Implications & Complications of Homework

[sunnyy4]

For the fun of it, I have decided to compile an anthology about school and teen issues... My first issue is the fact that homework is doing more harm than good...

Expect this to be a pretty long rant, but please hear me out... :D

The Implications & Complications of Homework

Chapter 1: Introduction

Homework, long considered a practical method for practice and studying, has come under fire many times over on the grounds of what I'm about to write. Nonetheless, please allow me to show a student's take on this issue. I write this with my average friends in mind, and seek absolutely no personal gain whatsoever. During my 10 years of being a hard-working student slavishly devoted to academic pursuits, I have formed the thesis that homework and the pressures of life are currently too great for an average teen, therefore causing moral, social, family, and health problems. Please allow me the next few paragraphs for voicing this essay which will either cause reform or be the most well-written rant in the history of the English language.

Chapter 2: Moral

Without an immense amount of dedication, teens will quickly lose the optimistic "I can" attitude and simply not do any homework at all regard because they start to realize that they can't do it. This is the moral decadence I observe amongst my peers. When it comes time to turn in the homework, their action of inadvertence resulting from low self-esteem comes to haunt them tenfold and exacerbate their low self-esteem problem. After I finished my freshman year with negligible regrets, I asked my friends, "Looking back on the year you have completed shortly ago, do you have any regrets?" and the friends unable to complete the homework wished that they did their homework. However, as able as a student can be in circumventing this roadblock, more problems face our hard-working scholars and nerds -- they encounter the larger set of three categories of problems: social, family, and health -- and you think those whom we call "slackers" have problems! I earnestly encourage you to keep reading to discover the three large roadblocks for those with the willingness to apply themselves and the sacrifices they have to make in such process.

Chapter 3: Family

With the expectations of sports and extracurricular activities, only dinner time survives as a time where a family is able to be together and make the daily links to keep a family together. However, once homework and test prep are added to this equation, dinner time becomes shortened or dinner may be skipped altogether. Both cases have occurred to me for I prefer "express" meals and I sometimes notify my parents of my toil in such way that I become unable to join them for dinner.

As people say, communication is the key to unity, with the overwhelming amount of work to do; the lines of communication are severed as the student isolates himself for the larger-than-life lure of future success. Being burrowed in a room studying will also miss out on another aspect in life: The social life.

Chapter 4: Social

After the sacrifice of the family aspect, staying burrowed inside a room, the next thing to go would be their social life. You, the reader, say that I reversed the Social and Family sections. Allow me to explain. I did that because average teens tend to put their friends before family. So the first thing to go would be the family aspect. Scholarly teens tend to decline school-sponsored events and other outings with friends, all for the sake of their future. This severely affects the student's ability to meet new people and socialize with their fellow peers. The only method that remains for them to socialize would be the Internet via instant messaging. Although it is still a method to socialize, but the true fun and nature of such is not expressed -- all there is to instant-messaging is text and :-) and LOL -- no facial expressions... no voice. This is all a chain effect as isolation becomes depression, depression becomes stress, and stress, in turn, is a negative effect on health.

Chapter 5: Health

Health has not exactly been the main concern nowadays. However, I must bring up this issue that nearly everyone hates, for homework has an adverse effect on a student's health mentally and physically. As mentioned earlier, isolation due to the need to complete homework causes stress, the mental aspect of negative health effects. The physical blow to a student's health originates from fatigue and the weight of the backpack. Naturally, teens are in the phase in which more meticulous care of the body is required, and sleep -- 8 hours a day -- is critical to health. However, the mandate of homework completion neglects such need. The result? Fatigue and the potential inability to learn new concepts. In consequence, causes the student to fall behind.

Another physical blow to health is the weight of the backpack in which all the required materials are required. It has been recently discovered that teens' backs are changing for the worse due to such massive weight -- even my parents resent carrying my backpack because it's so heavy. "How about backpacks with wheels?" you might ask. Let's not put that into perspective for there are people unable to afford a ~$39.95 backpack or unwilling to buy such pricey backpack that breaks. Such injury in such critical stage of growth causes the decadence of health in a region should this pattern continue.

Chapter 6: Clarifications & Suggestions (This part is not essential to the essay, and can be snipped out should you be totally anti-homework.)

Please understand that I am not pushing to eliminate homework altogether -- I favor homework, but the amount currently given is doing more harm than good -- I merely ask for a throttle of it. As for the weight of the backpack, it is beyond a teacher's control. However, I implore you teachers who read this to push for textbooks that are split into several books for the sake of your students, even if it costs more. Such contributions will help your students significantly. Also, the concept of laptops and CD-ROMs has been tinkered for some time. Although I have favorable thoughts on this, but the cost and implications of such strategy make this temporarily impractical.

Chapter 7: Conclusion & Final Thoughts

Writing this essay has allowed me to gain a better understanding of my peers around me. Initially, I thought that the peers who are not doing homework and seek pleasure are a bunch of hedonists who do not care about their grades or their future at all. However, as streams of thought guide me in writing this essay come accross me, I have come to understand that these people merely do not have the self-confidence to do their homework -- they are overwhelmed! Yet, what can be said for the parties? If you ask my opinion, I think that the parties are there for temporary relief for their insecurity. Also, for those who sacrifice their family time, time for socializing, and their health to complete their homework, I feel that they deserve a break. By reducing the amount of homework, it's a win-win-win situation -- teachers don't have to grade and scold as much, overwhelmed students can regain their self-confidence, and scholarly students can finally get the bedtime that is healthy for them and a healthier back.

[Malechai Veteran]

i think the point is you'll never learn and/or remember the material if you don't actually do it. i hated homework when i was in school too, but looking back at it now, it was a good thing otherwise i doubt i'd remember most of it.

[DrunkenMaster]

Hate to point this out to you, but how long did it take you to get this "report" typed up for Neowin? Long enough to get all your homework done. There's enough writing in there for me to belive it. So what's your complaint about homework? Less time typing on the computer = more time doing homework!