Advantages and Disadvantages of Homework Essay Example

Teachers assign homework and expect students to complete it immediately when they go home. We all know that does not happen! Students have family gatherings. family gatherings, work, sports, and so on where they either have a short amount of time to complete the homework or have no time at all. Throughout this paper, you will see some advantages and disadvantages and even pros and cons over the topic “Is Homework Beneficial?” Many students, especially in high school, see homework as a waste of time, but homework benefits students and their grades. Homework is an assignment given to a student to be completed outside the regular class period. Teachers assign homework to help students grade in each classroom. Is homework beneficial? So many people will have their opinions and arguments so some will say it is useful and some will say it is useless.  

As we may already know, teachers, students, and even parents have a life outside of school. Which consists of family gatherings, work, sports, and/or doing their favorite hobbies. As a senior in high school, I have a job, school, and also family gatherings to attend my weekly schedule consists of going to school from 8 am - 12 pm then going to work from 1 pm - 5:15 pm by the time I get home I’m exhausted from work and school every day I’m ready to eat and get ready for bed but since I have homework every single night I can hardly do those things I usually start my homework at 6 pm while having a break to eat supper and get back to my homework I usually try to finish my homework by 10 pm sometimes I get all the homework done and sometimes I don’t. As for students that easily get distracted like me, it is extremely hard to stay on one agenda and to get all the work done and turned in sometimes. I cannot finish everything in one night and I must finish it up the next day which leads to me having to repeat my schedule over and over.  

Every topic has its advantages, disadvantages, or pros and cons. Some advantages could be that it is the best way to prepare students for exams or tests, improves their understanding of the subject, and makes it easy for teachers to keep track of progress due to homework given to students. Disadvantages consist of lack of sleep, headaches, exhaustion, and social life. The pros prepare for exams, practice the assignments, time management, revise subjects or concepts, and remain engaged with studies. The cons are as follows; students get bored, do not get time for activities, may feel stressed/anxious, and it is hard for parents to manage.  

Homework is every student's opportunity to practice what they have learned in class, and it is an opportunity for them to get extra help if needed before their tests. Homework is there to help them learn the content fully. It is their chance to practice what they know so they are fully prepared to do good on the test. Common types of homework might be practice problems, practice questions, assigned reading, assigned videos, quizzes covering what you have read or viewed, etc. The goal of these activities is to give you hands-on practice with the concepts and problems and to get you to think about what you know and/or do not know, as well as why something is used or solved in the way that it is. (Daily Practice page 1)  

Giving out homework will improve their understanding of the subject. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. It can give parents an opportunity to see what is going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement. (Cooper page 1)  

Teachers giving out homework is a straightforward way for them to keep track of where each student stands in understanding the homework. By having a tracking system, the teacher can determine what students are and are not getting from their lesson plans, when to slow down, when to speed up, when to re-teach, and when to move on. (How to Effectively Track Student Progress)  

On to the disadvantages of handing out homework, the main downside of giving homework to students is them having lack of sleep before school the next day. Every student across the country has at least seven classes every day which builds up homework. When they come home from school at whatever time it may be homework usually takes several hours depending on how much they have. As for me, I do not get home until 6:00 due to having to work and when I get home, I go straight in to eat then start on my homework around 7 and taking a few breaks which lead to me finishing my home at 10 or having to stop in the middle of my homework to get ready for bed.  

Sometimes kids set homework to the side and would rather be out doing fun things. At times homework is more severe than having fun, they call it homework anxiety. Homework anxiety is a condition in which students stress about and fear over homework, often causing them to put homework off until later. Homework should not be the reason for students to have anxiety.  (Homework Anxiety Explained) 

The last and final disadvantage is that it is particularly challenging for parents to sit with their children and help them out in completing the homework given to students. As teachers hand out homework some kids get the assignment and just stare at it because they have no idea how to do it. When they get home their first option is to have their parents help them, but some parents may not know the subject or do not know how to do it in general or they work consistently and never have time to sit down and help them. So, you leave it up to the students to start stressing out because they do not know how to do it and it is incomplete.