Quality Over Quantity

Does homework really contribute to meaningful learning at Middlesex?

Middlesex prides itself over its three A’s: notable athletics, extraordinary arts, but most importantly, its incomparable academics. Standing among the top high schools in America, MX must maintain their top-tier academics to not only extend their prestige, but also to prepare all of their students for a successful future. Many might assume homework is a crucial and inevitable part of academics in any school, and yet there is always the looming question: is homework really beneficial for students’ learning, or is it simply another item on a to-do list that we must cross off?

Trotting through the halls of LB, I asked a simple question. Do you finish your homework simply for completion, or genuine understanding and personal growth? Every single person that I asked answered the former. Many brought up that with the constant activities both on and off campus, with sports, arts, and extracurricular activities, homework only adds to the already overflowing load of commitments and stress. When prompted with the scenario of completely optional homework throughout all classes, surprisingly, many answered that they would still complete the work that is necessary to excel in the class.

These results ultimately led to the bigger question: how much is homework really benefiting students’ learning and education? Ideally, students can manage their course loads, extracurriculars, and social lives with ease, but we all know this is not the case. When assigned a chemistry worksheet, history reading, or math problems, the sad reality is that most students, with such limited time and strained mental capacities from the long day, will simply speed through the assignment to earn the easy points without learning anything of substance.

Within the 24 hours in a day, around one third of the time is spent sleeping, another third spent in classes, leaving merely 8 hours to finish all one’s homework from 6 to 7 courses, exercise/attend sports, eat, practice an instrument or rehearse for a play, and socialize. And at MX, we all understand how fast time can fly when you have too much to do. This current plan is ultimately setting students up for a plethora of unnecessary stress, and, dare I say, failure.

In order to promote meaningful learning, teachers must assign less busy work for students to complete. With the amount of busy work lessened, when teachers do assign homework once in a while, students will have more time and will be much more willing to truly invest effort to learn that material.

Every Middlesex student lives a complex and unique life, each investing time and effort on more than just academics. Assuming that we will all make time from our already busy lives to not only complete the homework, but also to gradually understand the material in depth, is simply a futile hope. In order to maximize both time and understanding, teachers must limit the amount of assigned busy work, and instead prioritize the sporadic assignments in which students will genuinely want to improve their learning development.

Michelle Cai