How Much Homework Is Bad On School Children?

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework. That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on.

Although 10 minutes per day appears to be small, but that can sum up to an hour per night by sixth grade. The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students get an average of 7 hours of homework per week. (University of San Diego)

A figure, that is considered  too high according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is also to be noted that this figure does not take into consideration the needs of the underprivileged student population who will sometimes have to help their parent in their small business after school hours.

Does Homework Cause Anxiety?

A study conducted by Stanford University by a senior lecturer, Denise pope at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” She said. 

The study pointed out that  students who feel that they spend “too much time” on homework experience stress and physical ailments that can be tied to anxiety.

Students also cited having difficulty balancing everything in their life, including family time and extracurricular activities in addition to homework, which can contribute to the anxiety.

What health problems can homework cause?

Introducing too much  homework into the curriculum of the students, which exceeds the 10-minute per grade rule, has been known to cause digestive issues, sleeping problems, headaches, weight loss, lack of interest in other activities and generalized stress. 

Does homework rub off  a person’s childhood?

When a child is exposed to too much homework from school has and they have trouble balancing their life outside of school, it may rub off  their childhood. Not having time to go outside, play with friends, play jigsaw puzzles with friend or just “chill” could take away from the milestone experiences of childhood. 

Does excessive homework encourage cheating?

Students who find that they can’t do the homework but know it’s a large part of their grade often turn to cheating. Whether they cheat off peers or find other ways to do it, the point of the homework is lost. 

How can you stay calm during homework?

Homework can seem overwhelming and stressful, but there are ways to stay calm:

• Choose a time when you are calm and able to focus.
• Do not be lazy.
• Always priortise  the most difficult  ones from  the assignment.
• Seek for help from siblings, your  parent, friend, or teacher.
• Get adequate sleep, it is recommended to have minimum of 8 hours of sleep to stay refresh all day.
• Eat a healthy snack before starting your homework.
• Avoid distractions by all means.

How should you handle homework that is too hard?

It’s inevitable that some homework will be harder than others.

Rather than letting it stress you out, consider the following tips:

• Seek  as many  clarifications as you can from your teacher.
• Engage in board games like scrabble or  Jigsaw puzzles with friends and families before starting again. 
• Work together  with your peers to see if they have other tips that may help.
• Take breaks to avoid getting overwhelmed.
• Avoid any distractions like phones ,tablets,netflix and tv show

 How to turn to good from the bad of excessive homework..

Dear Parents,

A child will go to school by 7am and close by 5pm for five days out of the seven days in a week.* *During weekends that child comes home with many* *assignments in all the subjects he or she is offering in school and at such, there won’t be time to rest and play at the weekends.

The child does that for almost four months hoping to enjoy the holidays only for the school (in* *collaboration with the parents) to come up with an unnecessary activities in the name of holidays lesson.

What exactly do you want to teach that child again at this period? Is it what he or she learnt in the just concluded session or what they will learn next term.

• *Dear Nigerian parents, summer holiday is a period you allow a child to experience other things in life apart from formal education.*Allow them to travel for the vacation and if you do not have money for that, take them to places where they will learn new skills.*
  Let them go and learn drawing,
•  play jigsaw puzzles with friends and families, visit grandparent, dance, computer coding, how to play football, martial art, business, catering, tie and dye, foreign languages, learn vocational skills, learn how to make beats, music   classes? etc.* 

Every time Book! book!!book!!!**This is why most of our youths are unemployed. They only had FORMAL education; no FINANCIAL education*.  *They cannot do any other thing apart from white collar jobs.

At that young age, they learn without being ashamed of what people will say, they will be using this new skills to feed* themselves untill they get jobs in the areas they studied in college or university.

We learn how to discover a whole lot of things in school but not how to discover ourselves*  *SCHOOL IS NOT* ENOUGH”!!!

• Dear beloved parents, please avail these little ones the opportunities to explore life!!! Yes…… Let them in into the world of self – discovery.
• True happiness and contentment comes from doing what you have passion for…..holiday is  approaching again, God help our children.

Feel free to let us know other areas in which you think excessive assignment do affect school children in the comment section.Do have a great in your holidays!!

(Source: CreditDonkey)