Let's go back to a place that many of us have not visited for some time now—elementary school. I'm lucky enough to be studying education and interning in a fourth grade classroom at the moment, so I have had the opportunity to compare fourth grade today to the fourth grade that I was in. For the most part, everything is the same. Spelling every week, fractions and decimals, studying our states, and reading chapter books in small groups. In some ways, things are different.
When I was in fourth grade, I had spelling homework every night. Except for Thursdays, because everybody knows that "study for spelling test Friday" equals no homework. I had math homework every few nights, and reading almost every night. The homework situation varies these days. In the class that I'm interning in, the students have a spelling contract, and have to turn in twenty points of spelling homework by Friday. This means anything from two to four assignments, as each assignment has a point total depending on difficulty. Math homework is given twice a week, and science and social studies are strictly for the classroom.
Would you believe me if I said another fourth grade class somewhere in the United States never has homework? Well, believe me, because it's true. For the last year or so, more and more schools have decided to ban homework.
As an up-and-coming teacher, I'm faced with a difficult decision as I plan to work in a school system that has not yet banned homework. If the school that I'm employed at does not ban homework, that does not mean that I have to assign homework to my students. But should I?
Some say that homework helps students excel academically, as it forces them to retain information. It also gives the teachers an idea of how well the students understand the content. But is that the only way for teachers to assess their students? Why can't we have students answer questions at the end of class to determine whether or not they get it? Or what if we gave them a project to wrap up the unit instead of a take home quiz?
It doesn't stop there. Many have fought for the banning of homework because it causes children so much anxiety. Students as young as five and six are suffering from anxious thoughts and panic attacks because they are under immense pressure. Students leave school and go home to piles and piles of homework. If they start as soon as they get home, they will most likely be interrupted by dinner. By the time they finish dinner, they start homework again. And let's not forget about everything else kids are expected to do—sports, music, after school programs, family events, bathing—there are not enough hours in the day. When kids don't finish their homework or are up into the early hours of the morning rushing to finish, they stress and become anxious, causing their overall health to decline.
As it turns out, The Washington Post completed a study on whether or not students benefit academically from homework and determined that homework has no impact on test scores, and neither does not having homework. Now that I'm teaching, even though the students are in school for seven hours a day, I realize that so much of that is taken up by lunch, recess, specials, and assemblies and we almost never finish the work that I had planned for that day. Homework anxiety can also be a reflection of family situations and skill level, so it is not necessarily homework that is giving students anxiety.
But now I'm back to the beginning—what's the best thing to do?
