Last night I had the privilege to go to a client meeting with one of our franchise owners. He was particularly concerned about how one of his students and the family were impacted by stress from school. While in our meeting the child gave me a copy of a paper he wrote titled "I Hate Homework." Very well written. A message that many parents can understand and appreciate. Read the message below by a young student that is very gifted and fed up with the homework process in his life. He has no time to hang out with his friends, no time to skateboard, no time to just have fun! By the time he returns home after a long school day it is almost dark and the family evening routine to prepare for another day of routine begins without question but with a battle of words and frustration....He writes:

Follow up:

I hate homework, my mom hates homework, and my dad hates homework. Homework overshadows everything in my family’s life. Homework is a constant burden hanging over our heads like a dark heavy cloud. It affects our weekends, meals, vacations, my parents work time…everything! The level of stress and disharmony that “homework” brings to my life is overwhelming and for that matter, pointless. Even when I try, it still isn’t good enough. All my life I have been told how smart I was, which is odd because dealing with the demands of homework makes me feel so stupid. The increasing burden of homework has harmful consequences on today’s students and their families. Something has got to give. My desire to want to go to school is being crushed by the weight of my homework.

One would think that a seven hour school day would be an adequate amount of study time for a freshman in high school. Obviously learning is what school is all about and homework is expected, on occasion. Homework was designed to reinforce the daily lesson or to research a connection to what was taught in class that day. As the saying goes, “Practice makes perfect”. Some homework is needed, but who decided that in order to be smart you had to do hours and hours of homework? Did someone decide that students that “immerse themselves in rigorous content at an accelerated rate” would make that student more prepared for college? Or students that successfully complete AP courses and spend a minimum of 6 hours a week outside of class studying will make them more “competitive” when colleges are reviewing entrance applications? What is the rush? I am 14 years old. I have no clue what I want to study in college. I just want to be a freshmen in high school. The pressure to prepare for college right now is too intense. There is no accredited research that proves that the more homework a student does; the higher their standardized test scores will become. Actually, homework has been known to burn out kids; they lose their curiosity to discover the “how’s” and “why’s”. I read an article that argued homework was pointless, a waste of time, and even harmful to students. Requiring pointless, time consuming busywork will only make students hate school more. Trying to keep up with all the stuff like projects, maps, outside novels, lab books, research, journal entries, math practice, etc…I don’t even know what I was supposed to learn! With so much piled on to students today, they are losing interest in reading a book just for pure enjoyment. Homework has made school a bad word and not something that kids look forward to anymore.

Too much homework can actually cause acne, migraines, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, stress, fatigue and serious self confidence issues. Students are under a lot of pressure to be the best. Parents are also affected by homework abuse. Tears, conflict, feelings of inadequacy, pressure, fights between student and parents are just a few things that families are dealing with due to the homework demands of schools today.
One of the most harmful consequences of too much homework is the stress that it causes…for everyone in the house. Homework in limited amounts is expected. Students can manage it and get it turned in without asking for help or falling behind. The mound of homework that is assigned day in and day out is causing anxiety and stress that affects the entire family. Relationships with parents become strained. Parents are forced to “help” their child just get it done, asking, “What do you do all day in school?” or “Why do you have so much homework?” Parents want to be the encourager not the enforcer. When did schools decide that the best place to learn math, science and history was at the kitchen table? Medical reports state that anxiety medicine is being prescribed to more and more teens and even grade school kids to deal with the pressure of school work. It is insane to think that 5th graders are popping pills to help calm their nerves before a spelling test!! By the time this pill popping fifth grader enters high school he will feel overwhelmed, lack confidence and could reap some serious lifelong emotional problems.

How much homework is too much? When does homework become unhealthy? Could there really be a crime called “Homework Abuse”? Parents, students and some teachers are beginning to ask these three questions more frequently. The strain of homework overload is visible. Teachers should be nurturers. Most teachers want to lift up, not knock them down. What happened? Are principals requiring teachers to give more homework? State tests have really changed the teachers. The pressure to drill and practice certain things on standardized test have made teachers into drill sergeants. There is no time to express or pass on the love of a teacher’s subject matter anymore. When teachers get excited about their class, then kids get excited. Teachers maybe burned out too. Homework should be assigned to practice the steps of a math problem or to research on a topic being discussed in class. The 10 minute rule: 10 minutes of homework multiplied by your grade level, for example 3rd grade- 30 minutes of homework, then shut the book! Kids get so much homework that their parents have to do it so that they can get it all done, losing any value that the assignment may have taught the student. Parents may even keep kids’ home from school to get them caught up or lie to attendance clerks about reason of absences to “cover” for their kids. So what are kids really learning? When the above issues begin appearing in your child’s life, their homework has become unhealthy.

The negative affects of homework by far outweigh the positive affects. School is in session 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months of the year. Students are capable of learning everything that they need to know within that time. Students need for schools and teachers to give them their time back. Kids need friends and family time. There is a lot to learn and not everything kids need to learn will be found in a classic novel or a project about a place or a person. Life experiences and social interaction is also needed to help kids learn and grow. Giving kids a break will give kids a good nights sleep, strip away fatigue or anxiety and they will feel rested and ready for each new school day. Who knows, students may be so interested or excited about the content of a class that they may, on their own, with no requirements or “rubric” do some investigating to learn more…just because they wanted to know more.