As adults, when we recall our childhood, it is filled with stories of climbing trees, playing hide and seek, riding a bike, having kitty parties or going to a house party with your friends. We don’t ever recall complaining about how much homework we have to do, do we? Well, today’s kids do! And they aren’t the ones to blame.  

Many educational experts are already debating as to why the Australian educational system is going backwards. Those at www.goodtoplay.com believe the reason we don’t have an answer yet is because we aren’t looking in the right place.

Recent studies have shown that kids of today are getting more homework than the recommended amount. In many cases, as much as three times the recommended amount, leaving them with very little time to enjoy or play.

But hasn’t the educational system always been that way? Have we ever been able to reach a consensus on what works and what doesn’t or how much is enough and how little isn’t? No, we haven’t. the ongoing contentions on whether it is justified to make your kids do that much amount of work, especially when they come home all tired from the activities in school have never reached any conclusion. Different school of thoughts have different opinions to present. Some are in favour of homework while others strongly contest the idea of having to do one in the first place. So how can we decide what is right and what isn’t? By analysing the effects it has on our younger ones.

Drawbacks of Homework

Homework Doesn’t Guarantee Higher Academic Performance:

In fact, research has proven that parents who thought otherwise are wrong. It  has been found there is no correlation between homework and academic performance so the question whether it helps in higher level of academic performance itself defaults. The study claims that all students have different levels of intelligence their interests and habits vary too. Just because someone is good at math doesn’t mean he/she will also be good at arts. So, even if they were to get full marks in math, they might fail arts and thus pass with a low grade overall. So, associating performance with homework is wrong.

It Feels Like An Additional Burden:

We can’t argue otherwise. There is so much that is being expected from a kid today. They just don’t have to attend school, but also ace all extracurricular actives they take part in –both willingly and unwillingly. With so much pressure, having homework only adds an extra stratum of burden on their shoulders and kids may start to hate school. They are too tired when they get home from school, having to read multiple chapters, do math and memorize a sonnet just seems too much to ask them. The result: they end up staying late at night which causes their health to decline in the longer run.