If you were to ask a random student on the street what their least favorite thing about school is, the consensus would be homework.

 Homework has plagued students for years and years, and will continue to do so unless the negatives are acknowledged. 

People opposed to this view, stating homework is beneficial for kids of our generation, believe that the reason for all this hatred for homework is just pure laziness. However, this is simply not true as there are more factors that drive students to despise it. 

Homework shouldn’t be given because of the many negative effects it has on kids, it is easily avoidable, and extracurricular activities outweigh the benefits of homework. 

The main negative effect that homework puts on many students is stress. In 2022, research conducted at by a union of consultants at CourseMentor found that students who spend too much time on homework experience much more stress than the average person. 

The aftermath of stress can harm students in ways such as headaches, insomnia, low self esteem, aches and pains, low energy, and depression.

Students worry so much about getting their work done by a specific time that it takes a harmful toll on their brains. Homework is making students’ lives stressful, and therefore making their lives vulnerable to these horrid side effects. 

Along with the stress levels, another main reason homework shouldn’t exist is because of the time students already spend on work at school.

Students already go to school five days a week, 6-8 hours a day, and 12-15  years of their lives. Is this not enough? This should be plenty of time for teachers to give us work at school, but instead they rely on giving us assignments to do at home. 

Why have homework when you just went to school for hours and could have done the work there? Students need their time at home so that they can rest, especially when they are involved in extracurriculars and aren’t home for very long, but this is impossible due to the workload they have to unpack at home.  

Extracurricular activities is another strong reason for why homework should cease to exist. Kids, if involved in activities after school such as sports, band, color guard, FFA, JROTC, and many more struggle to get their work done because they have less time at home to accomplish it. 

These extracurricular activities are very beneficial for students. A study taken in April this year by “crimson education” observed that students who partake in extracurriculars build essential life, teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, public speaking, time management, and analytical thinking skills. Other advantages include higher self-esteem along  with social opportunities they wouldn’t get away from their chosen activity. 

While these extracurriculars are significantly valuable for students, they take hours out of their lives away from school. They get home later at night than the rest of students, and because of homework, are at a disadvantage. They have to rush to get their work done in time while battling with the longing to just relax after a long day of activity. 

Pro-homework believers state that homework is a must because of the educational benefits it provides. They believe that it creates problem solving, time management, and thinking skills. However, extracurriculars achieve the same exact thing while appealing to the student’s interests. 

The crux of the matter is that homework causes stress, should be done at school because of time already spent there, and gets in the way of extracurricular activities.  

The days of homework should be over.