Persuasive Research Essay: The Controversial Issue Of Homework?

The Controversial Issue of Homework

What would you rather do, graduate from high school when you are still young or live the rest of your life just wishing you would have just done your homework when you were in school, and not graduate with a high school diploma? The controversial issue of homework is whether to have the teachers assign it to the students or let them get away with no homework. In a previous study that compared students in the United States to students in Japan and Germany, “The 1995 Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) found that 8th graders in Japan and Germany are assigned less homework but still outperform U.S. students on tests National Center for Educational Statistics” (Kralovec and Buell). Homework

A study revealed that, “The result showed a positive association between the amount of homework and students’ grades for children in grades six through ten” (“What Research Says about the Value of Homework”). This study shows that when students are given homework, their ability to succeed improves. Therefore, students in higher grades benefit from doing homework. This is proven by students receiving higher test scores, “With regard to achievement all eight studies found that homework involving preparation for new material or practice of old material led to higher scores on tests than homework that dealt solely with the content of the present day’s lesson” (“What Research Says about the Value of Homework”). When you prepare for new material to practice on your homework, you will do better. It is important for teachers to give homework so that students can practice for their upcoming tests. Students also reported that they had better attitudes if they completed their homework. This is shown to be true because “Of the 50 correlations, 43 indicated that students

This quote is of one teacher explaining how she is letting her students get away with having absolutely no homework. This is shown by, “The difference is that I am no longer making it a tedious struggle each night. My students are enjoying school and enjoying their time each evening. To me,this is all that matters” (Strauss). One may argue that this perspective is incorrect because students aren 't reinforcing anything that they learned in school or practicing it at home. If there is no homework assigned at night, students won’t always remember what they learned in class. To add on to the fact the homework is beneficial “Practice homework, the most common type, is assigned to reinforce material presented in the classroom and to help students master individual skills” (What Research Says about the Value of Homework). This proves that homework can be more important than having fun sometimes. It is better to get homework out of the way first, then students can go have fun. This way, they will not have to worry about getting homework done later when they do not have energy to focus on it. Sometimes students need to set fun activities aside to focus on enhancing their academic skills so they can get good grades in school and ultimately pass their