Here’s the thesis:
Some people believe that homework is an absolute must, and others think it is a waste of time. However, both sides of this argument are equally right, and equally wrong.
Imagine you are anywhere between elementary school and your sophomore year of highschool. You don’t have a job. You might have some responsibilities at home, and you might take part in sports, but for the most part, you have a lot of time on your hands. Some, but not all, of this time can be spent studying for school by doing homework that is assigned by your teachers, and this homework really helps! You’re flourishing in school, and your academic performance constantly raises, and you still have time to enjoy your childhood! Sounds like a pretty decent life, right? Now imagine yourself in your junior or senior year of high school, maybe even anywhere in college, and you now have a job because you’re saving for the necessities to get started on life. You spend half your day at school, you come home with around 30 minutes before you have to be at work and you get ready for the second half of your day. Here’s the problem, you still have homework you need to complete for anywhere between 4 to 7 classes, depending on what state you live in. Here’s the bigger problem, you spent most of your only 30 minutes of free time getting ready for work, and most of your teachers have assigned you homework without regard to your other classes or even your personal life! You have an average of 2 hours worth of homework to complete, with no time to complete it at all. How do you overcome this problem? You begin doing it all immediately after work. Congratulations, you’ve completed everything necessary to succeed, but you wake up for school the next day. You are so tired because you stayed up late at night completing homework, and now you’re starting to fall asleep in class. You begin missing important information and, on occasion, aren’t able to wake up in time for a few morning lectures. The stress and exhaustion starts building, meanwhile your grades are failing and the rest of your academics continue to decline.
This is the problem with homework: It is helpful, but only up to a certain point in time. After that point in time is reached, homework will only cause harm to those assigned. The example above is proven by countless students across the country, including myself. After the sophomore year of highschool, when you are finally old enough to have a job, homework should not be had, and all the information needed should be worked on and focused on during class time.