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Too much homework means too little sleep, social life

By Katie Ramdial I find myself staying up past midnight most nights just to finish all of my homework. It's hard for not only me but also for other students who balance studies, extracurriculars, social life, and sleep.

By Katie Ramdial

I find myself staying up past midnight most nights just to finish all of my homework. It's hard for not only me but also for other students who balance studies, extracurriculars, social life, and sleep.

Some students' nights end in tears from the stress. One of my junior friends gets one to three hours of sleep per night because of her schedule and her homework load.

That is, quite honestly, ridiculous.

Even educators agree that students are assigned more homework today than ever. The National Education Association created "The 10-Minute Rule," which states that students should have 10 minutes of homework per night per grade. For example, first graders should have 10 minutes of homework, second graders 20 minutes. You get the idea.

As a high school junior, I should have a little less than two hours' worth. But that's seldom the case. I start an hour after school and do three hours. Later, after swim practice, I do another two hours.

This overload starts early. I read on CNN that first graders are receiving 28 minutes' worth of homework. Kindergartners are receiving, on average, 25 minutes of homework. Twenty-five minutes!

Should 5-year-olds get any homework? Shouldn't they be playing outside? Shouldn't they be coloring? How about playing with Thomas the Tank Engine, Barbie dolls, and Legos?

A study by Harris Cooper, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, showed that kids who were doing homework for more than two hours a night were not achieving any more than kids who were doing one to two hours' worth of homework a night.

How much homework do American students have in relation to other countries' students? In their 2005 book National Differences, Global Similarities: World Culture and the Future of Schooling, Gerald LeTendre and David Baker of Pennsylvania State University state that American middle-schoolers "do more homework than their peers in Japan, Korea, or Taiwan."

In an article for greatschools.org, "Do Our Children Have Too Much Homework?," Marian Wilde notes that LeTendre also found that more homework does not automatically equal higher test scores and that it can be ineffective. "Most homework in the fourth grade in the U.S. is worksheets," she writes. "Fill them out, turn them in, maybe the teacher will check them, maybe not. That is a very ineffective use of homework."

Giving students unnecessary homework eats away at creative playtime, which is crucial to emotional and physical development. Why waste such precious time?

Colleges want well-rounded students who participate in multiple extracurricular activities, including volunteer services, music groups, and sports. But once a student finally comes home from practice after school, showers, and eats dinner, he or she is probably exhausted.

After coming home from work, parents may enjoy watching Downton Abbey, hitting the gym, catching up with friends at P.J. Whelihan's, tending to their gardens, and looking at their Facebook feeds. Would these parents want an additional five hours of work?

Too much homework is a burden. I can't stay up late when I know I have to be well-rested for my honors physics test on momentum, my in-class essay on The Scarlet Letter, and my swim meet at Camden County Tech. It is practically impossible to balance everything.

Teachers and administrators need to reconsider the nature of and reason for homework before they deprive students of sleep, a social life, and sanity.

Katie Ramdial is a junior at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees. bowneenglishhonors@gmail.com