Is Homework Necessary for Schoolchildren? Have you ever encountered a student who said the homework load has never bothered him? Traditionally, schools always believe in assigning homework because homework helps students review class lessons and be more productive at home. However, recently a school of thought contradicted this tradition. They believe that homework is not something we should require, as it does more harm than good.

We can see how scholars often take homework help to finish their homework rather than doing it themselves. So homework never guarantees authentic learning. So, we tried to find ten reasons why homework provides little academic benefit to young learners.

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Children have Little Time to Play

As the old saying goes: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” An overwhelming number of tasks only prove this point. Constant homework pressure restricts them to repetitive tasks, preventing them from having enough time to play.

Engaging in some childhood outdoor games helps children grow up to be more fit people. Play-based learning has also been scientifically proven to be the best education for young children. An hour of running and playing before sunset makes your muscles more flexible and your bones stronger. However, with the pressure of the task, they no longer have the range to play.

Interferes With Extracurricular Activities

Many parents plan to involve their children in extracurricular activities after school hours. For example, some want to take singing or dancing lessons, while others are interested in various sports. They can even be part of your school’s makeshift or tryout team. This provides a great respite after stressful school hours.

However, if they are constantly under pressure to do homework, they only have time for something else. Parents worry that their grades will drop, and they won’t be allowed to sign up for any extracurricular activities. It prevents them from complete and holistic development, and they tend to become one-dimensional in life.

Homework Discourages Going Out

Scientists always emphasize that young children need at least one hour of moderate to vigorous daily exercise for optimal physical and mental development. To do that, students need to get out or go to the gym regularly. But they are forced to prioritize their schoolwork.

Thus, they get stuck indoors and are deprived of much-needed exercise. Instead, they spend hours calculating complex sums, checking grammatical mistakes, and reading textbooks. Doing an inadequate physical activity for a prolonged period prevents them from developing well.

Students Need More Support and Supervision

When students encounter a problem, they can ask teachers for help. But at home, they lack tutoring and guidance while doing homework. They inevitably keep making mistakes when they can’t find anyone they can trust to clear their doubts.

Many students have working parents or are only children of their parents. As a result, they need more guidance while doing homework. Thus, they are forced to hire help with homework to avoid humiliation in the classroom the next day. Therefore, they need to learn the topic, and this impacts them during the final evaluation.

Homework Encourages Cheating

When young children are left unsupervised to do their homework, they try to cheat and complete it quickly. But they need more maturity to understand the harmful consequences of cheating, and they don’t learn anything.

What makes matters worse is that some parents help their children cheat by doing homework. This can help them get more points, but they never learn anything this way. Also, they grow up thinking that cheating is okay and promotes bad and unethical habits in them.

Discourages Having Hobbies

Many experts believe that children need to choose some hobbies from childhood. This is an excellent way for them to be productive outside of academia and helps them understand their passions and dislikes. But that is only likely when they have enough time after school. Since schools bombard them with insurmountable homework pressure, they don’t get a chance to pursue any hobbies.

This leads to the Wrong Work Culture

Students spend almost 7-8 hours of their day at school. Then, after they get home, they again have to spend another two to three hours doing homework. This makes young minds believe that this is the social norm.

As adults, we often argue that balancing work and life is crucial. However, we do not realize we are forced to believe this is normal from childhood. So it’s no surprise we continue this tradition and check emails even after signing up. So homework takes people away from their families.

Create Inequality Among Students

Some students come from families with their parents or an older sibling they trust to help with homework. Meanwhile, some pupils need to be self-sufficient to do their reading. This creates a disparity between students.

Students who have someone at home to help them are lucky as they receive ongoing guidance while doing homework. So, inevitably, your tasks contain fewer errors, and you get more points. But unfortunately, the rest of the students are undue disadvantaged and lag behind their peers.

A Constant Source of Stress and Anxiety

According to a Galloway, Connor and Pope study, 56% of students believe homework is the primary source of stress. Stress is something that can affect people regardless of their age. But, especially in children, it leaves a profound impact that negatively affects their mental sanity. As much as we say, “Let the kids be kids,” the stress of homework doesn’t allow them to act like kids. They are exposed to extreme pressure early and do not enjoy their childhood.

Solitary Learning Could Be Better

Homework means reviewing or learning something by yourself at home. But most educational theorists do not advocate solitary learning methods. They say that students learn best in a peer group through sociocultural learning. Different students express their ideas and opinions and listen to what others offer. Thus, they can absorb various ideas and refine their thought process.

But while they do homework, they do it alone. So they limit themselves to their ideas; therefore, doing homework with others is always a good idea.

Summarizing

Whether the task is good or bad will always be controversial. Homework is always excellent and reasonable. Well-planned homework can help students learn, but it’s also true that it never guarantees academic success. Analyze these arguments and decide for yourself if students can gain any academic benefit from homework.