A typical student in high school has about ten classes, give or take, and if all of those classes give two hours of homework, that’s at least 10 hours of homework each night. Now factor in the facts that some kids have practice after school, whether that be sports or drama, which can last until 5:00 p.m. or later. Those students are up until 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. in the morning finishing their homework and they have to get up early in the morning for school. It’s recommended that kids get 9 1/2 hours of sleep each night, so these kids aren’t getting anywhere near the hours they need of sleep. This can lead to some serious stress levels in students and students falling asleep in class because they didn’t get enough sleep the night before. So, what should happen- should the kids be less involved in school, or should teachers not assign so much homework?

Granted some teachers don’t believe in homework and some rarely assign homework so that can change these numbers, but a majority of teachers assign homework every night. Most parents of high school students don’t realize the overload of homework their child endures. They just assume their child is being dramatic. Most kids just suffer in silence and struggle in school.

Studies show that excessive amounts of homework can cause stress in students and parents. Both the National Education Association and the National PTA support a standard of 10 minutes of homework per grade level, so for younger kids, 10 minutes total, and for kids in high school, 2 hours of work per night. A recent study shows that kids in early elementary school received around three times the amount of recommended homework.

A study in 2013 concluded that any more than 2 hours of homework a night for high school students is counterproductive, and the students who participated in the study reported doing more than three hours of homework each night on average. Less than 1 percent of the students interviewed said homework wasn’t a stresser.

Alyssa Goerzen is a junior at North. She is also in Repertory Theatre. She says she spends 2-3 hours every night because of the classes she takes.  “I think it depends on the class but on average I don’t get that stressed out on homework,” Goerzen said. Alyssa also said that extracurriculars cause more stress for her than her core classes. 

Alexa Almeda is a sophomore at North and she is involved in Bio-Med and AVID. Alexa says she spends an hour and a half at least on her homework. “What causes me more stress is my job because I have to manage when I do my homework and when I go to work,” Alexa said. Since she is in Bio-Med, she has more homework from Human Body Systems, a class included in Bio-Med, and she has more quizzes to study for. In AVID the “homework” is binder checks.

So some students have varying levels of homework, and in turn, have varying levels of stress.