For many decades students have complained about doing homework and teachers have insisted on its necessity. This year appears to be no different.
“I think homework should not be a thing. Kids have lives outside of school,” said junior Olivia Maloney. “I like to spend time with my family, but homework tends to interfere.”
Senior Madi Mulroy agreed. “Homework is a waste of time. I mean, I understand how it can be beneficial for memory, but people have jobs and sports after school, so it adds more hours to their day,” said Mulroy. “I run after school and by the time I get home I still need to do homework and I don’t have the motivation to do it.”
Even underclassmen said they can struggle with night time assignments.
“Homework can be a lot, especially for students coming into high school, getting one to two assignments per class and getting weekend homework,” said freshman Serrena Jaara.
Sophomore Mary Mruzek agreed. “I hate homework. I think homework should stay in school. I understand having makeup work as homework and that is okay, but having two hours of homework every night is not fun. If my homework goes past 6 o’clock, I stop doing it,” said Mruzek.
Several students have said that they either end up not doing or not finishing their homework.
“Due to after school activities I don’t get my homework done until almost 11:30 at night,” said Maloney. “It’s draining! Especially getting 1-2 assignments per class.”
But educators disagree with the students.
“I think homework is a necessity in my class. The more repetition my students do the more it will help reinforce their work,” said Chemistry teacher Nicholas Guerin.
Social studies teacher Joe Jourdain agreed with this theory.
“I think homework is a logical extension and it’s an important aspect to better deliver content to students,” Jourdain. “If we take time in class, we wouldn’t be able to do the important things.”
English teacher Sean Farrell said he favors homework.
“I love it! I think it’s an important part of education, especially for English class. If the students don’t do work outside of school, we wouldn’t have time in class to cover what we want to cover,” said Farrell.
Assistant principal Josh Delgado said there can be a middle ground regarding homework distribution.
“I feel like homework is really important to practice the skills that you are using in class,” said Delgado. “But teachers who give homework just for the sake of giving homework is not productive and a waste of the students’ time.”
