“Time goes by quickly when you’re avoiding homework”
~The kids who have to do it.
How many of you, while just getting ready to snuggle into your blankets with a tub full of popcorn and a borrowed Netflix account, realized that you have to find out why the people of the Indus Valley civilization use terracotta bowls instead of steel bowls even though they knew how to make use of steel. Horrendous, right? How many of you remember Ram from the math book who owned 457 watermelons, 34 sheep, and only 1 foam mattress for no apparent reason at all? To be honest, he still haunts me, asking me to find out how many glasses of watermelon juice can he have with those 457 watermelons. I still haven’t answered him.
I never really understood the logic behind giving loads of homework, especially to young kids, as if 7 hours of school wasn’t enough. I feel homework does more harm than benefit. Nobody is against it but nowadays, more than a learning experience, it is being used as a punishment tool in the hands of teachers. If the class isn’t behaving, increase the homework. If the teacher is too lazy to teach, give it to the kids as homework. The only thing I see excessive homework does is cause biological, social, and psychological degradation.
Firstly, let me come to the biological adversaries homework causes. Due to the inappropriate workload that is sometimes posed by homework, children tend to spend most of their time at homes, glued to their study tables, refusing to go outside to engage in any type of physical activity. This slowly degrades one’s body from the inside, often resulting in problems like obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and umpteen number of other health problems. Sleep deprivation and preoccupation with headaches is a very common problem amongst youth today.
Most of the time children are forced to choose homework over other important things like attending family gatherings, making and strengthening emotional bonds with those around them, or things that matter in real life. They have to cut off their connections with nature and the outside world. Students are unable to cultivate and imbibe critical life skills that might be of use to them in the future. Children are often so fed up that they might find it easier to copy their homework or have someone else do it for them, which defeats the whole purpose of assigning homework in the first place.
The psychological difficulties caused by homework are massive too. Students many times experience the fear of being admonished if they do not complete their homework. Mostly they are stressed about meeting the deadlines to complete their respective homework and assignments. Also, there is this nagging fear of being less liked by our teachers and friends if they fail to do what was assigned to them. The excessive indulgence in studying and working causes alienation and estrangement within families, which can have devastating long-term effects on kids. But have you ever wondered, what would it be like to study in a school which doesn’t believe in giving homework to its students? A beautiful example of such a place would be the Shantiniketan school in West Bengal, India. The effort to open this school was undertaken by Rabindranath Tagore. This school encourages a no homework policy and aims to combine education with a sense of obligation towards nature and the larger civic community. Nature walks and excursions are a part of the curriculum, special attention is paid to natural phenomena, and students are encouraged to follow the life cycles of insects, birds, and plants. Other than such everyday subjects, emphasis is also given to vocational education. Tagore aimed to make his students feel free despite being in a formal educational setting because he had to drop out of school when he found himself to be unable to think and felt suffocated within the four walls of a classroom. Even the French president, Francois Hollande wanted to ban homework because he felt it gave only an illusion of progress.
Homework is a necessary evil, it’s something that the teachers can’t live without and students can’t live with! Schools letting go of the homework system seems like a far-off dream right now but we can always try giving homework that makes sense. There is, however, no problem that comes without a solution. Teachers should focus more on giving quality work to students rather than quantity work. After all, school is the place where all the textbook-based learning is supposed to take place. A homely environment is for learning other crucial social skills. Homework should be assigned only after thorough discussion amongst the teacher and students, a middle path must be worked out, and there is also no harm in letting children off the hook sometimes. Students must not spend more than one or two hours on homework. Schooling and education would be successful only if the child can apply practically what he or she learns. A very easy way to achieve that would be engaging students in fieldwork and visiting the numerous places we are taught about in school. Children shouldn’t always be the ones to rack their brains, even teachers should try and give meaningful and convivial homework. Maybe the children can prepare a quiz for each other, or maybe, for a change, the kids can take the teacher’s test! Educational trips and excursions must be made a necessary part of the school curriculum. This will further ensure that students have a memorable schooling and learning experience.
There is a huge difference between education and literacy and schools must strive to provide education and not just literacy by the means of large homework and stringent timetables.