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Students Get Stressed From Homework: Tips to Manage Your Time and Anxiety



The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.




Students Get Stressed From Homework




Homework is an important part of keeping students engaged with the class material outside of school, even though some students may think of it as a waste of time and effort. By doing homework, students are able to think about what was taught in class in further detail and develop a mastery through practical applications of the lessons. Homework brings educational benefits for all students, and it helps establish soft skills like time management and organization that are necessary beyond high school graduation. However, sometimes the extra assignments can lead to stress for the student and the family. As homework piles up, some students may find themselves engaging less and less.


In 2013, research conducted by Stanford University demonstrated that students from high-achieving communities experience stress, physical health problems, an imbalance in their lives, and alienation from society as a result of spending too much time on homework. According to the survey data, 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress. The remaining students viewed tests and the pressure to get good grades as the primary stressors. Notably, less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.


Lastly, understand that homework stresses are very common and they are likely to arise for you or your student from time to time. If this happens, keep calm and keep going. Sometimes a moment of comfort is all you or your student needs to settle down and get back on track.


In 2013, research conducted at Stanford University found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives, and alienation from society.


To conduct the study, researchers surveyed more than 4,300 students at 10 high-performing high schools in upper middle-class California communities. They also interviewed students about their views on homework.


The researchers also found that spending too much time on homework meant that students were not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills. Students were more likely to forgo activities, stop seeing friends or family, and not participate in hobbies.


The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework. That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on. But a study published by The American Journal of Family Therapy found that students are getting much more than that.


In the scope of world history, homework is a fairly new construct in the U.S. Students of all ages have been receiving work to complete at home for centuries, but it was educational reformer Horace Mann who first brought the concept to America from Prussia.


School work assigned and completed outside of school hours is not without its benefits. Numerous studies have shown that regular homework has a hand in improving student performance and connecting students to their learning. When reviewing these studies, take them with a grain of salt; there are strong arguments for both sides, and only you will know which solution is best for your students or school.


To help students find the right balance and succeed, teachers and educators must start the homework conversation, both internally at their school and with parents. But in order to successfully advocate on behalf of students, teachers must be well educated on the subject, fully understanding the research and the outcomes that can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the homework burden. There is a plethora of research and writing on the subject for those interested in self-study.


Despite efforts to reduce it, homework has been a major cause of stress for students all throughout middle and high school. It has placed pressure on students to do well in school for as long as the institution has been in place.The stress from modern-day schooling is at deeply concerning amounts. Ask the 516 Westwood students who completed a survey conducted this year, asking students to rate their homework-related stress on a scale of one to ten. An overwhelming majority of 85.7% said that their stress was either seven, eight, nine, or ten.


Extracurricular activities and social time gives students a chance to refresh their minds and bodies. But students who have large amounts of homework have less time to spend with their families and friends. This can leave them feeling isolated and without a support system. For older students, balancing homework and part-time work makes it harder to balance school and other tasks. Without time to socialize and relax, students can become increasingly stressed, impacting life at school and at home.


After a full day of learning in class, students can become burnt out if they have too much homework. When this happens, the child may stop completing homework or rely on a parent to assist with homework. As a result, the benefits of homework are lost and grades can start to slip.


COVID-19 has brought on stress for all students, but Honors students have dealt with the most anxiety. The pressure they feel comes from the fact that Honors students, along with Advanced Placement students, have always been, and will continue to be, assigned the most work.


If a student is falling behind on work and needs more time to review material, homework gives him or her an opportunity to catch up at home. He or she can look at the material with a fresh pair of eyes and dig into the work from the comfort of home.


Studies have also shown that too much homework can be very unhealthy, making students feel stressed and burnt out. In fact, more than 56% of students say that homework is a major reason they stress about school.


Thousands of teens at Mountain View and Los Altos high schools say they have benefited from a new homework policy aimed at bringing down homework loads, reducing stress and freeing up time during weekends and breaks, according to a survey released earlier this month.


Among the 754 students surveyed at Los Altos High School in January, 74 percent reported that all or most of their teachers followed the homework policy's limits on weekly homework, which is three to four hours for college preparatory classes each week and four to five hours for Advanced Placement classes. Just shy of half of students reported feeling "less stressed" compared to last year as a result of the new homework policy, and three out of four respondents said they felt either a "lot less" or "somewhat less" stressed because of limits on weekend homework.


A subsequent, anonymous survey of 37 Advanced Placement teachers found 100 percent compliance with the requirements for homework-free holidays including Thanksgiving and winter break, and nearly two-thirds of the teachers didn't assign homework over spring break even though it's not required under the new policy. This differs slightly from the Los Altos student survey, which found 86 percent of teachers abided by limits on homework during the Thanksgiving break.


The 2016-17 school year was the inaugural year for the new homework policy, AR 6154, a response to growing concerns that academic pressure and hefty homework loads were taking a toll on the district's 4,000 students. Board members frequently referred to teen anxiety and stress as a top concern for the district, and agreed to address the problem by laying down ground rules for how much homework is too much.


Throughout the meeting, Faillace repeatedly expressed concerns that academic rigor could potentially take a back seat because of restrictions on weekly homework under the policy. Performance on Advanced Placement tests may still be strong, he said, but those students are going to go the extra mile and make sure they pass the test regardless of how many hours of homework are assigned. Faillace was more worried about the students in college preparatory classes who only get three hours of homework per week to cover complex topics like physics. 2ff7e9595c


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