High school can be incredibly busy. The level of homework given to students ranges from nonexistent to unbearable, especially for those in advanced classes. This school does have the A day and B day system, making work easier to get done on time, but everyone has different schedules, and it’s gotten to the point where tackling PAP/AP classes, having a job, and doing extracurricular activities is almost impossible. The question I’m getting at is this: is homework really necessary?

Learning is, of course, the #1 priority while in high school. The students are supposed to be here to learn at school, but some people may find homework nonessential since we learn at school in the first place.

Homework is given to improve the skills of students to enhance comprehension, but having so much homework given to a student at one time can make the student more frantic, which is extremely counterproductive. It is very important to learn and comprehend the material given in class, but homework can either make or break a student, since everyone learns differently. If a teacher gives a student a homework assignment and tells the student to learn through that, some students find that difficult to do. Homework can also increase cheating, since the school district seems to care only about the grades one makes and not about how smart the student actually is. Homework increases stress and can make a student feel dense if they don’t understand the material and are too shy to ask for help; but, homework can also mature a student.

Doing homework can really make you excel in a class, or can help you realize that you need to ask for help if you’re having difficulty. Asking for help can be fearful, but it’s something a person is going to have to overcome at some point in their lives, so it’s best to do it in one’s youth. The older one gets, the more homework one gets. Homework makes up a majority of the grades in your class, even though quizzes and tests count more heavily. Homework can help a student study for a quiz and test if they can’t really rely on themselves to study independently; but then again, a student should be able to tell themselves what is the best way for them to study and learn, and not have the concept of homework shoved down their throats.

To a majority of students, homework doesn’t feel like their learning anything; it just feels like another grade to them, and that shouldn’t be why we’re here. We should be here to learn and prepare for the future, whether it’s college, working a job, etc. Some options will require independent work, but this work feels more necessary. Homework should feel more necessary than just another grade to add to a student’s report card. Homework and grades shouldn’t be the main focus of school; absorbing the instruction given to students by the teachers should be.

In conclusion, there are pros and cons to homework. Homework can help a student learn, but it could also make a student feel under a lot of pressure, which shouldn’t be happening to a student at a local high school. Students shouldn’t have to feel anxiety over their homework, they should be able to choose how they themselves will learn, taking the material they’re given or leaving it. It’s the student’s life, and they should be able to choose how they will live it from the moment they get an idea of how they want to. Grades and homework should be seen as not as important as actually taking in the information. Learning is incredibly important, but homework isn’t very helpful to some students, and makes them feel even worse about a class than they already feel. Homework isn’t something that should be completely eradicated, but improved for the students, so they will feel like they are getting a learning experience out of high school, and are not just there for the ride.