Is homework beneficial? Do you know some of the pros and cons of assigning student’s homework? Of course, everything has its ups and downs. It depends on your point of view. The amount of assignments given to learners has raised concerns for a long time, and there are two parties involved. One group supports assigning homework, while some are against the idea. We need to understand the history of homework to comprehend it thoroughly.
Historical background
Homework tracing goes back as far as ancient Rome. A teacher by the name Pliny the Younger asked his students to take part in at-home activities to practice whatever they learned in a non-formal environment. After a while, visible results emerged as the students/ followers could recall whatever they learned. Many teachers started employing this technique on their students, and the practice spread. Fast forward to the year 1905 in Italy. We find a pedagogue named Roberto Nevilis. This man “invented” home-done assignments. At that time, however, it was a form of punishment for his students. Formal education started adopting this technique as a means of increasing revision and exercise among students. Teachers nowadays still apply this technique, insisting homework is a very crucial step in the education process.
We can now look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of homework assignments.
Advantages of homework
- It helps parents watch their kid’s performance.
Homework aids parents to analyze and monitor their kid’s performance in school and classwork. They can tell if a student needs help in a particular subject. Whenever they can, parents also help their children with different tasks or problems in their homework. If they can’t, they may as well hire a tutor to help the kid.
- Practice makes perfect.
Academically, students boost their overall performance through appropriate and regular homework assignments. Pursuing higher education in institutions of their choice becomes more comfortable as they will perform well in their academics. Homework also helps content stick into their brains and makes it hard to forget.
- Homework increases a learner’s responsibility.
A student acquires the ability to plan for their academics to beat the deadline for collecting homework. It goes a very long way to ensure the student is responsible for their actions and school performance.
- Creating an efficient communication network
Homework acts as a bridge between parents, teachers, and the school. This bridge allows for the useful communication link to the parties involved. Similarly, teachers get to check in on what is happening in a student’s life, and parents also had the opportunity to check in on what happens at school.
Disadvantages of homework
- Depriving learners their social life.
There are only 24 hours in one day (or at least in my day; I’m sure of that), and within these hours, we must accomplish specific tasks. If students get too much homework, they may not have time to engage in social interactions resulting in depriving them of their social life. It is not cool.
- Too much?
Homework may lead to a student feeling like they’ve had too much. Students should have time to rest their brains after a long day of collecting information, not pressure them further with homework.
- The stress factors.
It’s stressful. Having a load of homework to do in a night to submit the following day increases stress. It is visible as a student loses enthusiasm with everything in life as a whole. It gets worse as this stress may manifest physically.
All things considered, the question “should students have homework or not?” remains unanswered. So the amount of homework kids get is up to the school and every teacher can decide it, too. However, students should be able to get professional help when they need it. When looking for it, start with reading reviews of MyMathGenius and other services to find something better for yourself.