I know I'm not the only one who feels strongly that homework should be banned. In fact I think if you were to go around surveying everyone on their opinion towards homework, the general consensus would be a resounding 'NOOOOO!!!!!!'. This, quite frankly, is because the majority of people hate homework. Yes, hate is a strong word- but I fear that it may be true when used in association with the word 'homework'. The evidence against homework is fairly strong: Children hate homework because it eats up the time that could be spent on doing actually enjoyable things, teachers hate homework because they have to spend hours marking piles of the stuff rather than doing what they actually want to do and parents hate homework because it takes up their time, leaves their children grumpy, miserable creatures and inevitably is used as a petty hierarchy system for the 'who is the best at parenting' competition in the school playground at pick-up time. Essentially, it's a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. Here's why:
Homework encourages a mindset which promotes overworking and places a heavy emphasis on the 'work' aspect of work-life balance. This is unhealthy, both physically and mentally. There is more to life than than just work, work, work. I'm not denying that work is an invariably essential element of life- you have to do it and children should be taught the value of work. But there are healthier ways to show the importance of work rather than setting children hours of homework on top of an already tiring six hours of school a day (not to mention the extra-curricular clubs students are expected to participate in as well). Everyone- including children- needs to have some time to rest. It's crucial for mental health. When you take into consideration the gruellingly long academic day and the accompanying piles of homework mounted on top, it becomes painstakingly evident that children aren't afforded much time to switch off.
Arguably, it could be suggested that homework teaches discipline. However, it's also important to remember the fact that some children aren't fortunate enough to have access to the same resources that other children are privy to. Some parents aren't in the position where they are able to spend as much time and attention on helping their children with homework as other parents may be able to. This unconscious bias does affect homework grades and overall academic performance. Rather unwittingly, homework adds social and economic class into the equation of children's grades.
And perhaps most potently, imagine being forced to spend your free time doing something that you passionately hated and that chipped away at your confidence. For some people academia is extremely disheartening and every minute spent with pen in hand, poised over a blank exercise book page willing the work to all make sense, heartbreaking. Obviously education is enormously precious and everyone privileged enough to be able to go to school should. Yet there comes a certain breaking point for those who know that academia is truly not for them when they have to give up their free time to do homework, when they could instead be doing something that is to them more productive to what they wish to do with their lives.
It's clear that homework has a lot of negatives. Should homework be banned? Well, it depends on whether or not you believe the pros outweigh the multitude of cons.
By Frances Hudson
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