“Homework isn't worth two minutes of time, never mind an hour.”  These are the words of Alfie Kohn, an American author who studies the effect of teenagers receiving overwhelming amounts of homework.  This work is meant to help students learn their class materials and obtain a better understanding of the subjects taught in school.  However, how much homework is too much homework?  Studies show that these piles of paper take up more time than necessary.  High school students should be given less homework in order to make more time for themselves.
        

Students are struggling to keep track of their homework and how much time they should have for themselves.  The majority of kids in school participate in afterschool activities, that take around one to three hours of time per night.  In fact, in a recent survey, researchers found that “79% of America's middle school and high school students regularly participate in activities both after school and on weekends and 57% have some kind of non-school activity nearly every day” (Survey).  Extracurricular activities give kids a chance to work on subjects they enjoy, besides the average math and english class.  After school programs allow students to have a chance to make friends and take part in new opportunities.  However, when a student arrives home from their after school activity, they get to look forward to doing more work.  When a student is forced to juggle a three hour practice and four hours of homework, they are left with only three hours until the clock strikes midnight.  Not to mention that kids have to eat dinner and take care of personal responsibilities.  Leading to another important point, parents also have a problem with the amount of work.  When kids become trapped in their rooms like Rapunzel, they have no time to go downstairs and spend some quality time with their families.  These moments are important, especially when Mothers wants to spend as much time as they can with their baby bird before it flies away to college.  “How many people take home an average of two hours or more of work that must be completed for the next day?  Most of us do not do this.  Bottom line: students have too much homework” (Do Our Kids).  Mother Tonya Noonan agrees that students should not be given so much work.  If students had less homework, they would get the chance to sit at the dining room table and tell their parents how school was, but it turns out that they just brought school home.  Lastly, one of the advantages to having less work could be giving yourself time to relax.  Busy minds, full backpacks, hungry stomachs.  This is what students get off the bus with every day.  Everyone wants to have time in their day to simply compose themselves.  Sometimes kids need to turn off the homework and turn on the TV.  While the gym teacher’s bones might shiver at this thought, time like this is completely necessary.  Students will never have a moment of free time if homework like this continues simply because there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

Despite countless amounts of studies trying to prove that the amount of homework should go down, some people believe that there is no problem with the stacks of binders and books students are bringing home.  While most kids would never say that homework is good, they can admit that homework does have a good side.  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Homework also is an opportunity for children to learn self-discipline and organizational skills and to take responsi­bility” (Homework and Developing).  However, students should be learning these important lessons in school, not at home.  In the time that they sit stuck filling out busy work in their bedrooms, they could be out in the world using the lessons that they go to school every day to learn.

Students should be given less homework to have the ability to make time for themselves.  Time spent on homework could be replaced with time spent on something that makes student’s time a little more memorable. Whether they take on a sport, spend more time with family, or just need time to relax, less homework is a good idea.