As more teachers assign homework online, the practice of physically turning in homework has diminished, with the easy click of the “Submit” button taking its place.
Similar to teachers at other schools, Carlmont teachers largely switched over to making homework submissions go through Canvas even post-distance learning. Prior to online Canvas assignments, most due dates were when students walked into the classroom — but while handing in physical assignments inherently enforces a start-of-class deadline, setting an appropriate deadline for online assignments raises more questions.
With Canvas allowing teachers to set varied, unpredictable due dates, many parents and students expressed concerns about blurred boundaries between school and personal life, as well as a lack of consistency in deadlines and expectations.
Consequently, in May 2023, Carlmont implemented an assignment policy to address these concerns, requiring that all Canvas assignments be due only between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on school days.
However, even with this policy in place, some teachers still continue to assign homework outside of school hours, making assignments due at the de facto 11:59 p.m. deadline or unpredictable times like 8 p.m. or 10 p.m.
As teachers continue assigning work with inconsistent and inconvenient deadlines, it’s important to acknowledge the issues this disregard causes and revisit the reasons Carlmont’s department chairs and site council implemented a standardized deadline policy in the first place.
One prominent issue with assigning work due outside of school hours is that it often conflicts with students’ extracurricular activities. Especially as it becomes increasingly common for students to juggle a heavy extracurricular load, submitting assignments after school becomes even more challenging.
Whether it’s a club meeting that ends at 8 p.m., a sports practice over 30 minutes from home, or a job that takes up the entirety of a student’s afternoon, expecting all students to be able to submit an assignment by varying times after school is simply unrealistic.
Some might argue that late evening deadlines — such as the infamous 11:59 p.m.— are an exception since they’d give students time after extracurriculars to turn in assignments, but this proves to be untrue for multiple reasons.
While it’s unlikely any activity goes till as late as 11:59pm, even earlier evening commitments can still make deadlines hard to meet.
For example, a student could have a sports practice till 8:30pm, spend 30 minutes commuting home, then need time to eat, shower, and unwind after the physical exertion — by then, it’s easily almost 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. That leaves less than one to two hours for all homework assignments, which may seem sufficient, but often isn’t enough to produce high-quality, thoughtful work across five or more classes.
In fact, according to a survey by the Stanford Report, students averaged 3.1 hours of homework each night, underscoring that one to two hours in the evening likely isn’t enough to keep up with academic demands.
Another factor that makes meeting these after school deadlines harder is that after spending around six hours at school, then possibly another two to three hours at an outside commitment, most students with extracurriculars are mentally and physically drained by the time they get home.
In a New York Post survey consisting of students from a competitive private high school in New York, 73% of students reported getting less than seven hours of sleep per night, indicating how academic and extracurricular demands are already cutting into essential rest. When schools add inconsistent or late-night deadlines on top of that, students are left with even less time to recover, leading to decreased academic performance and long-term health consequences.
Given these concerns, it is essential that teachers adhere to Carlmont’s assignment policy, as it directly addresses these issues and provides meaningful benefits to students.
For instance, by limiting deadlines to school hours, due times become more intuitive and consistent — typically falling at 8 a.m., 4 p.m., or the start of class — making it easier for students to manage their schedules and remember to submit work.
This structure also provides more flexibility for students involved in extracurriculars, since they aren’t forced to complete assignments late at night after long, tiring days. In many cases, students can finish their homework and still have until the following morning, such as 8:30 a.m. the next day, to submit it.
To ensure more effective enforcement of this policy, teachers should proactively adjust assignment deadlines on Canvas, replacing the default 11:59 p.m. with a time that falls within designated school hours. Additionally, departments can coordinate to establish consistent practices across courses, promoting clarity and fairness for all students.
Without consistent enforcement, the very issues this policy was designed to address — student exhaustion, deadline confusion, and blurred boundaries between school and personal life — will continue to burden students, ultimately undermining student well-being and academic success.
*This editorial reflects the views of the Editorial Board and was written by Gregoire Scherrer. The Editorial Board voted 9 in agreement, 1 somewhat in agreement, and 3 refrained from voting.
