Homework has been a hot topic of debate for many years between students and the United States Department of Education. Although homework exists to help review what was taught in class during the day, it often hurts student performance rather than encouraging it. Many students argue that homework is time consuming, and too large of a workload is given in most schools.

Recent studies reveal that homework is often the cause for many physical and emotional problems. According to the South African Journal of Education, giving too much homework leads to higher rates of chronic stress, sleep deprivation, and even lowered test scores. Another study conducted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research showed that homework induced stress levels cause a much higher likelihood for obesity and heart disease, especially in teenage boys.

At the time that homework first became part of the American student’s education, these studies had not been performed. In fact, homework originally was created to increase student performance during the Cold War. In 1957, the Board of Education declared homework to be pushed in schools. This was done in hope of outshining Russian students and create a generation of students who were smarter than their Russian counterparts.

Overall, it is clear that homework impacts students negatively, and has little to no positive effect on students when given for the wrong reasons. If homework is going to be assigned, it should be in small amounts on material that is meaningful and helps the student learn about a specific topic. It should not just be busy work, which is repetitive and meaningless.