Students are overwhelmed, should we really have homework?

After school do you have extracurriculars? If so, do you have a lot of freetime after? It is very challenging to do after school activities when you have homework. Sometimes, homework piles up and causes students to fall behind in school. It is actually very common for students to feel intense pressure when juggling school and extracurriculars.

I think teachers should cut down the amount of homework they give out. Some homework may help students connect to their learning and enhance their performances, but too much can have damaging effects. Throughout middle school, students are put under a lot of pressure as it is while trying to live up to standards and put control on their life. According to bhsowl.org Lots of studies show that having too much homework can affect students from focusing on friends, and extracurricular activities such as sports.

Debatewise.org says that homework should be abolished because it has little to no educational value, “For middle-schoolers, there is a direct correlation between homework and achievement if assignments last between one to two hours per night. After two hours, however, achievement doesn’t improve.” This is stating that multiple hours of homework gets nothing done, as students lean towards other things while studying. For me, when I have a lot of homework I procrastinate and don’t get things done. This makes me have a lot of homework, and it makes me overwhelmed and I put it off longer. 

On the other hand, students could need homework because it keeps them distracted. Not all students have extracurriculars, and they can just go home and get sucked into social media. Social media tends to affect kids’ grades more as they are more interested in social media then school. University of San Diego says Homework can help study habits and life skills “Being responsible for completing at-home assignments helps students practice organization, time management, following directions, critical thinking and independent problem-solving.” But do middle schoolers really need it if we are so young? Middle schoolers are in the middle of high school and elementary school and are gaining more responsibility. If teachers think we have more responsibility that means other people think that too. If everyone thinks we are more responsible, they all pile stuff on top of us, but it isn’t that fair because we are still just kids.

In conclusion, middle school students should not have so much homework. Some of us may be becoming more responsible, but we all develop at different times. Homework is piling on top of us, and most of us can’t handle it. After all, we are just kids.