New research being published in October’s edition of the Economics of Education Review puts to the test a tried-and-true method of American education. The study suggests that perhaps homework does not help students learn as well as we give it credit for.
According to an article in The Boston Globe, researchers analyzed about 25,000 eighth-graders who did homework, with somewhat unsettling results. Students who studied subjects like English, science and history for an extra 75 minutes per week showed no improvement whatsoever in academic performance, and those who did so in math only boosted achievement by three percent.
Studies in the past have shown results both in favor of and against homework’s effectiveness on children in the past. The issue is not black and white; one cannot simply conclude that homework helps or does not help.
Since there is no way we could possibly conclude one way or the other, there is no reason schools should lessen or do away with it altogether. Homework can be an excellent resource for elementary schoolers who wish to get more practice outside the classroom, especially if they are struggling with a subject. Subjects such as reading or math, whose learning processes are so repetition-heavy, would be greatly beneficial to students outside the classroom who just need that extra bit of time to catch up.
Perhaps as students get older, the traditional homework of worksheets and fill-in-the-blanks should be done away with, but younger children need this practice reinforced outside of the classroom, as it is a building block for life that would only be strengthened the more time is spent on it.
Of course, there should be a balance between the amount of homework assigned and reinforcement taking place in class. Homework should remain an important element of the early school years, but not so much so that students begin to feel overwhelmed and incapable so early on in their academic careers. In today’s overly competitive society, students need to be able to finish their homework at a reasonable hour, eat dinner and then go play outside until they run off all of their pent-up energy from the school day.
Homework is, and always will be, a staple of the American education system, but, like most things, it should be given and taken in moderation. We should let the students do their homework, but we cannot, and should not, let them drown in it.
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