Negative Impacts Of Homework Overloading
Imagine coming home from school with a lighter backpack. Imagine being able to have leisure time to yourself. Imagine having ‘a more play, less work’ attitude. According to a study that was done in 2014, Korea’s education system ranks first place. They give their students the least amount of homework possible, yet the students score well. The purpose of homework is to aid in reinforcing concepts that have already been learned. Clearly, we should reduce the amount of homework being assigned as it causes stress, creates isolation and promotes a negative attitude towards school.
To begin with, an increase in homework leads to an increase in stress, which then results in a decrease in learning. To illustrate this, students’ physical health is affected negatively due to staying long hours after bedtime. Not only does this reduce their amount of sleep, but it overexerts the body’s ability, causing serious illnesses such as sleep deprivation. According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, young students need between eight and ten hours of sleep each day in order to perform well in school. Similarly, students are affected mentally when they are overwhelmed with homework. As a result, this leads to mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. When students were asked about their primary source of stress, fifty-six percent considered homework as their main stressor. In addition, students are not able to relax since they face pressure of completing homework.
In fact, their minds are constantly thinking about finishing their homework within a limited amount of time. Therefore, by reducing the amount of homework assigned, students’ lives can be less stressful. Furthermore, too much homework isolates students from the rest of the world. For instance, students miss out on important family occasions due to homework. This creates a weak relationship between family members. Likewise, students are not able to spend time with their friends. As a result of this, students are becoming socially awkward as they lose their social skills. Moreover, students do not get involved in extracurricular activities since they lack the time to participate.
For this reason, students have no passion about their hobbies or talents, shutting them out of the real world. Hence, students should be socially engaged rather than being confined to their education. Finally, excessive amounts of homework creates a negative attitude towards learning in school. Initially, students work with enthusiasm however, become disengaged as the amount of homework piles up. To emphasize this, forty percent of high school students report that they feel disconnected from school. Trust me, it is very frustrating when you are required to learn in school for about six hours, and repeat the process after school. This simply leads to demotivation.
Additionally, students believe that it is acceptable to not follow the rules. To demonstrate this, they reach a point where they cannot complete their homework, which leads to procrastination. Consequently, they do poorly when it comes to examinations because of the lack of preparation. In some cases, students’ parents try to complete their child’s homework, which obviously defeats the purpose of homework. When school is supposed to be a fun place to learn, an overload of homework can convey a negative attitude to the learning environment. Overall, teachers should limit the amount of homework that is being assigned without entirely scrapping it. The adverse effects of homework outweigh the advantages of homework. It stresses students, alienates them from reality and discourages learning. Perhaps following the Koreans’ learning style may bring a change to the education system here in our local schools.
