Comparing the quality and quantity of homework

The difference between abundant yet easy work and scarce yet intentional work can be drastic; it is a good idea to focus more conscious energy on a single task. Photo by Andrew Hsieh.

Quality homework teaches better life skills 

By Kyle Nguyen

Homework is one of the most important aspects of our education because homework is a necessary learning tool if used correctly. Assignments need to prioritize quality over quantity so we can learn from them rather than just doing our assignments to turn them in.

Quality education is extremely important because it is the basis of how we think and function in our everyday lives. It is also the foundation of how we decide what we could possibly do in the future and that decides how we live our lives.

Focusing on quantity over quality in education can be effective but stress is a huge problem with it.  Stress can lead to many health concerns concerning one’s mental health so, bombarding kids with a huge workload can push them too far.

While there are some students that thrive and push past their limits, not everyone has that ability and may be forced to adjust too quickly to assignments they can’t handle.

When teachers assign too many assignments with little to no learning value, students feel restricted to a certain schedule of pumping out finished assignments without effectively learning the content in them. Students lose out on necessary critical thinking skills because they aren’t able to thoroughly think their assignments through.

Spending more time doing quality work rather than mindlessly completing numerous assignments can help you learn better. Photo by Andrew Hsieh.

It’s true that homework is necessary to practice and refine our skills. However, there are cases when if a teacher assigns an excessive amount of homework, it doesn’t help refine our skills and instead shows gaps in their own teaching.

During the pandemic, some teachers often assign more homework to make up for the staggered time in class but that doesn’t make up for us using critical thinking and learning life skills. In my experience, the classes I’ve learned the most valuable information from were the ones I received little to no homework in because I focused more on learning rather than dealing with the stress of too much homework.

It’s understandable why teachers give us homework every day, but it becomes an issue when the work feels like busy work and isn’t fulfilling for our education. Although some teachers limit the amount of homework they give each day, there are many teachers that assign multiple assignments that range from an hour to three hours to complete.

Having too much homework stresses students out because it takes more time to complete compared to assignments that allow us to critically think, while only ranging from 20 to 30 minutes, and don’t stress kids out because it’s easier to manage.

Like many students, I’ve had personal experience with this problem. I actually enjoy homework when I’m learning valuable information from it or enjoying the material I’m learning.

On the contrary, some of the homework I’ve done is filled with extra and unnecessary work that feels useless and doesn’t benefit my learning. Most of the time when students are doing homework they’re doing it just to complete it for class and not learning from it because some assignments are overwhelming and unfulfilling.

Homework should be something we can learn from. It should teach us life lessons and how to think calmly and precisely. We shouldn’t have to focus on stressing about our long list of overwhelming assignments and instead focus on learning from our teachers in class.

The quantity of our homework helps with memorization

By Lylyan Yenson

Although quality is an important part when doing homework, by doing more of a certain task, it becomes better ingrained in our minds. The main factor is finding the perfect amount of homework to give students as too much homework leads to stress. 

Repetition, especially for subjects like math, helps students take in the information for a long period of time. Most students store information for a short amount of time as most only study for their chapter test and soon forget afterward. Repetition allows students to create long-term memories about the information at hand.

An example of a long-term memory I have from school is: “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”

This phrase is one that most students know due to the fact that it is repeated multiple times in class, either through teachers or other students. This simple phrase is stored in my long-term memory simply due to the fact that I, and other students, repeatedly joked about it. 

Following this example, vocabulary is usually studied through repetition as well. Most of the students I know use Quizlet, flashcards or any attempt to use the words as much as possible. They repetitively use these words or study them to store them in their long-term memory. 

Homework requires students to study and use the material taught to them. By giving a fair amount of homework for students to work on, teachers focus on ingraining the information in the students’ memories for future reference.

Quantity of homework helps students learn the material by using repetition to store the information in their memory. Although some classes require understanding, the quantity of homework plays an important role in classes that require memorization of material.