SHOULD HOMEWORK BE BANNED?

"If school is not a place to sleep then, home is not a place to study"

 – said a tumblr user.

My point of view on the topic is clear from this statement. Before anything else, I would like to talk about what homework is – a point I will revisit by the end of the speech as well.

Any good dictionary will tell you that "the work teachers assign their students to do at home" is called homework. But is it really that simple?

When I was researching on how to approach this topic, I found out the common misconception that homework is good for mental health for the students. Being a student myself, of course I had some doubts about this and so by extensive googling, I came across "the truth", that homework does not boost mental health but is, in fact, responsible for quite the opposite. Yes. Because of homework, students not only fall victim to mental disorders, it also negatively affects our physical health.

HOW?

We take about six and a half hours classes at school and then we are given homework – that most of the times is near impossible to do in one day. What does that do? We go home, shut ourselves in our rooms and try to complete our homework. Because the homework is so much, we do not have time to eat or feel too sick to eat, we are forced to pull all-nighters to complete the homework. Then the sun rises and we have to come to the university for the same amount of hours to get the same of amount homework. And the cycle goes on.

Everyone one of us has equal opportunities and the same physical environment when we are here – at school – but not everyone has it the same in their homes. So, by giving us homework, and when we are unable to complete it, saying that how were some of us able to do that but not others, the teachers are consciously or unconsciously implying the phenomenon of factory-model, wishing for all of us to be the same.

The society expects us to be a full-time student, caring siblings, loyal children, physically fit and athletic, have a perfect social life. I ask you, how is all of this possible if we attend 6 hours of school and have 16 hours of homework – cooped up in our rooms, unable to comprehend the homework, frustrates us so much that we lash out on the people important to us; family time is reduced or even made negligible because oh look, so much homework to do! Relationships are ruined! We can't even sleep properly, and a good night's sleep is very important to maintain sanity and physical health.

Now back to the definition in the light of the above stated points. I would like you look up the definition of homework on "urbandictionary.com". Why look it up yourselves? Because if I read it out here, in the domain of education, it would be inappropriate. But some students have called homework "cruelty" and a "torture device". Any good linguist can decipher the student's feelings by their language.

So, with such views, the education policy makers need to ask themselves;

"Shouldn't homework be banned?"

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