Homework is often seen by the average high school student as an extremely dull and boring chore that they have to accomplish nearly every day of their school year. While it is typically viewed by students in this negative fashion, homework is proven to actually be a helpful tool when teaching students how to problem solve and set their priorities in order, preparing them for upcoming assessments. In high school, A rapid increase of importance pertaining to grades is reflected through longer hours of homework assignments. Along with school, students also have to juggle extracurricular activities, like sports teams, clubs, and hobbies that they enjoy doing. Spending time with friends and family is also an important aspect of teenage life that is often put to the wayside during the weekdays when schedules are filled up. Homework is often a barrier that can prevent students from pursuing these activities.
20 students from Hingham High School were asked questions in a Google Form relating to their personal experiences with homework. While students were split between sometimes and yes on homework preventing other activities, no students said that homework didn’t completely stop them from doing their out of school pursuits. The majority of participants in the survey also conveyed that they had between 2 to 3 hours of homework a night, with only 3 people saying they had 1 to 2 hours and 2 people saying that they had less than an hour. Additionally, Freshman at HHS Ben Ferguson said, “I feel like homework takes up a lot of time in my week when I want to pursue one of my interests like guitar or drums. I also feel like it affects my sleep schedule as some nights I have to stay up late and some days I have to wake up early.” Another HHS student, Jimmy Magner said, “It prevents me from doing some of the stuff I love, like sports.”
Clearly, HHS students are feeling somewhat frustrated about how doing homework takes up so much of their free time outside of school, feeling that it stops them from enjoying some of their own personal pursuits. Even though this issue is a challenging part of high school, time management is a helpful skill that can prevent this problem. By looking forward and planning out how much of the day you commit to spending time on homework and extracurriculars, students can have a healthily balanced day between both components of life. Homework can be time-consuming, but keeping an important stability between it and other activities is extremely beneficial and integral to doing well in school and continuing personal activities.
