Should Homework Be Banned?

Should Homework be banned?

By: Paityn Blanchard

    Everyone who is reading this has had to endure at least some form of homework. Whether high school, elementary, public, private, University, or trade school, we have all had to do homework.

     While some believe that homework is a crucial part of learning where consistent repetition can build time management, diligence, and life skills as well as keep parents involved in their child's education. 

Not everyone thinks the same, in fact, many believe that homework is unfair to students of lower income who may have to work an after-school job. They believe it increases students’ stress and anxiety, which leads to burn out and reduces love for learning which ultimately hindering learning. 

Some people go as far to say that homework doesn't even help kids to learn but can actually prevent effective learning. 

Despite these differing opinions I believe that most things are best in moderation. Although a full-blown homework ban may not be necessary, I do think that slightly reducing the amount and increasing the actual productivity of the homework could be a good solution.  

                                                        Con Homework Ban:

On this side of the argument, teachers and researchers believe that repetition of homework is crucial for retaining information in turn, resulting in higher grades and test scores. 

A study was done to test whether or not homework actually improved test scores and achievement for students. By the end, the results showed that homework did in fact improve standardized test scores as well as better overall performance than the students in the study who didn't do any homework (Rodregues, p. 12). 

Homework plays a huge role when it comes to retaining information and applying it to their tests, assignments, and overall knowledge. While tests and grades are important, they aren't everything.

Although homework from a glance just looks like hard long hours of practicing skills you may never use again it actually teaches students more than just math and English.

 “Homework is also a major tool for learning responsibility, helping students develop key skills they’ll use throughout their lives, such as accountability, autonomy, discipline, time management, self-direction, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving.” (Britannica, p. 19).

 To summarize, not only does homework help students excel in the classroom, but it reinforces necessary life skills and disciplines that they will need in every area of their adult life. For many students' time management, discipline, and accountability aren't natural and like all things, take time and practice.

Another reason why homework should not be banned is actually for the teachers.

 Although the thought of getting a bad grade on a homework assignment or having to ask the teacher for help can be daunting for some, homework is a great indicator of how well the instructor is explaining the information. 

According to Shradha Raj's article, “The Importance of Homework in Students’ Life,” she explains that teachers need homework in order to see how individual students and the class as a whole are retaining the information. They need a way to measure their students' progress and in turn possibly tailor their lessons to match where the students are at. (Raj, p.30). 

To explain this further, without homework, teachers would have no idea if the class or a particular student was falling behind until they did poorly on a test or important project. 

Why wait until it's too late when homework can be used to help teachers catch and resolve the confusion ahead of time.

Pro Homework Ban:

On the other hand, some people believe that homework does nothing but cause excessive stress, can exclude poor kids from getting the same amount of learning and opportunities, and homework doesn't actually help younger students and maybe some high school students.

People who are pro homework ban say that homework highlights inequalities.

 According to The American Psychological Association (APA), “Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments.

 Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs.” (qtd. In, Lathan PhD). 

What this means is that because our world is becoming more online by the minute, some financially disadvantaged children may not have the resources they need to complete their homework like a computer, internet, and parents who are present, and knowledgeable.

These kids often times will be forced to help provide for the family with a part time job just to survive financially. In turn can leave little to no room for hours of homework every night. This side of the argument believes that homework creates unfair learning opportunities for these kids because they may not have the time or resources needed to get the same amount of outside practice as other kids.

Another point that this side makes is that schools are assigning way too much homework.

 According to The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association, "[S]tudents [should] spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework. That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on."

 But a study published by “The American Journal of Family Therapy". found that students are getting much more than that. (qtd. In, Lathan PhD). This means that by the time you're in high school it is recommended that you spend one to two hours on homework every day, but in reality, high school students are getting way more than that. When you pile 2-3 hours of homework on top of a 6-7 hour school day, on top of after school clubs/ sports, and possibly a part time job, homework can seem impossible. (Lathan PhD).

 This side also believes that Homework is one of the major stressors that middle school and high school aged kids face. 

A study done in California proved that homework is a major stressor in Highschool students' lives. (Britannica) This means that many high schoolers relate excessive amounts of homework to high stress levels which can result in a weakened immune system, sleep deprivation, headaches, stomach problems, and an overall worse mood. 

In a study done by Denise Pope Senior Lecturer at the Graduate School of Education and her colleagues, ran a test where they found that, “[M]any students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems.” (Pope). 

So, to wrap up, this side believes that not only are teachers assigning way more than the intended amount, but it’s leading to major stress levels which ultimately causes health problems and anxiety. 

Finaly, the pro homework ban side explains that homework doesn't actually affect overall comprehension outside of standardized tests.

 According to Researchers at Indiana University, “[M]ath and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they found no difference in course grades between students who did homework and those who didn't. (Tingley, Veteran Educator, M.A. Degree). 

A study was done by Duke professor Harris Cooper which Proves this point further by explaining that there was only a connection between students who did homework and students who did well in school. 

He explains that this could simply mean that students who did homework where just more disciplined and eager to do well in school. (Tingley, Veteran Educator, M.A. Degree). 

What this all means is that while homework has some strings attached to better grades and test scores, researchers are discovering that maybe the kids' work ethic, and dedication have more to do with a student's academic success than homework itself. 

This side believes that if this is the case, why are we putting students through all this extra time, energy, and stress to do something that hasn't even proven to be significantly helpful?

Similarities and Differences:

Each side of this debate has many similarities and differences. The first major difference is that the con homework ban says that homework does improve test scores and overall achievement.

 In the article, “Is Homework Beneficial,” Emily Rodriguez states that, “Research published in the High School Journal indicated that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average. Students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69 percent of students who didn’t have homework on both standardized tests and grades.” (Rodregues, p. 12). 

While on the other hand, pro homework ban explains that, not only has too much homework proven to decrease students test scores, but Researchers at Indiana University have found that, “[M]ath and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they found no difference in course grades between students who did homework and those who didn't. (Tingley, Veteran Educator, M.A. Degree). 

Although both sides agree that homework does in fact improve standardized test grades the difference is how each side views content mastery. 

While the con homework ban says that because students who do homework get higher standardized test scores, the homework must be the thing that causes it. 

The pro homework ban dissects these numbers further and questions whether these higher test scores are because of the homework or the students' individual work ethic and dedication to doing well.

 They also say that while homework is helping test scores why are the student's overall grades not improving as well, ultimately concluding that homework isn't helping them understand the subject but instead helping them memorize in a way the type of questions that might be on a standardized test.

Another opposing view between the two is that although the pro homework ban side says that, “[T]oo much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. [Their] research indicat[es] that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.” (Parker and Pope). 

Parker goes on to say that out of the 4,317 students in a middle-class California high school, the average amount of homework that the students were assigned was about 3.1 hours each night. (Parker and Pope). 

This side corelates all of this homework to high levels of stress as well as weakened comprehension of the subject. Parkers claim that excessive homework leads to excessive stress was proven accurate by a Poll done on high schoolers in California. 

59 percent of students in the survey said they have too much homework, and 82 percent of those students said that they are frequently or always stressed about homework. (Britannica). 

Meanwhile, the con homework ban side combats this claim with the idea that, “Homework is also a major tool for learning responsibility, helping students develop key skills they’ll use throughout their lives, such as accountability, autonomy, discipline, time management, self-direction, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving.” (Britannica, p. 19). 

This side believes that at times, homework can be stressful, time consuming, and can even feel pointless, but it's all to help students develop these valuable life skills that go beyond book smarts. 

In summary, homework is meant to be hard, it's meant to stretch the student and force them to use critical thinking and problem solving to effectively complete the task at hand even if the specific subject might not be applicable to the rest of their lives. (Britannica).

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Each side of this argument comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. The con homework ban side has some strong points regarding how homework isn't just about grades and tests but is a crucial part of developing important life skills that they will need in their adult life. 

The Britannica article, “is homework beneficial?” states that, “Research by the City University of New York noted that students who engage in self-regulatory processes while completing homework, such as goal-setting and time management, are generally more motivated and are higher achievers than those who do not use these processes.” 

In the next paragraph they go on to say that, “Homework is also a major tool for learning responsibility, helping students develop key skills they’ll use throughout their lives, such as: accountability, autonomy, discipline, time management, self-direction, critical thinking, and independent problem-solving.”

This side does a great job of highlighting how students who participate in homework not only receive higher test scores but are also building important time management and goal setting skills that cause the student to be naturally more motivated and higher achievers than students who do not. Although this is a strong point and seems very convincing, they didn't provide me with any real statistics or data to prove that homework really does produce higher achieving students and people. Although the author mentions the university in which the study took place, the argument would have been much more convincing if the author added those numbers into the writing.

Some strengths in the Pro homework ban argument are how too much homework actually decreases student performance in multiple different age groups. 

In the article, “Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework.” “Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.”  

This side was very successful in using credible sources to back their thinking. Each article I found supporting homework bans reference studies or tests that were done to prove their point further.

 However, in the same article by Clifton B. Parker and Denise Pope. They start out very strong by addressing how too much homework is resulting in high stress levels in students, but they don't give any statistics or numbers when explaing that this stress is causing health problems in students. 

All they say is that 56% of students say homework is their primary stressor and that only 1% say that homework is not a stressor at all. 

First of all, they never said how many students were studied, what ages they were or where they were from. 

Secondly, when they go on to correlate this high stress with health problem their only evidence is, “In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems.” 

Although in a paragraph prior they do cite who conducted the test but failed to give solid evidence on how many students actually were experiencing these problems and if they were truly a result of homework.

Compromise:

Not one side is fully right or fully wrong, which is why there must be a compromise somewhere in the middle. 

Both sides have admitted that homework does improve a student's overall mastery in the setting of a standardized test, but the value and effectiveness of homework as a whole is still being debated.

 Con homework ban believes that homework is still needed to build valuable life skills and reinforce repetition of the subject. 

While pro homework ban argues that the amount of homework has gone off the rails to the point where students are being assigned hours of homework that isn't even helping their comprehension of the subject but in turn is actually hindering their grades and mental health.

 I say that a full-on homework ban is a little unnecessary but that maybe the real problem isn't homework itself but how certain schools and teachers are using the homework.

I think that a reasonable compromise would be to heavily reduce homework in elementary grades to a total of 10 minutes of outside reading and math questions. Having in class assignments that are fun and engaging would take advantage of the time spent at school and reduce the stress of homework for younger kids. 

In middle school, I would say that moderate homework is necessary for building the life skills that they will need in high school and in a future career. But I still think it should be in moderation. Homework assignments should be focused on quality over quantity throughout middle school, slowly becoming harder and more time consuming as they reach high school. 

Likewise, in high school a better approach would be to maximize the time spent in class by allowing some class time to work on assignments. A major point that was made by the Pro homework ban was that some lower income students didn't have the resources or time required to complete hours of homework. 

Because high school and college professors have so many students It would be near impossible for them to be able to accommodate every student who is unable to complete homework due to financial struggles. Because of this problem, I honestly don't know what a good compromise would be. In conclusion, homework has its place in and out of the classroom. 

In moderation, homework is crucial for success, but too much can have some serious negative effects.

Works Cited

admin. “The Importance of Homework in Students Life.” Best Online School in US, 19 Sept. 2022, www.21kschool.com/us/blog/the-importance-of-homework-in-students-life/.

Johnson, Michael. “Why Homework Should Not Be Banned | 5 Benefits of Homework.” Tenney School, 1 Dec. 2023, tenneyschool.com/why-homework-should-not-be-banned/.

Lathan, Joseph. “Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students.” University of San Diego, University of San Diego, 2025, onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/education-inequity-and-homework/.

Nolen, Jeannette. “Homework | Pros, Cons, Arguments, Debate, School, Education, & Students.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica, 7 Feb. 2025, www.britannica.com/procon/homework-debate.

Parker, Clifton. “Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework.” Stanford Report, Stanford University, 10 Mar. 2014, news.stanford.edu/stories/2014/03/too-much-homework-031014.

Tingley, Suzanne. “Should Students Have Homework?” Western Governors University, Suzanne Capek Tingley, 6 Aug. 2018, www.wgu.edu/blog/should-students-have-homework1808.html.