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Is Homework Helpful or Harmful to Students

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Is Homework Helpful or Harmful to Students
Homework has been around for a very long time. It is set and traced as a tradition of having teachers assigning work and students completing it. Parents say that teachers require it; teachers say that parents demand more of it. Teachers assign homework to help some students improve their grade and pass the course for those of who do not do well on tests or standardized examinations. Schools require a certain amount of hours of homework to be assigned to each student. When students bring back work to be done at home, many controversies arise. Many families have enough work to do without adding a full night of homework on top of it. Stress, arguments and time frustrations can encase the family with problems. Can homework be considered helpful or harmful to students? This controversy turns into arguments and disagreements. Assigning homework satisfies various educational needs and serves as an intellectual discipline, establishes study habits, eases time constraints on the amount of curricular material that can be covered in class, and supplements and reinforces work done in school. Homework is defined as an out of class task assigned to students to help them practice and prepare for their future. Yet very many families believe school work should not be sent home and say it becomes a burden in their family. Situations that include family structure and responsibilities, family income, student employment, and access to instructional help or access to computers can enhance or impede a student's ability or opportunity to do homework. Parents and families must come into the situation when their child is required to complete homework, for many families however, there is no time available to do this. Some students refuse to do their homework and studies show that students drop out of school or are expelled due to homework pressure and their inability to do it. Parents who are already involved in doing homework with their children might notice a very important


References: Dudley-Marling, Curt. A Family Affair, When School Troubles Come Home. Heinemann, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 2000. Evans, Dennis L. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Teaching and Educational Practice. MgGraw-Hill/Dushkin, Iowa. 2005. Milgram, Roberta M. and Eunsook Hong. Homework, Motivation and Learning Preferences. Bergin & Garvey, Westport, Connecticut. 2000. Buell, John. Closing the Book on Homework, Enhancing Public Education and Freeing Family Time. Temple University Press, Philadephia, Pennsylvania. 2004. Johnson, James A., Victor L. Dupuis, Diann Musial, Gene E. Hall, Donna M. Gollnick. Essentials of American Education. Pearson Education, Inc, Boston Massachusetts. 2003.

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