The overwhelming amount of homework assigned regularly is an all too familiar bane for both elementary school children and parents. Given how young these minds are, it begs the question; why do elementary schools burden students with so much homework?
Elementary schools give so much homework because it improves student concentration, helps them understand challenging topics, and boosts overall academic performance. Giving homework is also a great way for elementary schools to increase parental involvement in kids’ learning.
Despite these purported benefits, the homework vs. no homework debate rages on as it has for over a century. This article will enlighten you on the motivations behind giving homework to kids in elementary schools. It’ll also cover the potential drawbacks of burdensome homework later on, so stick around to the end.
Reasons Elementary Schools Give So Much Homework
For all the blotches that homework’s reputation has accumulated, especially in recent years, this practice of mandatory take-home assignments still has its stalwarts.
Ever since it was integrated into the American educational system, many educators have seen it as an essential tool that significantly contributes to a child’s learning and development.
Here’s a rundown of some of the most commonly cited pros of homework:
- It teaches students how to concentrate.
- It can help students master challenging subjects.
- It boosts performance in school.
- It’s a great way to get parents involved in their child’s learning.
Let’s discuss these benefits in more detail.
Homework Improves Student Concentration
The average attention span of an elementary school student varies between 12 and 30 minutes, typically by age. But elementary school classes can exceed this limit, resulting in a reduced intake of information that can negatively impact a student’s academic performance.
Homework may help improve a student’s ability to focus on singular tasks, as kids must concentrate on their homework while avoiding at-home distractions.
After all, the environment at home is typically far more relaxed than the one at school, which means that students must improve their ability to focus on completing their homework on time. Students can then apply this increased attentiveness to classwork, helping them retain more information from each class period.
Homework Can Help Students Understand Challenging Topics
Even the most gifted and patient teachers occasionally struggle to help students understand challenging subjects. Giving homework comes in handy in such situations. It gets students to practice newly learned skills and topics, effectively reinforcing their understanding of challenging concepts they may not have grasped in class.
For example, elementary school children learning multiplication tables don’t typically have the full table memorized within the first day. Instead, they benefit from studying flashcards or completing worksheets with related multiplication problems.
Though this method is repetitious, it can significantly improve a child’s understanding of a particular subject or topic.
Homework Can Boost Overall Academic Performance
A child’s grade is typically divided into several aspects. Homework typically makes up the bulk of a student’s grade, especially throughout elementary school. In some schools, it may make up for up to 30% of the final grade, with the remainder split between quizzes, exams, etc.
That’s why completing homework on time can be an excellent way for students to boost their overall grades. That’s particularly true if your child excels in tests and quizzes but is struggling with their homework. Prioritizing homework could help them significantly improve their grades.
Of course, simply telling your child to do their homework every day isn’t the best way to help. Sitting down with your child to help them complete their assignments is often far more effective. It allows parents to get more involved in their child’s schooling.
Homework Offers Opportunities for Parents To Get More Involved
Helping your child complete their homework is an excellent way to keep track of their learning and discover what topics are covered in class. As a parent hoping to have a more hands-on role in your child’s education, it’s a great opportunity to discuss classroom topics and help your kid get a better grasp of difficult knowledge areas.
Additionally, discussing your child’s school experience as you help them complete their homework is an excellent way to learn about potential problems that may be impacting their learning. Some kids find it difficult to open up about issues such as bullying, struggling with certain subjects, or disagreements with teachers during routine at-home activities. The time you spend helping your child with assignments may feel more natural for them to open up about such things.
Potential Drawbacks of Homework in Elementary Schools
While the benefits of homework are unmistakable and cannot be written off, neither can the arguments against it. On the surface, homework is a very sound practice for the developmental advantage of students of all ages. Yet, for centuries, concerns regarding the adverse effects of homework on children have prevailed.
Let’s take a closer look at the most commonly cited arguments against homework in elementary schools.
Too Much Homework May Impact Children’s Health
Back when opposition to homework was in its earlier years, concerned mothers voiced fears that homework would cause children to suffer nervous breakdowns. Even though those were simpler times with less homework assigned, its impact on children’s health had already been noted.
Homework was undoubtedly designed to give students an advantage in learning. However, studies have indicated that it is now causing more harm than good. These studies may have been conducted on high school students. Still, they paint a clearer picture when you consider that older students typically can accommodate more homework with less stress than their elementary school counterparts.
Stress from the children’s schoolwork and parents’ work day steals into the home and is perpetuated throughout the evening as families tackle these take-home assignments together. There is an endless list of health conditions that can stem from stress, and elementary school children are not spared.
And as early grade schoolers are required to labor away at their assignments for a good portion of their evenings, they’re deprived of the wholesome activities that could positively contribute to their overall wellbeing.
As homework continually impacts grade-schoolers health, parents and researchers question the returns of such a cost. Research indicates that homework benefits high schoolers more than elementary students, yet the little ones are sent home with a significant workload.
Even kindergarten kids who the National Education Association (NEA) and the National PTA (NPTA) have stated should not be given homework are assigned up to 25 minutes worth of it each night.
The more homework assigned, the less time children have to be children, and the more recreational activities vital to their development are foregone. The stress that follows these young ones home from school eventually results in perfectly avoidable illnesses.
Excess Homework Limits Extra-Curricular Activities
The best educational institutions pride themselves on offering far more than just an academic degree.
The various programs and sports are a key consideration when choosing high schools, colleges, and universities. Elementary schools have less emphasis on competitive sports, but there’s no lack of school programs students can choose to involve themselves in.
Indeed, an educational institution’s primary objective is to educate in the classroom. However, children have other skills and talents they can develop by engaging in hobbies and pastimes, and assigning them too much homework robs them of time to fulfill their potential in other aspects of their lives.
Too Much Homework Eats Into Valuable Family Time
While the homework system primarily weighs on the children, it also affects their parents. There’s less time to spend on wholesome family activities at the end of the day. Instead, parents and children find themselves tackling a mountain of assignments each night.
To be clear, a reasonable amount of homework offers a bonding opportunity for parents and children and allows the parents to track their children’s academic performance firsthand. However, the unhealthy amount of homework doled out by elementary schools these days has become a source of stress for families.
The 10-Minute Rule
Having presented both sides of the argument, circumventing the harmful effects while reaping the benefits would be most logical.
And indeed, the National PTA (NPTA) and the National Education Association (NEA) agree on how to achieve this. Here’s a Youtube clip of the news coverage on that agreement and why it’s important:
Both groups decided on a standard known as the 10-minute rule that is applicable from the first grade up to high school. This standard limits homework length to 10 minutes per grade every night. As children get older and advance in their education, the homework load correspondingly increases.
For instance, first-graders should be assigned only 10 minutes worth of homework while eighth-graders take home an hour and 20 minutes of assignments. It’s a straightforward enough rule, yet researchers have found that grade schoolers are assigned three times more of the standard homework load per grade.
The 10-minute rule is a perfectly reasonable standard that offers a solution to the dilemma. But as long as it’s ignored, students will continue to suffer the negative effects of homework.
Final Thoughts
Homework in itself is unarguably beneficial to students. But the unreasonable amounts of it being assigned cause detrimental effects, particularly on younger grade-schoolers.
The requirements for realizing the benefits of homework while keeping the adverse effects a minimum are unfollowed. Unless there’s a much stricter implementation of the 10-minute rule, young children will fall victim to the system, and many more voices will take up the cry to abolish homework altogether.
Sources
- CNLD: How Long Should a Child’s Attention Span Be?
- CNN: Kids have three times too much homework, study finds
- Healthline: Why Homework is Bad: Stress and Consequences
- U.S. News: Should Kids Get Homework?
- Slate: Are Grade-Schoolers Doing Too Much Homework?
- Salon: Experts say kids still have way too much homework
- Western Governors University: Should Students Have Homework?
- Britannica: Pro and Con: Homework
