After a long day of taking notes in class and taking tests, what could be worse? “You have homework,” are three words most students dread to hear. As much as we might hate it, there’s a reason why teachers give homework.
“There’s a lot kids need to learn, but not enough time,” said Social Studies teacher Art Williams. It’s true, with three trimesters in our school year, teachers need to fit everything in twelve weeks. Very often they can’t so there’s homework, a way of getting extra work in.
Homework is there for extra help and practice. It’s supposed to help students understand what is learned in class.
“If they put time in concentrating the content, it helps them understand it better,” said science teacher Alison Nelson.
Students who do their homework can usually be identified by looking at their grades.
Claudra Witt, science teacher, said, “Their homework is an indication of how well they understand the material.”
The more effort put into doing homework, the better the grades usually turn out. Test scores also go up because what teachers give out for homework are examples that’ll be on an upcoming test.
Homework can really stress kids out. So what can they do when they have three worksheets, one book to read, a test to study for and an essay to write all in one day?
Some advice from senior Alex Babbitt, who’s part of six clubs such as Link Crew, President of Recyclizers and the Science Club, while taking two AP classes said, “Time management. Know where to start to know what to do.”
We can also look at Zhi Xin Wee, who’s a junior taking two AP classes participates in Peace Jam, National Honor Society, FOCUS Kalamazoo and two other clubs.
“I start off with the easy homework and then to the most difficult,” said Zhi Xin Wee.
There are many methods to get homework done, but the first thing to do is to get organized. If you organize your schedule, it’ll be a lot easier to do your homework and it’s a great skill to have for college.
The amount of homework students receive is due to the type of classes take.
An average high school student gets about two hours of homework per night. The more advanced give more homework. AP classes are college level and it’s good to get a hang of receiving a lot of homework in high school before going into college.
Taking AP classes isn’t going to kill anyone from all the work. It makes the student look better for colleges, study a concept more in-depth and it raises a student’s GPA.
The new Spanish teacher, Ryan King, said, “In college when I was a freshman, I got an hour of homework for every credit hour. When I was a senior it was doubled.”
When doing homework, think about it. Don’t just skim through it, actually pay attention. Teachers know when you’re not trying. If you don’t understand the homework, ask for help. We might hate homework but it’s there to help.