Today's Homework Stress

In today’s world, education is more important than ever, and with education comes homework. However, many teachers give too much homework, which makes students extremely stressed. In addition, some are into sports or after school activities, and some have part time jobs they have to work at, which adds additional stress to the already overworked students. Mounds of homework can cause students to be under so much stress that it affects them mentally, physically, and emotionally. Stress can make students sick with colds, stomach aches, high blood pressure, sleep disorders, and/or anxiety disorders (Menninger and Dugan).

Today, many students report more anxiety due to stress than child psychiatric patients did in the 1950’s. In a 2006 survey of 1,300 students at a public high school in Needham, Massachusetts found that 58% of the students surveyed reported between a great deal of stress and extreme stress due to homework (Bennett and Kalish). Many students in today’s time, have so many things to do that it is difficult for them to come home, only to have to finish five to six hours of homework. This, with the added effects of after school activities and technology, only adds to the stress that is put on students.

Dr. Michael Nagel, an associate professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, says homework has no scientific benefit and that it could even be bad for a student’s brain. “The adult brain does not fully mature until the third decade of life (a person’s thirty’s) and too much stimulation could cause unnecessary stress on a student.” An analysis conducted by Pearson showed that the number of hours spent on homework was between ten and sixty-five hours a week, with females scoring higher on the hours of homework, stres...

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...e management skills and encouraging them to get enough sleep, exercise often, and by having family meal times with their children. In teenagers, parents should watch for stress related behaviors such as cutting or depression, and by also watching their parental pressure.

In today’s era, students are faced with the tug-of-war situation of too much stress. Should students really be subject to this kind of stress due to tremendous homework hours? Students go to school between six and seven hours a day. Should they really be given homework that takes them all night to finish? Dr. Michael Nagel says that too much stimulation can be bad for a student’s brain. If the brain doesn’t fully mature until the third decade of life, then do we really want put the amount of stress and stimulation on the brain that homework causes? Do we really want to potentially harm our brain?