.M. while doing homework…
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not to mention all of the extra pressure added on by coachs and parents
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Hello, I am 14 years old and in grade nine and I completely agree with this, but the only problem that I face in making this committee is getting people to join
Any pointers would be great help
Thanks Shane
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Lately, we have been getting loads of homework cuz apparently after a holiday, there’s no time to cover up the syllable. and i can’t catch up. i ve been falling behind and now there’s so much i feel like my head’s gonna explode. i like homework. they should just have a limit cuz i don’t even want to go to school anymore. it sucks nowadays. all the teachers do is scream when i cant get my work done. maybe they should just look at the amount they are giving.>_<
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Wow, thank you for writing this article. I’m in high school myself, and to be honest I would still appreciate it if my schedule was anything like that, haha. It’s only the first month of school and for the past few weeks I’ve been getting home around 4:00, then nonstop work until I go to bed which is around 2:00 am. Not surprisingly, the majority of this comes from my one AP class.
I’m worried about how all this will affect my future. I want to be a music teacher myself after college, so if course I am very involved in our school band which includes 0 period at 7 am and soon in the future, pit orchestra and private lessons. With my slow work ability, I’m worried how I’m going to be able to manage all this. My sleep deprivation had also taken a toll on my grades, me being used to being at the top with a 4.0. Now I have already started the year with a poor note.
If classes, AP in particular, are supposed to help you in the future, what are they doing killing you with work that makes you fail your other classes and not give you time for what really matters?
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At the time of writing this it is 11:05 pm on a Saturday. I started my homework around 7:00 pm and finished about 5 minutes ago. School started 4 days ago and I already have 4 hours of homework!!! I’m a senior in high school and the past couple years in school has been built around quantity instead of quality. I spend so much time worrying about finishing the homework and focusing on pointless projects that I forget to learn the subject! When a student asked my math teacher why we don’t have class time to work she said she’s paid to teach not give us work time. What kind of bull is this? I’ve fallen asleep numerous times in class the past couple years and when caught the teachers always say school is not for sleeping. Than why is home for doing what SHOULD BE schoolwork. Instead of producing smart and happy individuals, schools are pumping out zombified, depressed young adults who can barf up facts and not know what any of it means, but hey, as long they got a B+ on that test they took in the 10th grade, right.
If there is gonna be homework,I say around 5 minutes max for each subject, and no more.
Sorry for the rant but I really just needed to blow some steam off.
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I’m a high school junior and I am so completely overwhelmed. At the school I go to, you are expected to take AP classes if you’re on an advanced track. I’m currently taking 3 and although it’s ultimately my choice to take these, we are pressured into thinking we won’t get into college if we don’t – especially since it’s a big school. I’m extremely frustrated because my AP teachers like to say that for AP classes, most of the work is on you.This is fine. What isn’t fine is the fact that I have to sit in their classes for an hour and a half every day doing meaningless group activities and watching videos. It’s such a waste of time! Why do I need to come to school so much if the teachers are just for reinforcement? I can reinforce it myself if I can teach it to myself.
After school, I used to be on two sports teams. I didn’t go out for them this year because 3 hours every day plus so much homework had me stressed to the point of tears. I even had physical problems. I did end up getting a part time job because my parents make me feel horrible about using their money. The job is only 3 and a half to 4 hours a night, usually only 2 (occasionally 3) school nights a week. It isn’t physically demanding at all.
I feel completely hopeless because I need to spend every waking moment outside of my job on eating, personal care, and mostly homework. And even with this being the case, I CAN’T FINISH EVERYTHING. I always blow off something every night. Normally this happens when it’s 12 AM and I know that if I go to bed then I’ll at least get 5 and a half hours of sleep. My average is 6. Every time I hear that teenagers need 9, I laugh.
I have math first and I struggle not only to concentrate but also to keep my eyes open because I’m so exhausted. I’m irritable all the time with my family since my nerves are always shot from doing schoolwork from 7:30 to 5, then 8:30 to 12. Don’t get me wrong; that’s no excuse. I never have time to exercise anymore and I feel horribly unhealthy – not that I’ve gained weight, I just feel different. I try to stay involved in my church but some nights I have to bring homework to youth group. I have awful test anxiety and I used to be the one who was never nervous for a test. If I want to do something with a friend, my parents make me feel guilty about it. “How much time have you spent on homework this week?” “Your grade in AP Chem is a 78, you need to bring that up.”
And the teachers do not get it at all. They act like they’ve done more than their part by spending five hours over the weekend grading tests and use that as an excuse for their own laziness. Really? Because we spend way more than that on homework and we aren’t getting paid. My school doesn’t allow extra credit so if you screw up, you screw up. There are days when I’ve stayed home to catch up and others when I wish I could get sick so I’d have a good excuse (You get a detention after 3 absences). I know if I do that, though, I’ll end up farther behind. Kids come to school sick for fear of missing assignments and ending up with two nights’ worth of homework when they get back. Unhealthy and dangerous, but who can blame them?
The school system sucks. The worst part about it is that I’m not even learning. I’m completing busywork, cramming for tests, and nothing is sticking. I hate to sound like such a whiny teenager but I don’t know how much longer I can take this. Whatever happened to family, friends, and knowledge? They’re gone, and youth today is a generation of mindless, test-taking robots with anxiety and depression.
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Hello,
I actually go to a unique private school in which I attend classes on Monday and Thursday, and the other days I work at home. This might sound nice, but it’s not. I am given so much homework and tests to study for that I don’t know how to handle it. The word “weekend” is something of the past. For me, it’s all week. There is never a break. Algebra is my bad subject; it takes me two to three hours during weekdays to finish, as well as much of Saturday and sometimes Sunday. Meanwhile, the other subjects are looming in the distance; I actually don’t even have time to be writing this comment–there is so much work to be done! And even though my parents are incredible and try hard to help me with my homework, I still feel so overwhelmed and stressed out. I have dreams about schoolwork, and often wake up in the middle of the night for fear I will oversleep. Actually, at times, I believe that death would be better than the prospect of going on this way. I foster an extreme passion for creative writing and an interest in piano, as well as other arts. But I hardly ever get time to pay these activities any attention; instead of being artistic, as I long to be, I have to waste my life away writing up linear equations! I’m so sick of it! Is there any way your committee can help private schools?
Madeline Faith Morgan
Representing the lost and suffering, overworked, exhausted spirits of private high school
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Dear Madeline Faith Morgan,
You are lucky that your parents are incredible. I hope you have talked to them about how “death would be better than the prospect of going on this way.” That is a serious statement and very troubling. I’m very sure you’re parents would want to know that’s how you’re feeling. Maybe you can find a school environment that works better for you OR perhaps they can help you change the current environment so that it suits your needs. Has your school shown the film Race To Nowhere? IF not, you might see whether it would be willing to. Or you can watch it yourself. It’s showing on a lot of public stations this week. Take a look here to find it near you: . At the very least, though, please please please talk to someone about your feelings. If you want, feel free to write me privately. I can be reached at sara@stophomework.com
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Haha are you guys really complaining about 2 hours of homework? Wait till college.
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I agree with all of this. I’m working on an English assignment currently & it’s on the amount of homework assigned. I’ve never read anything more true.
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I live in Ireland and I am thirteen years old. I am currently sick on a Friday ,and I am still expected to do homework and study in ALL if my subjects !! Please ban homework ????
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I have to do 21 pieces of homework plus study and I’m only 13
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I’m a teenager and honestly, homework is a huge pain. It causes so much anxiety and some kids in my school have jobs, which are hard to maintain with 3-5 hours of homework every night, plus an extra huge load on weekends. The little down-time we even get after school is spent rushing to do homework and finish assignments, and the weekends are spent stressing to finish all the extra work due for Monday. It’s completely unfair and stressful, especially with studying and having to actually do the work well. All of this of course on top of the 7 hours of school each day and the lack of sleep we all seem to get because of staying up late doing all the work.
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I’m in 10th grade and have roughly 4 1/2 hours of homework a night. This is, as you can imagine, horrible on my mental state. I feel guilty, depressed, and stressed out of my mind. And while I’m in 3 AP classes, 2 of them give my less than 30 min of homework a night! Why do my AP classes give me less homework than my regular classes? But that other advanced class, that’s the class that gives me an hour and a half of homework per night! In one class! I understand I’m the one who chose these classes, but I’m learning more in my other advanced classes than I am in that one, and I’m getting less homework! What usually happens is that the teacher spends the hour teaching things that either don’t stick or aren’t important anyway, and what would be considered classwork in a normal class is given as homework, and you don’t have any help from the teacher because you’re at home! By the time you could ask you’re teacher for help, the assignment would be late and you could only get a quarter credit anyway! To top it all off, the teacher goes ahead and grades things she never even told us about! When taking a test over an article, she passes out an article for everyone to reference to while they analyze it. The problem is, not only is the article the writings of a mad man, she graded us on annotating the article without telling anyone! Everyone in the class got an F on that test because of that. Other classes are bad, too. Giving kids about 30-40 minutes of homework per class every night. Because I don’t have enough time in the day to finish all these, and the ones I do are usually not completed correctly, I have abysmal grades in all my classes, which in turn makes my parents think I’m lazy and restrict my ability to hang out with friends or do anything recreational. This of course stresses me out even more, and… you can see where this is going. I only wish that I could still drop this class but it’s far too late in the semester for that, and if I continue my current path I’l most likely fail 10th grade, and doom my entire future because whoever designed the school system is a big enough idiot to decide it was a good idea to entrust a person’s entire life on how smart they are when they’re 17.
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I agree totally! I am in 8th grade, and I work on homework from the second I get home until 10 at night! I never get enough sleep or have any free time. I’m always tired and stressed terribly. It’s hard to balance 4-5 hours of homework, Leadership Team, Student Council, the play, piano lessons and other things. I have 7 English projects, all assigned at the same time, and most of them are not even remotely related to English or the book, The Giver, that they’re supposed to be about. I am also learning the least in English, which happens to be the class that gives the most homework.
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What’s the point of homework in Middle School? Preparing you for High School, right? What’s the point of High School? Preparing you for college, right? What’s college for? Preparing for a job, right? People don’t use 3/4 of the stuff on the homework they had in school on a job.
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I can very honestly say that I have learned more from playing competitive Pokémon than I have learned from English class this year.
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This year im 13, in my first year of high school (year 8)… And I feel horrible. Just drained, empty, my face feels sore, my mouth feels weird cause I NEVER smile, I ache, I take at least 1 hour to finish homework some nights yet 5 hours others… I have absolutely no creativity left in me for art at all.. I never sleep because of the endless responisbilities I have at home, (Both parents working FULL TIME!) .. I need help. I feel like i’ve lost almost all my insanity now…
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Dear Insomniac,
Please find someone to talk to–whether it’s a parent, friend, school teacher, counselor, neighbor…. No adult in your life would want you to feel so miserable and hopefully someone will help you figure out what can give so that you have a happier existence.
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Since I am from the UK my schooling system is a little different, but I do believe homework is still a huge issue; on a normal day I get off school at 4.05. It takes me around 30 to 40 minutes to get home. When I get in the door I instantly do my homework. I manage to do half of it, then I have dinner. When I finish dinner, I do whatever is left and then shower. By the time I’m in my pyjamas its 9 o’clock. I go to bed at 10.30. I only get one hour and a half of breathing time, and that time is spent on the couch because I’m too exhausted to do anything else. Since I do sports every day, this means my schedule is pushed back an hour. So from Tuesday until Friday, I have a 30 minute break before going to bed.
I am only fifteen years old, but despite my age I have already found three grey strands in my hair. I cannot sleep at night, and when I do it is restless and for a short period of time. As well as that – and you might find this very alarming – I am throwing up out of sheer exhaustion. Not because I want to be skinny, not because I want to seem ‘cool’, but because I’m so stressed by school. Here’s another terrifying fact; I am not the only girl suffering through this. All the girls in my years were talking together, and we actually got onto the subject of school. One of my friends asked, “Does anyone find that their throwing up a lot this year?”
Everyone agreed to it.
Even though the stress is making me violently sick, the teachers just pile it on. And since we are all in 3rd year, this means we are to study for the Junior Cert (see here if you don’t know what that is: https://www.examinations.ie/index.php?l=en&mc=ca&sc=sc). The only time I have been able to study is on a Saturday and Sunday for an hour. Why an hour? Because I have to dedicate the rest of the weekend into doing projects and even more homework.
Why are teachers doing this to us? Isn’t it enough to feel the stress of upcoming exams? Why must you push us so hard that we feel this horrible? Because of the stress I constantly snap at my mother, I am always tired and sick, and I have zero creativity. I used to love reading books (I’d read around a hundred per year) and since this year has begun I haven’t read a thing. I can’t read a word as I’m either too drained or don’t have the time. The last book to my favourite series came out at the end of September and I haven’t even touched it. I no longer see my friends outside of school since there also too busy with homework. I no longer spend time with my family. I no longer do art or writing or anything. My life has become a boring cycle of school, sports, homework, eat, and sleep. Because of this I am the definition of miserable.
So if a teacher is reading this, please ask yourself; why must you push children and teenagers so far as to make them physically ill?
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I totally agree! If it isn’t bad enough that we have to go to school for 8 hours but we are expected to do about 3 more hours of work too! Homework in general is bad enough but when all but one of the core classes you’re taking are Pre- AP and AP classes? It’s impossible! I literally have not had a single day since school started in August to just sit back and relax! Mostly because I’ve gotten so used to doing nothing but homework and worrying about my grades that I’m literally not capable of thinking about anything else! It’s almost like I’m addicted to stressing over school!!!! If you guys have any advice on how to convince myself to just take a little while to relax I would really appreciate it!!
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I also have to do so much homework and especially study for tests which I don’t like. But most of the time I do about 2-5 hours of studying and homework. I do have some days that I don’t have anything to do but those are about two nights a week which is pretty lucky for me considering what some people have to do. All this work is making me think about how much work I’ll have to do in college
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Definitely agreeing. I’m an 8th grader, and I’ve never felt more depressed / stressed in my life than I am now. I don’t feel like a kid anymore, because it’s all academics, grades, and homework. My parents are totally understanding of me, which is a good thing, but for one thing, my dad told me he never took Algebra II (which is my current math class) until Junior year in High School! The teachers at my school are okay, but they assume that we learn nothing in class or something, seeing as how I’ve got about 2-3 hours usually every night. And for one thing, I can’t stand artistic projects. I’ve got moderately-high OCD, and every project I do has to be meticulous. Except I’m not a good artist, at least it takes me hours to create something good. And even when I think I can’t do any better, I don’t get the much deserved 100%! The teachers I have say that they are preparing us for the future, but how much worse could it get? I believe I am a smart kid, but this homework is not improving my knowledge whatsoever, it’s rather making me get annoyed of it. I decided I’d stumble upon this at 11 at night while I’m still doing homework, just to see if the struggle has gone beyond me. Thanks for letting me vent a little, it’s just obnoxious.
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Im not completely against homework. I am a 9th grader and attend a k-12 Charter school in California. I can agree homework is stressful and pointless, but maybe if the teacher knew and saw that we could do it then we wouldn’t. Now a days teachers are lazy and hand out “packets” and then check the usual a-d & e-h. My conflations is if you don’t understand it. If you don’t then you can practice it at home which is the real meaning of homework, practice. There is no point in practicing something if you know how to do it. I also truly believe that this will make students attend early and pay attention in class because nobody wants 2+ hours of homework. I am currently doing 4+ hours of homework DAILY. But I also have time to fit things in. My motion is to stop homework unless needed!
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hw is to stressfull and we spend 7 hours a day at school doing WORK so why give us hw when we get home from doing school work lol it makes me just wanna rip all my hw in half
But I have to do it because if I don’t I get bad bad bad bad bad grade! ???????????????? homework is point less I already know how to do it because I did it in class????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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I’m a sophomore in high school. I definitely agree with this. I do see quite a few people saying that homework is pointless and doesn’t teach you anything. I would disagree with that part of it. Homework is actually meant for the teachers to see if you understand the content that they’re teaching you. Also, it gives you extra practice for each skill that is given. Now, the amount that students are given? Blasphemy. I, for one, think that students should have small amounts of homework and not hours worth. I go to online school, where I have 6-7 hours worth of homework each day, on top of online lectures and meetings with teachers. I think more time should be spent with students 1 on 1 to get their understanding, not sending them home with piles of paper in their backpacks. That just seems lazy of the teachers, in my opinion.
If I am ever a teacher, I will not assign any homework, however there might be something every once in a while that is required by the school district.
Sonic, out.
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Homework is completely unnecessary. As of now, in 8th Grade, it isn’t a matter of time, but a matter of substance. The homework we are given hasn’t assisted me a single time for an upcoming quiz, assessment, or test. Rather, it sears into my head the longer it takes for me to get to it, and being in a play at the moment with five rehearsals to opening night isn’t exactly an abundance of joyful emotions. Let’s take a look at Finland, which has, or at least had, one of the highest ranked educational systems on the planet. What was one of their most famous and renowned policies? NO HOMEWORK. I think I’ve made a fair case.
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3 to 4 hours would be a blessing right now…I currently do an average of 6.5 hours a night. That is not just some random number I’m throwing out, I’ve been tracking the amount I’ve had per day since the school year started. Its ranged from 4 hours to 10 per day. Ten. Which means some days I wake up at 5, go to school until 2, and if I skip dinner, chores and anything else, I get to sleep at 12. There needs to be a change, and my friends have started a petition to limit homework in my town. Nothing is going to change, but it’s nice to dream.
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As a junior in high school, I believe that homework is actually kind of helpful. For example, I go home and practice the math that I learned that day. If I cannot understand, then in the morning I go to my teacher and he will explain how to do the problems that I don’t understand. However, I do agree with this article that there should be 5 or less problems on how to do a certain skill before moving on. No need to use overkill on amount of problems. (If anyone has to take IB classes like me, they understand what I mean by overkill.) I hate when my Spanish teacher gives homework that has nothing to do with the days activities. I will do the homework, but once I’m done, I forget about it. So although I hate homework, I understand that it does have its uses, however the homework should be pertinent to that day’s lesson, enhance that person’s learning, and be 5 problems or less on a certain topic/skill.
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I am so sleep deprived right now. Four hours of algebra a night is too much for some 12 year old kid. WTH.
#UpTilMidnight(literally)
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Homework is a piece of shit
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I’m only a freshman and I’ve already had to stay home from school at least twice because there’s WAY too much homework and I’m too tired to even function and go to school. Homework, honestly, is just a waste of time. If we even do have homework, I feel like we shouldn’t have more than an hour or maybe even half an hour per night. People always talk about how important sleep and a balanced life is. We can’t have either of them if we’re at school for 7-8 hours and STILL have 3 or more hours of homework. I think it’s ridiculous and incredibly stupid to have this much homework. Because of the massive homework load, I find myself staying up past midnight every single day, and sleep-deprived. Homework just makes us more stressed and unhappy and hate going to school.
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Has anyone forgotten that we are STILL kids?? Homework takes away having fun, and just hanging out with family and friends. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to skip birthday parties and hang outs and family events because I have too much homework. Homework takes the life out of us. We need time to think about and just enjoy life. Because of homework, we can’t have fun anymore, and we don’t have time to find ourselves. Homework is a stupid way for teachers to be mean to us. We already go to school for a majority of our day. Why give us so much more work to do? Homework is draining and I think that it’s stupid how middle school and high school students have so much homework these days. The amount of homework is utterly and completely ridiculous and just stupid.
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I have wanted to solve this problem since I began middle school because I try to enjoy learning but when your up around 2am doing homework and have to wake up at 6 am it’s a nightmare. I am now in 9th grade and I’ve got to say that I’ve done so much work it’s rediculous. Today i had two math assignments about 30min, biology Cornell notes 30min, study for Spanish quiz at least 20min, read 5 chapter of tale of a two cities and 5 questions for each chapter 1hr, and geography notes 30min. Then I get to go to bed and wake up more tired then I was before and go to school and hope I don’t have as much homework but I always do. It’s a never ending nightmare!!!
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I am a highschool student who takes IBDP. I have classes from 7:45 until 4:00pm. Not only do I spend over 6 hours in school doing work I also have a ton of more homework that is given to us do at home that could take me all night to do. On top of that I still have a tutor just so I could keep up with the lesson. I feel so drained from life an no motivation to do anything anymore and am to the point where I have completely given up on myself and are letting my grades drop 😦
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homework is just too much after school. Giving up play time is not good. And, if you finish homework first it gets too late to go outside. There is nothing good about it … teachers are lazy and this becomes a means to give students a grade. Nothing positive about that
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Thank you! here at the GT academy i should get 1 hour of homework seeing as the grade I am in but I get four! this leads to procrastination, because I do not want to spend that much time, and when the breaks roll around I am loaded down with year – long projects…
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I’m still up until 11:36 and I have Algebra Homework with 12 question’s that require a graph, table, and this stuff we haven’t even learned in class yet! I still have around 8 more questions to go, and after this I have english homework, then I have to fill out a sport’s form. This is extremely not fair that we deal with this every night. I noticed that my math teacher is the only math teacher in the school that gives out homework EVERY night. 😦
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Homework stresses me out the most. Having to do 2-3 hours of them is just a nuisance. On weekdays the average hours I get of sleep is 5 hours. I never get time to myself these days and its aggravating.
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Hi, I’m currently a sophomore in High school and have spent approximately 12-13 years of my life in a private school, but have recently made the switch to a public school. Throughout my years in my private schools I’ve found myself going sleepless and stressed out literally all the time, which was primarily caused by very limited time, after school activities, and numerous amounts of unecessary homework. Although my education received in private school has proven to be very useful to me now, I still do not beleive in the motives behind the mounds of homework. Now that I’m in a public school I have come to enjoy my studies more, but unfortunately I am still receiving the same amount of homework each night, which is around 5 hours on average. This may be due to me taken mostly honors classes, but even so it may not be completely necessary. Another thing we ought to consider is the fact that the individual worksheets and studying istelf is not as big of a deal, but when you add in all the tasks required of you from all your classes together, and before/after school activities along with anything else your involved with tallies up and before you know it your entire day has gone by without any free time implemented at all. Not to mention if I don’t manage to get all A’s and high B’s every six weeks and still remain active in everything else, my parents will punish me by taking away the few preveliges I have such as my personal computer and video game systems. Aren’t my parents supposed to encourage me to do well instead of condemn me to endless nights with no sleep?
-Thanks for making this article and to all who stand up for what is good
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8=====D
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Thank you 🙂 I get yelled at for not getting enough sleep when i wake up at 5:30 to catch the bus and get home by 5:00 because of a sport, then do homework until 12-2am. The teachers dont know our life.
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I am a high school sophomore and am completely overwhelmed with homework. there is also the fact that i am in basketball, a musical, a volunteer club, and soccer, so i never get any downtime, over the weekend i am swamped with chores and things i was unable to do over the week because if homework and activities. homework should be banned.
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Im a junior in highschool, taking two AP classes(Apush and ApLang), and this has been the worst school year of my entire life and the final exams and EOC’s haven’t even come yet. I spend about 7 hours working on homework when I get home, above the 2 1/2 hours of babysitting(not by choice) when kids are constantly around me and I can’t concentrate or even begin homework. Just finished a DBQ essay on Thursday for Apush that was due Friday, and on Friday, I was assigned ANOTHER Dbq essay that is due tomorrow as well as 58 index cards with 3-5 facts about a term, as well as two precalculus assignments that include problems that have never been addressed in class(it’s the teachers first year of teaching)so I don’t even know where or how to start on that, and then in the midst of all that I have to worry about studying for 3 other classes for their tests tomorrow. I have never been so stressed out in my life, I’ve lost my appetite, my mood has turned for the worst i don’t even want to hang out with my friends because when I have time available it’s my only alone time for the week. If I even get any because there’s loads of homework on weekends too. I have no life, my stress level is through the roof…to the point where I have to stay home at least once a week to escape it. I don’t mind spending even an hour on homework but when it’s everyday for the same amount of time I sit in school, it’s ridiculous. Something seriously needs to change because I don’t know how long my mental state will stay stable
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I totally agree. I have a crazy hard teacher. I usually start my homework at 3:30-4:00 everyday. I go to bed at 10:00 and sometimes I don’t even finish my homework because I have to go to bed. One of the issues is, I never enjoy myself. I have panic attacks almost every week because of stress. I miss out on so much because of school work. One of my classmates missed a party, I missed a party, and I had to skip out on going to the beach. I am so miserable and stressed 24/7 because of school. My insane amounts of homework is causing me to have family issues because I get so on edge and I miss so many things. I really can’t wait to graduate. (I’m in 8th grade). I also have back problems because I hunch over my work for so many hours at a time. I also almost never get time to exercise which I would totally do if I had the time.
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Im in elementary school and I think homework is a waste of time when you have to do stuff like taekwondo homework AND projects shouldn’t EVER have been made and I had a math project then my history teacher gives me a project I said HELL NO! I am just saying no more afterschool things ANYTIME!
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Im in 4th grade and I have to do so much stuff
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Alyssa Winckler, u shouldn’t contact them. At my school we have ‘study period’ and my teacher is always like 5 min late. The class in only 27 min. long. U can’t do anything. Riding the bus for 45 min is more effective.
But yeah I TOTALLY AGREE with everyone else. I get home at 4:10 and am doing homework until 9. That’s just math. I want to from a comitee, but I don’t have time. ????????????
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I’m in 7th grade and I occasionally sleep at 11:00 pm.
not only homework, but projects and quizzes and tests and essays and the list goes on….
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