Is Homework Beneficial To Students: Pros and Cons

There is the never-ending question of homework and whether it’s beneficial to students or not. Both camps have staunchly defended their point of view to the grave, claiming that homework is NOT beneficial or that homework is COMPLETELY necessary to a student’s learning. Well, here we are again at a crossroads trying to get to the bottom of this argument; does homework benefit the students, or is it more detrimental to their overall learning experience? We’re going to break it down so maybe you can settle this argument once and for all. But to get to the bottom of this, we should understand what the sides are —

In the red corner we have those who think homework is necessary for a students learning and should be given homework almost everyday. Teachers and researchers alike claim that the aim of homework is to practice, and that practice makes perfect. 

Then we have, in the blue corner – homework is detrimental to a student’s learning and should be optional rather than mandatory. Classroom time is more important to answer questions and explain things to students and homework in fact causes more stress. 

Homework is dividing, but it shouldn’t be this difficult to come to a decision about homework. There are plenty of articles about this, and even at Assignment Expert it’s still a hot topic.

Practice Makes Perfect 

Some say that a total number of 10,000 hours spent practicing something makes someone an “expert” in a subject, which is fair to say. You improve your skills and knowledge by using it practice and homework is the physical incarnation of “practice.” Bill Gates practiced computer programming at the age of 13, and he practiced and practiced his code. He spent evenings and weekends as a teenager at a programming club using the only available computer in the neighborhood until he could find a decent job.. Then when he was there, he practiced some more until he started his company Microsoft. 

These people think that homework is beneficial for these reasons. Hard work pays off and doing homework assignments aren’t any different. They list off some very good reasons why:

PROS

1. Practicing what you learn makes it easier to remember.

The material students learn in the classroom should be used in a way that they can remember. Teachers believe that homework is this extra practice they can utilize to instill the material into these students’ brains. Students do tend to remember more if they encounter this information several times. 

2. You can see what problems you are having

Teachers and professors enjoy giving out homework because they can really see who is understanding the material and who isn’t. Students also see what can confuse them and ask questions pertaining to that topic. This way of learning is often encouraged, when students make self-discoveries.

3. Homework is a good way to evaluate your progress

Evaluation and assessment is difficult to do without some physical work to be shown. WIth homework assignments, teachers and professors can see if a students gets the material or needs improvement. Of course, there are tests and exams and essays, but homework assignments are less stressful than those and can provide more immediate results. 

So do these people who practice learn better than others?

Not exactly. 

Homework and Deadlines Are Stressful 

There are also times when practicing too much can hurt your learning abilities and prevent you from progressing. Research says that students have a threshold of remembering information and regurgitating it; this means that there is a limit to how much practice is effective, and once you’re past that limit, you start to get fatigued and don’t retain as much information. Students usually drop out of college because of this added stress to their lives and it can send them into a spiral of depression. Here, we’ll outline the negative aspects of doing homework

CONS

1. Having more homework is stressful

Too much of one thing is harmful, and this includes homework. Of course, teachers believe that more homework can be beneficial, or can act as a punishment for some students. But what they sometimes fail to see is that students already have 4-5 hours of homework already every night. In order to pass their classes, they must do all of their homework, and this causes some unnecessary stress at a very young age. How do we know when it’s too much homework? This depends on the students and the teachers and many other factors in a student’s life. 

2. More homework means less fun

Students work hard to be where they need to be, but they are young. Because of the workload their teachers and professors give them, they aren’t able to enjoy the life they have when they are young. The idea that homework is so important gets in the way of life and this can be very dangerous for young children growing up. They aren’t able to socialize and start to develop some stress-induced symptoms and illnesses. 

3. Homework creates bad habits and laziness

Students will tend not to do their homework because it simply is too overwhelming. The consequences become bad grades, and at that point the student has already lost interest because of the overwhelming feeling of homework. This causes them to become a bit more lazy, seeing as they don’t have to necessarily do their homework if they don’t want to. 

So whether you think students need to learn discipline and do their homework or they should be able to enjoy their youth to the fullest, the question of homework will always exist, and Assignment Expert is here to help with it either way.