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I am against students having homework for the following three reasons: after 8+ hours of learning in class doing homework's that are sometimes 2 -3 hours long deprive students of sleep needed for the next school day, sometimes homework interferes with the child's life at home and other important responsibilities that students may have after school, and homework can also become stressful to the student and the parent.

The first reason I am against students having homework is because students are often assigned homework's that are 2-3 hours long which in turn deprives students of sleep. I believe that this is true because I read an article by Jacqueline Robinson about her fifth grade daughters homework patterns. Her fifth grader always came home with 2 and 3 hours of homework. One night her fifth grader stayed up until midnight working on assignments. Children at this age are still growing and developing, which means they need their sleep. It is medically proven that children anywhere from 7-12 years old should get at least 10 - 11 hours of rest each day.

The second reason I am against students having homework is because often times homework can interfere with the home life of the child and/or any other responsibilities that students may have besides school, especially for high school students. After a day of learning and focus in school an adolescent might find it hard to focus on homework. Especially, if they have a part time job that they must attend after school or an extracurricular program that they must attend after school. Lets just go ahead and say a high school student skipped a few days of work to get homework done that they need to pass. What if that particular high school student needs that money to sustain him/her self at home? Again I believe that students shouldn't have homework because home conditions are unknown to most teachers and faculty, there could be road blocks for the students and the teachers wouldn't know and so as a result of that the child's grade would suffer.

Lastly I believe that students shouldn't have homework because it becomes a source of stress and tension in the household not only for the child but for the parent. In a survey conducted in Canada, the Canadian council on learning found that even though the majority of parents feel that homework is a vital learning tool, it's way more stressful than helpful. A parent in Canada expressed her emotions toward this issue : "She just refuses to do it and I have to help her do it, otherwise when she goes back to school, more will be added on," said Edmonton parent Eleanor Chiang about doing homework with her daughter. "Part of the day is a negative experience and avoidable." Some teachers in Canada are also agreeing on the matter, with these quotes from Jackie Pocklington ( Canadian Teacher in Edmonton's Garneau School) : [|"You're getting more negatives because of the family conflict and because of the stress it puts on kids and because of the stress it puts on families," she said.] "So when you weigh it, is the homework really helping or is it just frustrating everybody and do you really want the kid to come to school the next day after having that frustrating evening?"Therefore, students should no longer have homework because it hurts more than it helps.

Some people might say that my arguments are invalid because students need the constant, reinforcement of knowledge. However, is homework really reinforcing much when American students were rated 17th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math, ( research collected by the Program for International Student Assessment last December ). I believe that in class work should be reinforced by projects, songs made up to remember the information and even games in the classroom. Have you ever noticed that a child can remember all the words to all their favorite songs, or after not playing a childhood game in years a teen can suddenly remember every rule of the game. These methods are all reinforcements. They are also great learning tools and these all have an aspect of fun in them, this way the child feels that they are not just learning, but having fun doing it.

Others might argue that other countries like China or Japan have more advanced technology and so forth because of their students being in school everyday all year round and learning more. However, these children are forced by society and their parents to excel whether they want to or not. This fact isn't alarming to me because American students are still front runners in the race of education. America is in front of France, Germany and even England. I am completely reassured that this isn't something to worry about because homework isn't why these countries are in front of us, it's the type of education that they are getting and the way the teachers are getting their students to learn. Whether it is better or worse than us is an opinion but I am not too sure that homework does not factor into that equation.

In conclusion I believe that students shouldn't have homework for the following reasons: after 8+ hours of learning in class, doing homework's that are sometimes 2-3 hours long deprive students of sleep, homework interferes with chores and/or other responsibilities (especially for high school students), and homework can become stressful for not only the student but also the parent.