Is homework important? This is a question that has tormented me throughout my student years during the entire 90s and the next decade. I am sure; many students have been equally skeptical about this. Well, in all these years of studies as well as my career in the field of education has given me the opinion that it is not the homework, but the purpose of the homework is all that matters.
There are two types of homework assignments
- Homework that is random and consumes or engages an unrealistic amount of time of the student to get completed
- Homework that is designed for the goal of better learning.
Which type of homework is being assigned to the student is all that matters. But, along with this, what matters equally is that the student takes the homework seriously and completes it with the aim of making the most of the assignment.
Why should a Student be doing Homework?
Now that it has been said that it depends on the student how he/she makes the most of a homework assignment, it is important that you know why homework is important and why you should be doing it.
- Learning about Time Management:
Homework teaches you how to manage time. Time management is very crucial for a student, given the huge amount of syllabi, so many assignments, things that he/she needs to learn; chapters that need to be memorized as well as preparing for the examination. When you do homework, you learn to manage time to pay special attention to all your subjects.
- Preparing for Examination:
When I was in high school, I often faced this problem and complained about how I would prepare for my examination with so much of assignments and projects to complete! Now that I have become a teacher, I hear my students complain about the same.
But, what I have learned in all these years and what I tell my students is that homework alone can be your preparation for the examination. If you do your daily homework on time, you will actually learn, memorize and be prepared for the examination.
- Learning Better:
Despite a thorough discussion in the class regarding a topic or subject, why most students forget their lessons is because they do not go through the class materials. Homework gives them the opportunity to go through what has been taught in class and thus, learning is always better. In simple words, homework is a recap of what has been done in class.
- Improved Thinking and Clarified Doubts:
Often, classroom time is not enough to develop a deep insight on a certain topic or subject. In that case, what is important is that a student explores the subject, the topic and what has been taught in the class in more details.
Homework allows the students to
- Take the help of reference books
- Study materials
- Visit the libraries
- Use the internet to understand the subject or topic thoroughly.
Doubts are thus, cleared better and the students learn better. As they consult the reference books and come across their troubles and doubts, their thinking process is sharpened, and this helps them for their future.
- Getting Better Scores:
Many kids do not realize this, but homework carries a good percentage of your overall examination score. Either an aggregate of the assignment marks or the total of the marks is added to your final examination marks or grade calculation. Hence, if you want to make sure that you get good scores in your examination, you must pay attention to your homework and do them regularly and submit them on time.
Besides, I believe, it is easier to do homework for increasing your final examination scores. You will have to study less for your examination, and you will know how much you have already secured.
- Know how well you are prepared:
Now that knowing about your assignment grades or scores has been discussed, it must also be mentioned that your homework will help you to understand how well you are prepared. The areas, which you need to work in, can easily be identified.
Homework, Parent and Teachers:
Not only is it useful and important for a student, but also for the parents and teachers. The parents know what is being taught in the class, through the homework assignments. The teachers, on the other hand, understand the areas that a student needs more guidance in.
Regardless to mention, teachers practice
- Imparting responsibilities on students through individual assignments
- Teaching how to work in a group
- Teaching how to work individually.
Hence, it is important that the parents and teachers ensure that a student does his/her homework daily. It is the teachers responsibility to make sure that the student is enthusiastic about the task. Practical tasks and innovative assignments are always useful. Boring assignments that are meant to keep the students only engaged, is never useful.
Seek Help:
But of course, homework can be a burden sometimes. When due to some unavoidable circumstances, you haven’t been able to complete your previous homework, the pending task and the current task together can make it difficult for you to complete within time. In that case, the essence and fun of doing your assignment or learning from it, absolutely disappears.
Even if you face problems in a chapter or topic that you need guidance in, homework may seem like a burden. You can certainly seek professional help for that. There are tutors, who might help. But, that might take some time. If you cannot afford to wait, you can always take help from academic help services, who can help you to complete your assignments on time. These are very useful and affordable. Not only do they clear your doubts and discuss a topic in details, but they also make sure that your assignment is complete within deadline.
So, don’t be afraid of your homework! Enjoy your classwork as well as homework, and you will become a pro in your studies.