why homework is a waste of time

Is Homework a Waste of Time? Teachers Weigh In

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The debate over homework rages on.

In response to an Opinion essay by a teacher titled “ What Do You Mean My Kid Doesn’t Have Homework? ”, many Facebook users took to the comments section to voice their perspectives on whether assigning homework is outdated and unnecessary—especially during a pandemic—or whether it’s a critical step to cultivating learning.

The benefits of homework have long been disputed, especially at the elementary school level. In 2018, Marva Hinton wrote about how homework was assigned at early grades and the potential effects on these young students. Some schools embraced homework, like Arlington Traditional School, a countywide elementary school in Arlington, Va., where kindergartners were expected to complete a minimum of 30 minutes of homework a night, Monday through Thursday. But some teachers such as Cathy Vatterott, a professor of education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the author of Rethinking Homework worried that adjusting to school routines combined with homework could sour young students on school.

But what about the benefits for older students? In a 2019 article , Education Week Assistant Editor Stephen Sawchuk unpacked the results of a Center for American Progress analysis, which found that while much of the homework assigned to the students in the study aligned with the Common Core State Standards, it did not contribute to building more difficult skills called for in the standards, like analyzing or extending their knowledge to new problems.

Beyond considering the efficacy of homework, the debate over how much time students should spend daily on take-home assignments dates back to the early 1900s. The public furor even led some state lawmakers to ban homework entirely at one point. Multiple studies over the years have examined different angles of the homework debate, including just how much homework students were assigned. In 2003, a pair of national studies found that most American students spent less than an hour daily on homework, and the workload was no bigger than it was 50 years prior.

“There is this view in the popular media that there has been this terrible burden of homework on children, and that the homework is increasing,” said Tom Loveless, the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution to Education Week’s Debra Viadero in a 2003 article . “That is not the case.”

Fast-forward to the present, teachers and students alike might find themselves at another crossroads in the homework debate. The pandemic brought with it the advent of strategies like “flipped learning” , which relies heavily on homework as an integral component of the lesson. While this might work for some, many students grew weary of the reliance on homework during remote and hybrid learning. This is on top of the potential equity issues arising from lack of internet access affecting students’ ability to complete the steady stream of homework being assigned, and the uptick in mental health issues in students .

So what do teachers really think about homework? Here’s what they had to say in response to the recently resurfaced essay by Samantha Hulsman.

A Disconnect Between Parents and Educators

“i teach 1st grade. i had parents ask for homework. i explained that i don’t give homework. home time is family time. time to play, cook, explore and spend time together. i do send books home, but there is no requirement or checklist for reading them. read them, enjoy them, and return them when your child is ready for more. i explained that as a parent myself, i know they are busy—and what a waste of energy it is to sit and force their kids to do work at home—when they could use that time to form relationships and build a loving home. something kids need more than a few math problems a week.”.

- Colleen S.

“I tried the ‘no homework’ policy one year and received so much pushback from my parents that I began sending home a weekly packet. I pass it out on Monday and it is due on Friday. Parents [are] happy, I’m happy, and life goes on. I say pick your battles. Now, I refuse to give packets over school breaks (winter/spring). If a parent asks, I simply tell them to have them work on any app that we use in class.”

“i literally only assign homework because some parents always make a huge deal of it if i don’t.”, “parents are the driving force behind homework ... they demand it and will complain about not receiving it even after explaining your philosophy of education and providing them with pedagogy that refutes the ‘benefits’ of it.”, homework can be useful for certain subjects or grades, “as a teacher of nearly 40 years, i believe homework has its place. especially in math math needs to be practiced to learn it. i don’t believe in giving homework just because. i think it should be purposeful.”.

- Sandra S.

“For those leading the charge against homework, please think about the expectation for students beyond your classroom. If you teach elementary school, will they be asked to do homework in middle school, high school, and beyond? If so, organization, time management, and study skills are not so easily learned at a later age, when the expectation has never been present. I can’t imagine being a student, who enters college, having never had the expectation of nightly HW.”

- Bobbie M.

Is Homework Actually Helpful for Learning?

Some agree that at its core, homework is practice, which is a needed element to achieving learning.

“Homework is practice. Practice the skills we learned about in class so we can review and add to them. My instrumental students are required to practice every day. When they don’t it’s evident.”

Others aren’t as convinced it’s actually a good tool for assessing comprehension.

“As a teacher, if the kids were assigned homework, guess when the papers were graded ... After discovering a Mom had been doing the homework and was making failing grades ... I gave it up ... taught 25 years without it and my students did much better ...”

- Martha H.

Heightens Equity Issues

“no homework ever it is unnecessary it is so elitist and ableist and teaches kids that it is expected to take work home after hours of a job. nope never”, “homework just further separates the students. those who have parents home who understand the work, or can afford a tutor will do so. families already struggling financially tend not to have parents home to help and cannot afford tutors.”.

- Rebecca J.

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Is homework a waste of time.

Homework has always been one of the biggest challenges to school and home life, causing family tension, stress and time pressures.

Research from Stanford Graduate School of Education  conducted amongst 4,300 students highlighted that over 56 per cent considered homework to be a primary source of stress, whilst others reported increased levels of anxiety, sleep deprivation, exhaustion and weight loss.

After considerable review and debate, ACS Egham has decided to drop ‘traditional’ homework for students aged four to eleven.

The educational debate over the merits of homework has been going on a long time, with different countries taking very different approaches. Wanting to discover the best approach to setting homework to achieve optimal wellbeing for students and parents, our teaching team collaborated on a research project to help find the solution. Our findings highlighted that for homework to be truly effective, it must be highly personalised for each student. So we set about making these changes.

Traditional homework

Traditional homework or ‘busy work’, as we like to call it, is generic across a class, and does little to enhance the individual student learning experience. This kind of homework assumes that every student is the same, that each has the same maturity, concentration and ability level. It is, therefore… a bit lazy. As we all know, in real-life abilities vary enormously from one person to the next, and students can often find this type of homework very stressful, especially if they feel they have been set impossible tasks that they must face alone.

Children are already at school for some seven hours a day and ‘busy work’ simply eats up their free time, which they could be better spending with their families, or taking part in extra-curricular activities to refresh their minds and bodies. Younger students especially should be encouraged to use time after school for unstructured play and developing their own creativity.

Reflecting upon these issues, we decided to replace ‘busy work’ with a personal, guided approach building on class work and learning, which parents and students can share together, making the work more meaningful, manageable and worthwhile.

Personalised approaches

Instead of setting homework, ACS Egham teachers share with parents the learning topics for the upcoming term and suggest that these subjects are explored at home. The Lower School intranet hosts ‘talk topics’ which link in with lessons and can be discussed at home around the dinner table or during car journeys. We also include extra-curricular activities which tie in to each unit, such as visiting a museum, art exhibition, or hands on activities.

Arithmetic and literacy skills can also be enhanced at home without endless sums and compulsory reading times. Parents can help their children practice mathematical skills in everyday scenes; calculating a grocery budget, or measuring furniture on a trip to IKEA. Equally, parents are actively encouraged to read with students as much as they can, and for as long as it’s enjoyable. When reading is not a chore but an enjoyable activity, students’ literacy skills increase.

All these opportunities allow students to apply their class-based learning in a different context. In a multi-cultural class, exploring topics at home can be particularly important for students who have a native language other than English, giving them the forum in which to widen their vocabulary in their mother tongue. If students have struggled with a specific task, parents can notify the teachers, enabling teachers to give more targeted support in these areas.

Alternative education systems

In Finland, students are generally assigned virtually no homework; they don’t start school until age seven, and the school day is short. Despite this, Finland is considered to have one of the leading education systems in the world. Finnish students achieve some of the world’s best international PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test results; in 2016 achieving fourth place in reading compared to the UK in 22nd place, and 12th place in maths, compared the UK in 27th place.

According to a BBC article, a key concept in the Finnish school system is trust, where there’s little homework and no culture of extra private tuition. This trust is built from parents’ trusting schools to deliver a good education within the school day, and schools putting trust in the quality of their teachers. This certainly resonates with our opinions on homework; if a student has been delivered a quality education in the school day, there should be no need to spend hours in the evening carrying out a rigid schedule of homework.

Developing skills for the future

We prepare our nine to eleven year olds for secondary education through ‘I-Inquiry’ projects. These are individual research topics which students investigate over a period of four to six weeks. Recently students designed, created and built virtual models of their own imaginary planets, following a unit of inquiry that explored the solar system.

Using their iPads, students researched the characteristics of different planets before creating and naming their own. The final projects were then presented back to the class using iPads, artistic drawings and in some cases, hand built models.

Through the I-Inquiry project, students developed a whole range of essential life skills. These included time management and organisational skills, as students were required to work on the project both at home and at school; independent inquiry, exploring different sources to create their planet; as well as helping develop a creative mindset. Students also enhanced their communication skills and public speaking through their final presentations. Most importantly, students were energised by their learning and engaged with their subjects on a much deeper level.

We strongly believe that setting homework for the sake of it doesn’t benefit children or prepare them in a robust way for their next steps. It can also be a cause of family stress and tension, and potentially even hinder the wellbeing of the student. Where we’ve adopted our new approach at ACS Egham, we can see our students develop life skills through extra-curricular activities, spending time with their friends and family, and engaging at home with meaningful, highly personalised tasks, like the I-Inquiry Projects, which equips them for success beyond education and develops a curious mind as well as a lifelong love of learning.

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More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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Is Homework a Waste of Students' Time? Study Finds It's the Biggest Cause of Teen Stress

As the debate over the need for homework continues, a new study found that it's the biggest cause of teen stress, leading to sleepless nights and poor academic performance

Julie Mazziotta is the Sports Editor at PEOPLE, covering everything from the NFL to tennis to Simone Biles and Tom Brady. She was previously an Associate Editor for the Health vertical for six years, and prior to joining PEOPLE worked at Health Magazine. When not covering professional athletes, Julie spends her time as a (very) amateur athlete, training for marathons, long bike trips and hikes.

It’s the bane of every teen’s existence. After sitting through hours at school, they leave only to get started on mountains of homework. And educators are mixed on its effectiveness . Some say the practice reinforces what students learned during the day, while others argue that it put unnecessary stress on kids and parents , who are often stuck nagging or helping.

According to a new study, conducted by the Better Sleep Council , that homework stress is the biggest source of frustration for teens, with 74 percent of those surveyed ranking it the highest, above self-esteem (51 percent) parental expectations (45 percent) and bullying (15 percent).

Homework is taking up a large chunk of their time , too — around 15-plus hours a week, with about one-third of teens reporting that it’s closer to 20-plus hours.

The stress and excessive homework adds up to lost sleep, the BSC says. According to the survey, 57 percent of teenagers said that they don’t get enough sleep, with 67 reporting that they get just five to seven hours a night — a far cry from the recommended eight to ten hours. The BSC says that their research shows that when teens feel more stressed, their sleep suffers. They go to sleep later, wake up earlier and have more trouble falling and staying asleep than less-stressed teens.

“We’re finding that teenagers are experiencing this cycle where they sacrifice their sleep to spend extra time on homework, which gives them more stress — but they don’t get better grades,” said Mary Helen Rogers, the vice president of marketing and communications for the BSC.

RELATED VIDEO: To Help Or Not To Help: Moms Talk About Whether Or Not They Help Their Children With Homework

Another interesting finding from this study: students who go to bed earlier and wake up earlier do better academically than those who stay up late, even if those night owls are spending that time doing homework.

To end this cycle of sleep deprivation and stress, the BSC recommends that students try setting a consistent time to go to sleep each night, regardless of leftover homework. And their other sleep tips are good for anyone, regardless of age — keep the temperature between 65 and 67 degrees, turn off the electronic devices before bed, make sure the mattress is comfy and reduce noise with earplugs or sound machines.

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Is Homework A Waste of Time?

You just had what seemed like the longest day of your life. You walk into your room after a rough day of classes. You took two tests that you didn’t do so hot on and you are exhausted. All you want to do is relax for a little bit, but you can’t. Why? Because tomorrow you have 40 math problems due, a paper to write for your English class, and a speech outline due for your public speaking class.

So the question is, is all the homework really worth it? Is there any evidence that homework leads to a stronger academic student? Let’s take a look.

According to  District Administration , there is a positive correlation between homework and better scores on tests. When interviewed, researcher Robert Tai said, “Homework should act as a place where students practice the skills they’ve learned in class. It shouldn’t be a situation where students spend many hours every night poring over something new.” A study was done by Harris Cooper in 2006 (director of  Duke University’s Program in Education ). He analyzed and combined the results many homework studies. He found that students who had homework performed better on class tests compared to those who did not.

On the other hand, there are many studies that suggest otherwise. Some studies conclude that homework does not impact achievement significantly. In fact, some believe it has the opposite effect.  One study from Penn State  looked data from the late 1990s. They found that in countries that give more homework, student’s performance on the international test,  Trends in Mathematics and Science Study , was lower than those with less homework. These professors and researchers do not call for no homework necessarily, but they do suggest making homework more about the quality than quantity

Homework is helpful. Practice problems do in fact improve test grades and guide students in succeeding in the classroom. However, after about 90 minutes of homework, results will start to diminish. It’s important to find the happy-medium when it comes to homework and make sure students aren’t overloaded with busy work.

So next time you walk through your door after a stressful day of class, club meetings, and work, just remember that a few minutes hitting the book will benefit you in the long run. But after 90-120 minutes it may be time to put the pencil down, close your laptop, and call it a night.

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TEACHING TECHNIQUES

Homework: Useful Teaching Tool or Waste of Time?

• May 18, 2021

• Helpful or harmful?

How is homework helpful?

• Does homework promote learning?

Downsides of homework

• Should students have homework?
• Stress free homework tips

Homework. How can one little word cause so much trouble? Almost all schools require homework , but should they? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of homework, plus what the research says you should really be doing after school. 

As a pupil in the UK, you will without a doubt encounter homework during your school years. Some kids love it, others… not so much! Many parents struggle to make their child complete their homework and to fit it into their family’s busy schedule, and many kids and teens find homework quite boring. But let’s put our feelings about homework to the side, and focus on a more important question – is homework really necessary?

Is homework helpful or harmful?

Well, it depends. There’s loads of debate about homework and whether or not it helps you learn. Researchers have been trying to find the answer to this question since your parents were in school!

It all comes down to the purpose of the homework and the age of the student, as well as their interest in the topic at hand. 

For secondary students, homework is useful as a "short and focused intervention .” That means something like a research project that you complete at home. 💻

For primary students, homework can help reinforce skills students are learning in school. It makes sense to practice spelling words at home or working on reading skills , for example. 

How does homework promote learning?

One way homework can promote learning is by giving older students a chance to read more content than can be covered in class. For example, a Literature student might read a couple of chapters of a novel at home and then spend the class time discussing its themes with peers. This saves classroom time for the part of learning that’s done with other students.

Research shows that the best homework is closely linked to what you’re learning in the classroom. It should expand your learning and always be something you can complete independently. ✔️

It goes without saying that homework takes time. The more homework you have, the less time you can spend outside or relax. 

Homework leaves less time for creative activities that are also very important for brain growth. 🧠

Studies show very little difference in test scores between students who spend lots of time on homework and students who do less homework. For primary school students especially, not many benefits have been found. 

So, should students have homework?

In an ideal world, primary students would not have homework. And secondary students would only have short-term homework assignments with a very specific goal, like a book report or a science project. 

Since students often do have homework, it shouldn’t take much time - the benefits are the same for a few minutes and a few hours of homework!

Stress-free homework tips 

At the end of the day, there may be very little you can do right away about your homework situation. If your teacher assigns it, it must get done – but here are a few tips to make it less stressful:

• It’s a great idea for you to be independent with planning and managing your work time rather than being hounded into starting your homework by your parents. As you get older, it’s up to you to manage yourself – maybe you’d prefer to divide the work up into manageable chunks, for example tackling one subject before dinner and another one after.
• You should have a distraction-free space to work at home. Turn off the television, and keep electronics out of sight to make it easier to stay focused.
• If you’ve had a long school day, it’s a great idea to take some free time after school before starting your homework. You may need a chance to relax and regroup before jumping right into homework. 
• If you find yourself struggling with your workload, you should have a chat with your teacher or speak to your parents about it. Homework should closely follow the in-class learning and shouldn’t take more than an hour.

Homework help with GoStudent

If you’re struggling to manage your homework, a GoStudent tutor can help. Our experienced, friendly tutors have a deep understanding of the content they teach, and your tutor can give you the one-on-one support you need to get back on track and be able to finish that homework in no time! 🚀

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3 Reasons Why Doing Homework is a Waste of Time

Table of Contents

Not a sign of intelligence, doesn’t make much sense, makes you miss the motivation wave, wrapping up.

Students are often burdened with doing homework assignments that get the better of them and their valuable time. However, it is also possible for these students to use this time instead for doing other productive tasks or even for intended procrastination, which may in-turn help increase productivity. Here’s a viewpoint on why doing homework is a waste of time and how to use this time to better your productivity. ~ Ed. 

Do you know people who always have tons of motivation to do homework ?

I haven’t come across such people. Though there might be a few, I guess majority want to avoid doing homework.

Me too! But it turns out that it`s okay to be a bit lazy. It’s okay not to have motivation for doing homework.

Let me bring it down real quick. It is okay to have zero desire to do homework and to procrastinate for hours instead of being all energetic and productive.

No, it doesn’t mean that you’re lazy or foolish; this phenomenon has many explanations. But the thing you’ve got to remember for sure is that it is fine if you can’t catch up with the A-students.

First and foremost, you’ve got to face reality here. How important are the grades for you?

If you want to receive a grand to get a master’s degree in another country, then, of course, grades are important. When all you need is a diploma which you will proudly hand over to your mom and never use it again, then you have the right to dedicate some time to procrastination .

Don’t you dare to think that I’m trying to lure you into the world of drop-outs and couch potatoes? I only want you to learn how to set your priorities right.

Success in life cannot be determined by the number of essays that you wrote at the university. You may not even write them at all. The simplest way to avoid all that stress is by addressing a good homework doer service.

I’m going to calm down your stressed out nervous system and conscience, and tell you why you shouldn’t be all anxious about having zero motivation to do homework.

But before we do that, please note that such an emotional state when you have little desire to do anything, not just your homework, may be a sign of such serious mental condition as clinical depression. So, please be careful with that and never hesitate to ask for professional help.

Okay, so as per my thoughts, here are the three main reasons why doing homework is a waste of time:

As I’ve mentioned above, a state of procrastination doesn’t necessarily point out to your inability to study.

A scientific study reports that people who have a higher intellectual level tend to procrastinate more . Just don’t perceive this information as an excuse for your social media addiction, it doesn’t work this way. How is that even related?

It’s believed that very smart people are thinking all the time, even without realizing it. They have very active brain activity, and they may even try to solve the world issues on the subconscious level.

The moments of procrastination are highly important for people of this type. It gives their brains a chance to cool off and relax a little bit. Because, yes, our brain does get tired from time to time, and it can switch off your concentration and attention when it feels like having a little rest so that you can go on with all the thinking processes.

No matter how much you love studying, and no matter how great your university is, still there is no way of avoiding some absurd and senseless assignments. You have no idea why you would do this or why such a huge piece of work is assessed with so few points.

Your logic isn’t as dead as you may think. It’s still somewhere in there, and it can give you a hint that you really shouldn’t do this task because it’s nothing but a complete waste of time. Of course, you lose any kind of motivation with such assignment.

Don’t worry. Just think whether this homework will have a big impact on your final score and then make a decision.

One of the biggest mistakes that you can do while feeling all down and unmotivated is looking at other people, who seem extremely productive and compare your pitiful self to those walking energizers.

We all may feel that way from time to time – mainly because our powers aren’t infinite. We get tired and worn out. So, just stop sobbing and go out for a walk. You’ll be surprised how inspirational one single stroll around the town can be. Your demotivation just a phase, and you’ve got to get over it.

And while you’re still in the moment when you can get nothing done, make a list of activities and tasks that you need to finish.

Then you have to learn how to be a surfboarder. No need to buy a ticket to Australia, you just need to learn how to catch the waves. One “wave of motivation,” to be precise.

Have you noticed that sometimes the feeling of productivity and endless energy rushes through your veins, and you just get everything done in no time?

Congrats, you`re just an average human being. You need to learn how to spot those moments of motivation and get as much work done as it’s humanly possible.

And when you have a day or two of no motivation at all, you won’t feel so frustrated because you know for sure that the productivity will eventually come back.

Doing homework is not a sign of intelligence. It’s okay to procrastinate at times if it helps you relax and solve bigger issues.

If you think your homework doesn’t make much sense or it’s not worth spending your valuable time that you can use elsewhere for more worthy tasks, then you may think of using any homework services.

Missing out on the homework may give you the opportunity not to miss the motivation wave that can help you become more productive .

Over to you –

Have you ever felt that doing homework is a waste of time? Share in the comments.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are entirely of the author.

Disclaimer: Though the views expressed are of the author’s own, this article has been checked for its authenticity of information and resource links provided for a better and deeper understanding of the subject matter. However, you're suggested to make your diligent research and consult subject experts to decide what is best for you. If you spot any factual errors, spelling, or grammatical mistakes in the article, please report at [email protected] . Thanks.

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Why Homework Is a Waste of Time

Why do we even need homework? To practice? We do that enough already.  Homework is a waste of time. It takes the enjoyment out of school and it takes up teacher time. Students need more free time for other activities such as sports, homework takes it away from spending time with family and friends.

     Is homework a waste of time ? The study of 18,000 schoolchildren finds no relationship between working hard at home and better grades. More  homework assignments  didn’t translate into better grades. Next time you hear a child complaining that their science and math homeworks are wastes of time they might have a point. Young children spend enough of their day at school. When they come home, they should be free to dump the school bag and get busy doing non academic stuff such as getting a job and starting on something to pursue their career.

        Students need more free time for other activities. Education isn’t the only important activity in everyone’s life. We all need some time to ourselves to prevent stress or blow off from some steam. It can damage family relationships and stresses parents out as well  as their children. School takes up a lot of time that children can be using to do something more productive.

Homework takes up teacher time. Teachers would have more time if they didn’t assign homework.  The teacher  needs to design the homework, explain it , mark each piece individually and tell everyone if they got it right or wrong. Teachers could as easily use the classwork to find out who knows what they are doing. We aren’t the only ones who take a lot of time on homework, our teachers do as well. Homework loses it’s value because we need to be told individually what our mistakes are.

It takes the enjoyment out of school. We would enjoy school more if we didn’t have any homework. When we only get homework occcassionally we will consider that piece more important. Especially if we get too much homework it can take the enjoyment out of learning. No matter how engaging the teacher is in class , homework will almost certainly  be stressful , boring and tiring. We know that there is no direct link between how much homework is set and grades.             

Some people believe that homework isn't a waste of time. You have to try your best to do the homework that's given to you. Millions of people work for themselves or work from home. The main aim of education is to prepare us for the rest of their lives. Homework is teaching us a key skill that we will need in the future . When we do homework we are learning on our own.                 Homework is a responsibility. We should expect to get a certain amount of homework per day. Homework aids class work by providing a space for those who haven't finished the work. Teachers will need to mark and go through work whether it's classwork or homework . Whether homework puts us off learning will always depend on what the homework we are given is.            

This paragraph presents that homework is a responsibility for high school kids and students. The importance of this argument is that homework takes away time from spending it with family and friends.  The reader should take homework away from this because it's it takes a long time to do and it's a waste of time.

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The great homework debate - good idea or waste of time?

Is homework essential for developing good study habits and reinforcing classroom learning.

The homework debate: Children who are managing at school find homework repetitive and children who are struggling at school find it reinforces the fact that they are struggling. Photograph: iStockphoto

Is homework essential for developing good study habits and reinforcing classroom learning? Or is it a waste of time and an educational turn-off?

One thing that’s certain is that homework causes a lot of grief in many households. And when US “homework guru” Harris Cooper of Duke University said “there is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary (aged 4-11) students”, parents might well wonder why they’re battling with their primary school children over it.

“Children who are managing at school find it repetitive and children who are struggling at school find it reinforces the fact that they are struggling,” says Áine Lynch, chief executive of the National Parents’ Council (NPC) – Primary. “You then start to wonder about the purpose.”

There’s no doubt about the importance of the home-learning environment for children’s education but battling over homework makes that a very negative place, she says. However, it’s too simplistic to suggest that all homework is “bad”, it depends on what it is.

“When we talk about homework, we talk about this thing that is not defined,” says Lynch. Homework reteaching something that was done in the class that day is one kind of homework. If you are talking about homework where children go home and put Irish name labels on things around the house, that’s a completely different thing.

“One of the things that homework does do when it’s working well is that it gives that home-school link and makes parents aware of what children are doing,” she says.

What do you think? Parents, teachers and children are being invited to have their say on homework in an online survey being conducted by the National Parents Council - Primary.

It is on the website npc.ie will close at midnight on May 22nd.

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Homework: valuable learning tool or complete waste of time?

This article was published more than 11 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

The model of a medieval castle, cobbled together with bits of cardboard and leftover recyclables, was the final straw. When Rob Young, a single father, saw what his son's Grade 5 classmates had constructed – including a castle built entirely of meticulously glued rows of bite-sized cereal – he decided his family was done with homework.

He e-mailed the principal at St. Therese of Liseaux Elementary School in Hamilton, cc'ed all the teachers, and declared his home a "no-homework home."

Six months later, he says he and his two children couldn't be happier. There are no more fights over the "right" way to do long division or last-minute dashes to the craft-supply store.

"What a great feeling when the kids come home and we know that that evening is ours," said Young. "Board games, cub scouts, watch a movie – we can do anything we want to do because school does not invade our house."

Young is part of small movement of educators, parents and policy-makers who are pushing back against homework. French President Francois Hollande recently became the most high-profile and powerful homework detractor when he proposed that after-school assignments be abolished. A socialist, Hollande was appealing to anti-elite sentiment, arguing that homework reinforces the disadvantages of poorer students compared to peers with two highly educated parents keen and able to oversee school assignments.

If the anti-homework brigade succeeds, however, it would fly in the face of research that suggests that the right kind of homework can help to drive student achievement. Neuroscience is giving educators a better understanding of how young brains learn, and its findings could help structure what kind of homework is assigned. The familial angst, sweat and tears that go into after-school assignments is not necessary for learning, experts say, but doing away with homework is not the best option either.

The case for homework

Studies of how students learn have found that several techniques improve memory and recall. They all involve repetition, but not in a rote way. One strategy relies on frequent, short tests. Another requires material to be reinforced and reintroduced throughout a longer period of time than a typical classroom unit.

Homework is another key way to promote information retention, so long as students can complete work that draws on classroom learning beyond what was learned that day. Called interleaving, the mixing up of problems beyond the immediate unit studied can lead to gains on test scores for fourth graders, according to a recent study in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Charles Ungerleider, an education sociologist at the University of British Columbia, says homework is not a frill. "Repetition is absolutely necessary for learning," he said.

Dr. Ungerleider believes the French president's proposed ban is doomed to fail because it won't close the achievement gap. Middle- and upper-class families will continue to lend extra support to their children, signing them up for tutoring services and discussing their lessons at home.

"Those parents are going to do the kinds of things that reinforce what's happening in the classroom," he said. "They'll ask their kids, 'What did you do in school today?' "

Meanwhile, in the long term, less homework could lead to Canada lagging in international competitiveness. Students in China and Korea are surging ahead of their Canadian peers in international tests, thanks in part to after-school tutoring programs that make the average North American book report or Popsicle stick diorama look like child's play.

The case against

Neuroscience does not drive most homework assignments. In Canada, homework policies are generally drafted by school districts, and guidelines for the amount and type of homework always leave room for interpretation, increasing parent frustration. The Toronto District School Board's policy, for example, says that homework in Grades 1 through 6 "shall more often take the form of reading, playing a variety of games, having discussions and interactive activities such as building and cooking with the family," but offers no specific guidance on volume. This means that within the same school, for example, one Grade 4 teacher could be assigning 30 minutes of reading or projects every night, while another could require students to do only what they didn't finish in class.

Some classrooms become "pressure cookers for achievement" where standardized test scores drive learning, demanding mounds of math worksheets and book reports from children, says Heather Blair, a professor of language and literacy education at the University of Alberta.

The most dreaded form of homework, particularly among parents, is the project.

Book reports, dioramas, science projects and the like have consumed countless hours in Heather Murray's Kingston, Ont., home. Murray has children in Grades 6 and 9, and questions what they learn from assignments.

"They eat into after-school time, the deadlines creep up on us, we're up late in the evening gluing Styrofoam pieces together and the work becomes contaminated with parental input," she said. "The running joke on the schoolyard goes something like, 'Hey Anne – did you get an A on Johnny's project?'"

"Homework may be the greatest extinguisher of children's curiosity. It creates an incentive to see learning as work, rather than learning that is engaging," says American educational author Alfie Kohn, who wrote The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing.

Kohn says the strongest evidence for homework improving learning is in the correlation between standardized test scores in math and extra homework practice, but he questions what even that correlation means. Is homework improving students' understanding of mathematical concepts, or just their familiarity with test-taking?

"It certainly does nothing to enhance their enjoyment of math," he said.

Homework is a key issue for parents. Globe readers weighed in:

As a high school science teacher, I do believe a moderate amount of homework is a good thing. Thanks to the Internet, it doesn't really allow me to see my students' comprehension, but it does allow me to teach them other skills that are important in life – time management, when to ask questions, working hard, etc. The students who will go on to study further will be completely shocked and overwhelmed by their university/college workloads if they are not properly prepared.

– Shivani Ruparell, Mississauga The argument that we should not give homework on the basis that all students should have equal opportunities is absurd. No two schools are run the same way, no two teachers teach in the same way and no two students learn the same way. Let us remember that being give equitable opportunities is very different than being given equal opportunities.

– C.D. Borges, Toronto Here is our most recent, exasperating example of "project homework." This past weekend we spent several hundred dollars on equipment for a terrarium that must support a living ecosystem for 90 days with no further intervention after initial set up from our Grade 9 student. As parents we helped out a ridiculous amount in terms of sourcing and obtaining the plants, aquarium and assorted supplies, and I have low expectations of the fish living due to the tight time frame to set up the equipment.

I have no clear concept of what the teacher is hoping to achieve. The class did the project in pairs and will now have 15 or so terrariums and aquariums plugged in around the classroom for the next 90 days. Maybe keeping spiders, beetles, fish and plants alive will impart a higher level of understanding. Maybe it is a classroom-wide, $3,000 (estimate) parental spend that could have been something rather more.

– Bobbi-Sue Menard, Edmonton As an elementary teacher and as a mom, I hate homework. As a teacher I hate creating it, I hate marking it and I hate asking young kids to do more "school work" after six hours of it. As a working mom, I don't want to spend the very little time I have with my child fighting about homework.

Kids need to play after school, childhood obesity is skyrocketing, only eight per cent of kids are active between 3 and 6 p.m. on weekdays. They don't need to be coming home to sit and do more work. Homework does not translate into academic success.

– Beth Ritchie, Toronto

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The Student News Site of West Middle School

Homework is a Waste of Time

Nailah Spencer

Ava Obrock, Olivia Stults, Viviana Buzzelli, and Caitlyn Blasch work on homework during the school day.

Nailah Spencer , Reporter October 26, 2018

Kids at West Middle School say Homework is a waste of time! Did you know that West Middle School does not require teachers to give out homework to students? “Teachers give out homework according to how they feel about a student or a class’s learning process,” Mr. Smiley told me. I did some research, interviews, and additional thinking to see how some of the students and staff feel about homework.

”I strongly dislike homework because it stresses me out. We go to school to for many hours a day to learn, I don’t get why we have to go home and spend 1-2 more hours on homework,” Hannah Comar, a 7th grader at West, explained to me.

According to the Drop Out Prevention Center (D.O.P.C.),  “32.1% of students from 8th grade through high school drop out each year because they can’t keep up with all their homework assignments.” This research was done in the United States. 

Mrs. O’dell, a sixth-grade teacher at West, explained to me,  “I have over the years seen behavior changes with students.”

Academic Partnerships states,  “When kids know they will have to go home from school and work to do more work at home they become disengaged and don’t come to school the next day ready to pay attention and are usually talkative and disruptive for no time to themselves after school”. Mrs. O’Dell states, “Yes,  have seen students overwhelmed with work, but behavior changes, not so much. Mostly just [students’] grades dropping.”

Mrs. Odell reflects, “I give it out so I can see the students’ progress, it also builds on good habits, like time management and organizational skills.”

Mrs. Horvath’s Journalism states that they can have anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours of homework a night between all their classes.

Free time to yourself is essential, whether it is for sports or just time with your family. Free time gives you a chance to refresh and get ready for the new day to come.

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Comments (24)

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Liam Knickerbocker • Apr 12, 2024 at 1:13 pm

This article is a beauty. We need more like this

Richard Cao • Jul 3, 2021 at 12:29 pm

I think Homework should be abolished in schools. Students already have a difficult time in school so giving more work at home would just stress out even more. Students should have time to spend with their family and friends, while also learning essential skills such as cooking, cleaning, and getting plenty of cardio exercise. Also it would benefit teachers because they would have less things to grade.

bababoi • Dec 8, 2020 at 11:05 am

Desi • Mar 30, 2020 at 7:41 pm

Homework is a waste when we go to school for several hours a day all for what so we could go home and do even more work instead of relaxing many kids drop out because of how much time they wasted on doing stressful meaningless work

joey • Dec 19, 2018 at 12:40 pm

I do agree that homework is a waste of time because we work all day and then we get homework so we have to work at home too.

Joey • Dec 19, 2018 at 12:39 pm

homework doesn’t do anything I just forget everything that teachers give homework on quicker then usual.

Jacob • Nov 20, 2018 at 12:49 pm

Homework is useless because kids spend almost half their at school then having to worry about homework once they get home its to much pressure for kids our age, high schools should be the grade when homework starts and we know homework is supposed to prove what we learn but we don’t learn anything from test nor homework we just memorise it, do it, then we forget everything we learned because you have to then memorize other things and forget others. And that is why I think homework is a waste of time.

The truth talker • Nov 20, 2018 at 12:44 pm

Homework is too stressful, and is too time-consuming.

Jacob Mdelski • Nov 20, 2018 at 12:44 pm

Homework can be good for us but it can just be too much for some students to handle.

finn st john • Nov 15, 2018 at 8:16 am

homework is not good. we are at school for 7 hours and some of us stay at club (after school thing) till 4 5 or even 6! homework is just what we were doing that day all over again but at home.

the derp • Nov 2, 2018 at 12:53 pm

homework helps us but can sometimes be a waste of time

Ryan M • Nov 2, 2018 at 12:47 pm

Homework is like telling a dog never to play or lick your face again

Madisyn Hackett • Nov 2, 2018 at 12:42 pm

Homework is very stressful!

Dillon Starnes • Oct 31, 2018 at 12:12 pm

This is an excellent article, Nailah!

Kyle Dani • Oct 31, 2018 at 12:10 pm

This is a great article. I agree that teachers hand out way to much homework.

Hannah Comar • Oct 31, 2018 at 12:03 pm

I agree with this considering I was one of the interviewees. Great article Nailah!

Maddie Andrews • Oct 31, 2018 at 11:59 am

I like your picture and I agree, homework is very stressful!

Maddie Andrews • Oct 31, 2018 at 11:57 am

I like your picture! I agree homework can be very stressful!

Caitlin Noe • Oct 31, 2018 at 11:50 am

I like your picture a lot it is very creative and I agree homework is just a recap of what we learned.

unknown • Oct 29, 2018 at 1:51 pm

homework is ok I always finish it in class so I don’t have homework relly

AAron • Oct 26, 2018 at 12:49 pm

i hate having to do work at home it is a wast of my time

AAron • Oct 26, 2018 at 12:48 pm

i think homework is a wast of time

Bob Ross • Oct 26, 2018 at 12:45 pm

I get it homework is stress full but homework is good for us examples: Homework is like a mini quiz that lets the teachers know if you actually learned something in their class.

Lizzy Gutkowski • Oct 26, 2018 at 12:21 pm

I think homework is too stessful. It makes me have to stay up late and work on my homework.

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Is College A Waste of Time? And Ways To Approach Higher Education

Opinions from a recent graduate.

A Mug of Insights is 100% a reader-supported newsletter. Since you’re here already, consider signing up for a paid subscription for $5/month which will give you access to the full archive (posts are automatically archived after two months) and all of my extended essays with further reading lists. And on average, subscribers will get 50% more weekly posts from our regularly scheduled program. Thank you for your contribution!

This week’s newsletter is a few days late because yesterday marked the submission of my last assignment for my honours year. This is the first time in about five years that I’ve finally caught a break from the academy, and I’d like to take this chance to share my thoughts on a question that I’ve been pondering ever since my freshman year: should you go to college and if so, what is the right way to approach it?

Times are changing, and an argument can be made that you can learn almost anything from the internet at a fraction of the cost. The same goes for practical degrees in design or STEM. There are thousands of hours of great content on the internet that can teach you how to code, illustrate a beautiful brochure or start a business. Granted, there are harder pursuits (advanced mathematics, for example) that require professional assistance from academics, but most of the time, unless you’re pursuing a strictly professional degree in law or engineering, going to college to acquire a skill just doesn’t seem like the right choice.

For instance, I do not have a background in film or online marketing professionally. However, I learned how to use a camera by volunteering as a grip on a film set and used YouTube tutorials to set up my entire business. I owe my entire skillset to the internet, and this learning experience is much more exhilarating than endlessly rehearsing imaginary scenarios in a commerce tutorial room. And recently, I was fortunate enough to share what I’ve learned on SkillShare under a creative partnership . Things came back around full circle for someone who didn’t have a business degree but learned everything by doing.

Here's my opinion: when we pursue a degree that doesn’t guarantee a direct professional pathway (commerce, media, political science, etc), we’re not there for the skills but the permission to practice those skills. Every lecture at best is a rehearsal and at worst causes students to overthink everything instead of learning through trial and error. And since students have been programmed to have extreme aversions to failure (the world crushing bad grades), sometimes the theory is just dead weight that acts as a security blanket. So, I say if you’re interested in something, learn by starting independent projects. Make a fool of yourself, have fun and see what sticks. The insights you’ll gain from these free mind-wanders will be way more valuable than getting lost in the theory of a skill.

Does that mean college is completely useless unless we’re pursuing a hard degree? If you were to ask me five years ago, I’d say yes. The only reason why I ended up in college was because in Australia, student fees for certain degrees (Literature and Languages) were reduced and I was able to land a government-supported funding scheme that gave me a relatively affordable education. I was also curious to see what an education looked like if a career wasn’t a concern. So, against the advice of all the well-intentioned people around me, I majored in English Literature and French studies, and what I discovered there was nothing short of a miracle.

In short, if we strip away all practical concerns, college is essentially about teaching us how to learn. Instead of treating assignments as ends in themselves, I learned how to gather resources effectively, and budget my time during crunch periods and most importantly, the difficulty of the material (heavy literary theory and French compositions) fundamentally heightened my tolerance for information. Instead of learning a hard skill, an education for me was a software update that replaced fear with curiosity, and struggle with patience and ultimately, it taught me the art of a slow and deliberate way of thinking about the world. In other words, I discovered the pleasure of thinking that I’d normally write off as empty speculations. This shift, though subtle, gave way to a completely different way of approaching the world as I realized that a degree is only just the beginning of a lifelong love affair with learning.  

Though I do believe that this skill set could be acquired outside of a university setting, having a structured setting expedites this process. In-class discussions forced me to jump out of my limited perspective, and it quickly developed a mental flexibility that would otherwise be difficult to achieve if I were to read everything alone in my room. Likewise with research skills. Being forced to write a 5,000-word essay in a month pushed me beyond my limits, and when I returned to writing for pleasure, those hidden avenues of thinking made way for more nuanced perspectives.

This isn’t to say that it’s impossible to acquire these soft skills independently. One of my passions is to make these skills accessible through my writing and YouTube videos, but there is a steep learning curve. In addition, this problem is exacerbated by a utilitarian focus on producing the greatest number of graduates instead of investing in the slow and deliberate journey of education. As a result, we’re seeing millions of students graduating with soft degrees, feeling like they haven’t learned anything besides having read a few more books than their peers.

When we look at College from that perspective. Yes, it is a high-level scam and there are better ways to learn precisely what the system claims to preach. But it helps to clarify this problem so that we can choose our paths wisely instead of jumping into a pool of debt for no reason. In summary, if we want to acquire permission to practice what we love from college, then a degree is entirely useless. But if conditions allow it and if we head into a degree to learn how to become lifelong students, then we might stand a chance to get a beautiful education without falling prey to the game of academia.

After I headed in my last assignment yesterday, I’ve been taking some time off from reading to watch some good TV shows, and currently, one of the soundtracks from Westworld is stuck in my head and it essentially captured the mood for the entire week. Instead of recommending books and articles, enjoy this soundtrack!

And that’s all I have for this week. Thank you for your patience and I’ll see you next week. :)

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Homework is a waste of time. (Junior)

We all hate homework, but is it really important that we do it? Is doing homework good for us or is it simply a waste of time? This debate sets out the arguments on both sides.

Homework is an assignment that students are given to do at home. It might be a continuation of classwork or a new piece of work. It may also be preparation for the next class. The amount of homework school students get varies a lot not only from country to country, or from school to school, but often from day to day. For most the amount of time spent on homework gets longer as we go through our school lives. At the start of primary school we get almost no homework but it is often several hours a day by the time we finish secondary school.

The most important thing in this debate is not so much how much time is spent on homework but whether that time is wasted. If it is time well spent then having a lot of homework to do may not be a bad thing. The debate should therefore consider what else school children would do with that time. Another angle would be to look at whether school could replace homework with something that makes better use of time. For example in Britain the education secretary (the member of the government who controls education across the whole country) wants schools to scrap homework and instead have longer days in school. 

When out of school we should have time to ourselves

Time is valuable. We all need some time to ourselves. School already takes up a lot of time and it is necessary to have time which does not involve concentrating on learning. Education is not the only important activity in everyone’s day; physical activity, play, and time with family are just as important as all teach life skills just in different ways. The internet makes it possible to be learning at home, there are even many computer games that help with learning. Homework clashes with these other activities. It can damage family relationships as it means parents have to try and make their children do their homework.

We should expect to get a certain amount of homework per day and build other activities around the homework. Homework can be a useful part of time with family as it provides a chance for parents and other relatives to take part in schooling. 

Homework takes up class time

Homework does not only take up time doing the homework at home but also takes up time in class. First there is the time that the teacher takes when explaining the task. Then more time is taken going through the homework when it is done and marked. This time could be better spent engaging with the class to find out what they do and don’t understand. The answer to this is to have more time in class rather than boring homework.

When homework does take up time in class it is helpful for learning. And when it does not then it does not harm the classwork. Homework aids classwork by providing a space for those who have not finished the work to catch up and by helping us to remember what we did in class.

Homework wastes teachers time

We are not the only ones who take a lot of time on homework, our teachers do as well. The teacher needs to design the homework, explain it, mark each piece individually, and tell everyone what they got right and wrong. If all this is not done then the homework loses its value as we need to be told individually what our mistakes are to be able to learn from homework. Teachers could as easily use the classwork to find out who knows what they are doing and who are making mistakes and it would save them time.

Teachers will need to mark and go through work whether it is classwork or homework. It is better that the teacher should spend their time in class teaching so leaving practising the methods taught to homework. 

Homework puts students off learning

Especially if we get too much homework it can take the enjoyment out of learning. No matter how engaging the teacher is in class homework will almost certainly be stressful, boring and tiring. It is simply much harder to make homework engaging and interesting as it is often done on our own. We know that there is no direct link between how much homework is set and grades. Studies done on this come to different conclusions so teachers should only set homework when they are sure it is needed. When we only get homework occasionally we will consider that piece more important and a better use of time. 

Whether homework puts us off learning will always depend on what the homework we are given is. Tasks that involve no interaction, or are not engaging will discourage learning. But homework could also mean reading an interesting book, having to find something out, create something, or doing a task with family. Homework can be as varied as classwork and just as interesting.

Points Against

Homework teaches us to learn on our own.

The main aim of education is to prepare us for the rest of lives. Homework is teaching us a key skill that we will need in the future. When we do homework we are learning to work on our own, the discipline to get the work done without the teacher’s prompting, and when we come up against difficulties we learn how to overcome them without our teacher’s help. Millions of people work for themselves (self-employed), or work from home, they are using exactly the same skills doing homework teaches us. This is not a waste of time. 

Most homework is simply fulfilling a task that has already been explained so not truly teaching you to work on your own. Working on your own means setting your own targets, and working out how to overcome obstacles. 

Doing our homework means we are taking responsibility for ourselves

We are the ones who gain from learning so we should take responsibility for some of our own learning. We can take responsibility by doing homework. When we don’t do our homework we are the ones who suffer; we don’t get good marks and don’t learn as much. We also lose out in other ways as taking responsibility means learning how to manage our time and how to do the things that are most important first rather than the things we most enjoy like playing. Homework then does not waste time; it is part of managing it.

The same kind of responsibility is given to us no matter the kind of work. When given classwork we are responsible for completing it rather than playing around. The only difference at home is that it is our parents telling us to work not our teachers.

Homework is needed to finish classwork.

We should think of homework as being a continuation of our classwork. Not everyone in the class works at the same rate so it is necessary for teachers to give anyone who is falling behind the chance to catch up. If this was done in class those who are faster would have nothing to do during this time, which would be a real waste of time. Homework then allows those who are behind to take as long as they need to catch up with the rest of the class.

Teachers should not set classwork expecting that the class will have to finish that classwork as homework. Students who are falling behind should receive more attention from the teacher during class to make sure that all the members of the class can move at the same speed.

Homework makes sure we remember what we have learnt

One way we learn is by repetition, another is by doing things, when doing homework we learn in both of these ways. When we are taught a method at school, such as how to do a type of sum, then we need to practice using that method to make sure we know how to so that we can remember it. If we just learn the method and don’t practice it we will soon forget how we do it.

We don’t spend all of class time learning new methods so there should be time in class to practice any new method that is taught. Once some repetition has been done in class how much more do we really need at home? If we have not successfully learnt the method in the class then we will be simply repeating the mistake.

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