By Carol Church, Writer, Family Album
Reviewed by Suzanna Smith, PhD, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida
When a young relative of mine was a student at a competitive public high school, we were all amazed by the amount of difficult homework he and his classmates were assigned every night. With their heavy load of Advanced Placement classes, and school, parent, and peer pressure to achieve, they were struggling. I began to wonder if my own children would face the same situation in coming years, and if so, how my family would handle it.
In general, parents and teachers do tend to believe that homework reinforces learning and teaches good study habits. However, not much research has been done on its potential costs to students—for instance, excess stress, or even harm to their physical health. Now a study in an education journal has looked more closely at this issue, surveying over 4000 students from 10 high-performing, upper-middle class high schools to get their views on how homework affects them.
The students, who were pretty evenly distributed across grades 9-12, reported an average of 3 hours of homework a night, with 11th graders saying they did the most work. Almost three-quarters of these teens said they were “often or always” stressed about schoolwork. Over 80% reported experiencing at least one stress-related physical symptom (such as headaches, stomach pain, or problems sleeping) in the last month. Over half said that homework frequently made it challenging to spend time with family and friends. A similar number said their homework load had caused them to drop out of an activity they had enjoyed.
Researchers did find that teens who spent the most total hours on schoolwork were more likely to say they tried hard and paid attention in school. However, those who put in the most time were also the most stressed.
Many adults may not realize that there isn’t all that much research to support the use of homework. In elementary school, in fact, it may not be productive at all. In later grades, research suggests that homework can boost achievement, but in limited doses. More than two hours a night may actually be harmful to learning.
And as seen in this study, homework in excess can have other negative effects on students, who may feel as though they have no choice but to complete it in order to meet parental and academic expectations. While it’s important to note that this research focused on high-performing, high-income schools, and that students in other types of schools may not do nearly as much, it does suggest that at least some students truly are overburdened. In light of these findings, we might ask how parents, schools, and communities can best support students’ learning and their enjoyment of their high school years.
(Photo credit: 5/365 by anna gutermouth. CC BY 2.0.)
Further Reading
Helping Your Child with Homework–from UF/IFAS EDIS
Homework: Amount, Effects, Help for Students and Parents–from ECAP at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
References:
Galloway, M., Conner, J., & Pope, D. (2013) Nonacademic effects of homework in privileged, high-performing high schools. The Journal of Experimental Education, 81 (4), 490-510. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2012.745469
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