Imagine you have just finished a 7-hour school day consisting of lessons, quizzes, lectures, lab reports, note-taking, science experiments, discussions, physical activity, and tests. Now, you have an after school activity that runs for 2 hours and already you cringe to think of the time rapidly slipping away. When the clock hits 5, you lug your heavy backpack to the bus stop and settle in for your hour-long commute back home. As soon as you enter your house, it’s straight to the desk to embark on the seemingly endless pile of homework. First, you need to tackle your history essay. Then, it's onto writing up a lab report and studying Latin flashcards. You flip through six chapters of Great Expectations, scribbling notes in the crowded margins. By now it's almost 10 and as you inhale dinner. Your eyes are growing more bleary whilst memorizing a Shakesperian sonnet. At a quarter to eleven, your dad fails to help you correct a math quiz. Now you’re in bed, stacks of reading material snuggled beside you as you calculate time-distance problems. Your family members are sleeping in their respective rooms, but you don’t even notice, too preoccupied with printing your Argentinian Wildlife paper amid yawns. The clock reads 12:47. It’s just as you're researching the benefits of free public transport for debate club that you close your eyes and succumb to the peaceful sands of sleep. 

Exhausting, wasn’t it? Cruel, even? The above is the overarching experience and daily struggles of an ambitious high schooler caused by an unwarranted and aggressive amount of homework. Now, I want to ask the question of why. Why is this much homework acceptable and in some cases encouraged? Why can’t homework policies be reformed or reduced? Today, I have a plea. A plea to all principals, teachers, parents, and administrators to reduce the amount of homework given to the students of America. I believe that a reduction in homework will allow children to follow their passions, and lessen stress for all those involved in the education system.

I used to study in a pre-professional ballet program. For hours a day, I would engage in grueling, yet rewarding physical activity alongside my pink tutu-clothed friends. It was my passion but as the years passed, the workload expected of me at school increased mightily and I was forced to choose between my two loves, dance and school. I chose the more academic pursuit, hanging up my ballet slippers for good. At one point or another, many students at competitive schools are faced with that same dreaded choice between losing a creative undertaking or falling far behind in school. Most understandably prioritize their education, which many rightfully see as their sole window to opportunities and employment as an adult. Homework serves the purpose of enhancing the learning of students, yet it does more harm than good when it hinders kids from discovering and exploring their interests, whether artistic, athletic, or scholarly. 

Too much homework means that children have less time for friends and family. According to a Stanford study in 2014 students are “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” and were very likely to drop out of social gatherings and extracurricular activities due to an excess in homework. Anti-social habits become normalized and completing homework is viewed as more important than creating meaningful relationships that will last throughout a lifetime. A meta-analysis of more than 60 studies conducted in 2006 by Dr. Cooper, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Duke University, showed no correlation between increased homework and increased test scores and grades. In fact, the study showed that too much homework becomes a chore that dampens students' enthusiasm for learning. Instead of stimulating creative thought processes, too much homework can undercut the goal of enrichment and extinguish curiosity. A New York Times opinion piece titled, Do Teachers Assign Too Much Homework? published in 2016, rising second-grader Maya was instructed by her school to complete 6 days a week of homework during the summer. After keeping up with the accelerated curriculum for an extended period of time, one day Maya declared “I hate reading.” to her parents. This demonstrates just how destructive homework can be when used incorrectly and in unnecessary amounts. 

I know first hand that homework causes stress. Although I consider myself calm and collected, even I have fallen victim to tears and shouts, unable to escape the extra pressures caused by school. According to the survey data, 56 percent of students, who had roughly 3.1 hours of homework per night, recognized homework as a main source of stress. Furthermore, the study found that homework causes sleep deprivation and health problems, such as  weight loss, headaches, and stomach issues.The Stanford study concluded that a large amount of homework worsens well-being and overall behavior.  It’s truly frightening how today completing worksheets and writing essays can be viewed as more important than the safety and well-being of students. 

Research suggests that high school students should spend no more than 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours on homework. More would not improve the education of American students. With the goal of enrichment, limited homework should focus on the four tenets of good homework: practice, preparation, extension, and creativity. Students should feel stimulated, not discouraged. So please, to teachers out there, make sure the homework you assign is worth our time.