Being is a student is one of the best times in everyone’s life. You get to live with your parents without many responsibilities; you only have to maintain yourself and your room. Your parents fulfil every need that might arise. Even in school you are cared for by your teachers. Most importantly, you get tonnes of time to play with your friends and do whatever it is that you like. Still, there are kids who would prefer growing up. You might ask why? It is only because of homework; every child detests it. So is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons?
What is homework? And is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons?
Every class in school has a certain amount of time assigned to it. It becomes very difficult for the teacher to teach everything in this little time. A lot of times there are concepts relevant to what is being taught but it is not going to be tested in the exams. Teachers give this as homework so that their pupils stay on top of everything that is happening around them alongside their designated curriculum in school. Ahead you will see a list of good things and bad things about homework, then ask yourself is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons?
The advantages of doing homework are as follows:
- It teaches time management–
In school a timetable is given to the students which makes sure everything happens in proportion. At home, students have so many things to do, like meet friends, sleep, study, watch TV, play games and much more. When they are given homework they make a time table so that they can do all these things in small amounts without missing out on anything.
- Helps students set priorities–
Every time you think, is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons? Think about this aspect- it helps you prioritize your work. Normally you would want to do only somethings all the time and it would all be very chaotic. But when you are given homework with submission deadlines you learn to decide what work needs more, urgent attention from the lot. Whenever I was given homework I made my timetable around it. That way by prioritising it I made sure it would be completed in time.
- Helps in problem solving–
In classrooms teachers are just a call away. There students aren’t entirely independent when solving problems especially in math. However, at home you know you have no one around to help you with everything so you have to help yourself. And this is very important if you want to learn how to become independent.
- Keeps the parents’ updated–
Parents hardly know what the school teaches their children. Whatever it is that they know is because of the homework their kids are given in school.
By now you must’ve almost made a decision for yourself to this question- is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons?
- Children have to do things against their wishes–
When they leave school to work somewhere or go to college, they realise how helpful homework has been. No child wants to do homework but he/she has to. This is one important and unique characteristic of the real world. You must do things no matter how gravely you detest them. In its own way, homework teaches children small life skills.
- Makes them responsible–
Everyone thinks the education process is only the teacher’s responsibility which is not true in anyway; it is a two-way road. The teachers help in as many ways as they can but in the end the initiative has to come from the child’s side. Things like homework are what make them realise this. Even if they pay attention in class they won’t get an extra edge without homework. This teaches them how much of a difference they can make in their own lives.
- Opportunity to review classwork–
In this process of answering the question- is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons? this is a new angle. Away from all the distractions of a classroom and from their friends, students can run through their classwork peacefully at home. After taking a break from school when they do their homework with a fresh mind it is always more effective. Whenever I got homework, I found it much easier to understand my classwork and remember what I had studied.
The disadvantages
Here is another perspective to our eternal question- is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons? This could also lead one to ask about negative effects of homework.
- Eats up all the free time–
Homework takes up a lot of time even after school hours. Had it not been there, students would have time to pursue their hobbies or practice some outdoor sport.
- It burns them out–
As students go to higher classes the burden of their homework increases. After long hours in school, having to spend just as much time doing homework can be very stressful. And on top of that, they have to meet deadlines. It is not fair for them to be under so much pressure at such a tender age.
- Could be wrongly rewarding–
Sometimes when students get a lot of assignments with a very short time to finish everything, they could cheat from one another. This completely defeats the purpose of homework because it teaches them that it’s okay to cheat, you might even get rewarded sometimes.
In conclusion
Like everything else, homework too has two sides to its story. It can be very helpful in helping the child grow into a strong, independent and efficient adult or, it could burn them out with stress before they get a chance to grow. Then it all comes down to the amount of homework they have and the time they get to finish it all. There could also be many alternatives for homework. But given it has been around since the time of the oldest school, it does hold some credibility to its name. No matter how many kids hate homework, it does help in many ways.
In this evergreen debate of ‘is homework harmful or helpful pros and cons’ which side will you take?