“Finally I just got out of school.”
“I’m so exhausted from my day, one hour of rest won’t hurt.”
Does that hour turn into two, two turns into three and before you know it, it’s midnight and you are just starting your homework?
Based on the recent homework survey on School Loop for parents, students, and teachers, 71 percent of students claim to have one to two hours of free time at night due to homework.
But is it necessarily the teacher’s fault? Students have a notorious reputation of procrastination.
“I know a lot of my friends who procrastinate on doing their homework and stay up later than they should to finish it,” said junior Brent Jang.
I get a lot of busy work and it doesn’t help me learn the material. It just wastes my time,
— junior Cailen Cumming
According to the Pew Research Center, teenagers ages 15 to 18 years old spend an average of one hour and 51 minutes each day sending text messages alone.
Based on the results of the survey, even though students are aware of the large amount of homework waiting on their desk, they spend up a range of one to 6 hours of their time on extracurricular activities.
“I do procrastinate a lot. I find myself waiting until the last minute to do my homework,” said junior Lucas Coley.
Teachers do give enough time for their students to finish their homework in a timely manner, but some students continue to waste time.
“I think I do procrastinate — we all do. When I come home and relax for a little I get lazy and I start homework late,” said sophomore Brett Fitzpatrick.
Of the students answering the School Loop homework survey, 95 percent of the students reported to have extracurricular activities which can contribute to the challenge of balancing homework.
“During sports season, depending on the classes you’re taking it can be tough balancing homework, but it can be done you just have to stick to it,” said junior and student athlete Jake Kumamoto.
Some teachers believe students need to acknowledge how time consuming their honors courses and extracurricular activities are before they complain about homework load.
“If a student has three or more Advanced Placement (AP) courses and extracurricular activities, that is a home issue, and not a teacher or homework issue, and needs to be resolved at home,” said psychology teacher Michelle McKee.
Whether homework teachers assign is beneficial or classified as “busy work” which doesn’t help students learn the material, but rather extends their homework load causes problems.
“I get a lot of busy work and it doesn’t help me learn the material. It just wastes my time,” said junior Cailen Cumming.
Some teachers believe homework is very useful and is not used to keep students up to the wee hours of the morning.
“Having no homework would be a bad idea,” said math teacher Mary Codianne. “Homework helps kids do well in classes and learn the material and most of it is a reasonable amount.”
However, with the homework load students are missing out on necessary sleeping hours causing lack of focus in class.
According to the Center For Advancing Health, only 8 percent of students get enough sleep on an average school night.
“I stay up late at night and often I don’t get enough sleep and I’m too tired the next day in class to stay focused,” said junior Erin Alonso.
Some teachers attempt to limit the homework size to the essentials and question how students spend their time doing homework.
“All my classes said the work in my class is very manageable. Part of me wonders [for] the students who spend three [or more] hours on homework a night, how much of that is spent online and texting, or is that three to five solid hours of homework,” said McKee.
Other teachers concur the homework load can be overwhelming and it affects student’s health.
“There are a lot of juniors and seniors who take several AP classes and have a lot of homework. I’m concerned [for] them because they don’t get a lot of sleep and sleep is very important for your memory and for your health overall,” said chemistry teacher Josh Engberg.
Some students do realize teachers are trying to prepare them for college, where the load of work can’t be put off until last minute.
Carlmont Alumni and University of California, Davis student Jake Friermuth said, “In college, you can’t get away with procrastinating because the work is overwhelming. If you wait till the night before to study for a mid-term, you’re doomed for failure.”
“If you complain about the workload right now, it’s only going to get to worse so get used to it,” said Jang.
