Students, staff consider best balance of homework

After having a full day of classes, practices and other responsibilities, many students go home and face hours of homework. While it’s typically meant to help students learn, not everyone agrees that it actually does.

Some students think that homework plays an important role in reinforcing what is taught in class. Sophomore Hunter Kotur said, “It gives me extra practice with what we are learning, especially in classes like math where you kind of need a lot of repetition to actually understand it.” For him, homework can be useful in most situations. However, Kotur said, “I just wish it wasn’t always required or graded. It should be optional for students who want the extra practice. If someone doesn’t feel like they need it, they shouldn’t have to do it—even if they’re struggling in that class.”

Teachers also see the value in assigning homework, especially when it comes to reinforcing key concepts. Social studies teacher Chad Van Cleve, who also teaches a Hawkeye Community College course, explained that homework can be helpful for memorizing vocabulary and learning by rereading the materials from different units. However, other teachers, like Lydia Butters, who teaches math courses, said that most students simply won’t complete the homework anyway, which can turn it into more of a chore for the teachers to assign and manage rather than an important learning tool.

Many students feel that homework quickly becomes overwhelming and excessive. Sophomore Selena Berg explained that “after being at school all day, the last thing I want to do is more school at home. It just feels like too much sometimes.” She said that too much homework can add unnecessary stress and take away from the time students need to relax or focus on other responsibilities.

Junior Stella Schmitz sees both sides of the argument. “Homework can definitely help, but when every class assigns something, it adds up really fast and becomes super stressful instead of helpful,” Schmitz said. “I think that when students get a lot of homework assigned, they rush through it to get it done, which defeats the whole purpose of it.” Like many students, she said lhomework is only effective when there’s a balance, not when it becomes a daily rush of getting everything done on time.