The last thing a student wants to do after sitting down, working for six hours is homework. Students stay up late taking hours to complete assignments, which some consider “busywork” and a “waste of time.” Homework causes an unreasonable amount of stress in teenagers. Students at Nashoba Regional High School are no different.

Depending on level classes and after school schedules, homework life may vary. Nashoba Junior, Emma Picaro is in one AP class, two honors classes and two accelerated classes. She balances all of this with after school activities, which include: basketball, tennis, national honors society, club for a cause, and student council.

Teachers assign homework each night and expect the students to arrive the next day with completed assignments. From a teachers’ perspective, this is not asking a lot, but students have other opinions. The teenage body is designed to get on average eight and a half to nine hours of sleep every night. Most students do not fulfill this statistical amount. Without sleep, students may feel moody or groggy, schoolwork quality lowers and athletic performance is rendered. Though homework is an important resource for students to learn material, there comes a time when a student is doing busywork, which is a waste of energy.

“When basketball was in season, I got about four hours of sleep a night. Now that it is over, I get about five to six. I feel that if you get the material you don’t have to do it because if you don’t get enough sleep you won’t do as well as you could in school anyway.”

Emma’s schedule is not unique to other students at Nashoba. Many teenagers face these same struggles. Only about 15% of teenagers are getting enough sleep for their bodies to be completely fueled. Students may find themselves drowsy and irritable by the time Wednesday comes around.

Scholars are not the only ones who have seen examples of stress caused by schoolwork. Teachers understand that students have commitments other than school, as well as a variety of classes with their share of homework. It is a teachers job to teach and the best way for a student to understand material is practicing at home. As class levels elevate, more work will be assigned and more material will be taught. When students are swamped with homework teachers assign, chemistry teacher, Mr. Weiss, has his own solution. Mr. Weiss thinks homework should be,
“…important and useful. It should be practice, not busy work. I freely tell my students that once you understand the concept, stop. Stay focused on making the homework not stressful but rather practice to understand the material better.”

This concept provides potential to help students have a more relaxed outlook on homework and not get stressed. It is vital to do homework and understand the material. If a student is doing busy work, they could save themselves a lot of time and move on to other subjects. This way, they are not stressing themselves out over homework they have already mastered. Sleep is more important than staying up and extra hour or two working on problems that are done flawlessly.

Homework should be beneficial for students and allow them to improve their knowledge on subjects they may be struggling in to master the material.