After an exhausting day at school, I curl up with my favorite snack on the couch and watch a relaxing movie until I fall asleep. That’s what my ideal end of the school day would be. Instead, I am forced to begin hours more of schoolwork, go to practice, help around the house, participate in other hobbies, maintain a good social life, work, and get a decent amount of sleep. I am burnt out.

But its ok, it doesn’t affect the teachers or parents, so why should anyone care? It’s part of life. Everyone had to go through it at some point to make it to higher education. Except now, homework is more tedious and only adds to the already busy lives of students.

Homework is a time-consuming activity that takes away from students’ free time that could be used for extracurricular activities, social life, and sleep.

Supposedly, homework was originally created as a punishment for students who did not understand or chose not to listen to the material taught in class. So why do we punish students who comprehend the information they are being taught?

Teachers encourage students to participate in sports, work, see friends, and have other hobbies outside of school.

However, the amount of homework assigned to students prevents them from performing those activities. It’s a double standard.

Many students receive hours of schoolwork a night which takes up most of their free time. Between the activities students participate in and schoolwork, students must sacrifice one of those to either maintain good mental health or good grades. More times than not, students choose grades due to fear of failure.

However, if homework were made optional, students will have the opportunity to complete it for extra practice if they need it. Often, homework is busy work to many students and causes more stress rather than helping them comprehend material. Students should take it upon themselves to decide whether they need to do homework or not.

Some teachers argue that someone who excels in their class should be able to complete homework quicker due to their understanding. This is true, but homework still takes time. Just because it is easy, doesn’t mean the student needs to complete it. This time could be used for other things that the student enjoys instead of them worrying about pointless exercises.

Along with time wasting, homework takes away valuable hours of sleep for students each night. In a study done by the National Library of Medicine, it was found that students were less likely to sleep a healthy amount when they had loads of homework. It’s a sacrifice that many don’t think is worth it.

Without good sleep, students cannot focus on school and often develop mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and weight loss. In 2021, the CDC found that 4 in every 10 students felt hopeless. Homework only adds to an already stressful life for students. Why create more stress for students who already lead involved lives when it can lead to worse health issues? Teachers need to understand that students do not possess the time to complete hours of homework each night after spending hours at school.