Sleep Deprived Students and Limiting Homework

BLOG 7: High school students are sleep deprived, therefore, less homework should be assigned to them.  Agree or disagree?  Discuss your response.

The fact that high school students are deprived could be due to various reasons, such as personal problems, internet addiction, etc., and not just solely on homework amount. However, if the entire argument is solely based on homework amount, I disagree that less homework should be assigned to sleep deprived students. I say this, because homework is essential to learning and making connections, especially in courses like chemistry and math. Repetition and practice allow students to apply theories learned in class, its like the different between watching someone ride a bike and actually riding the bike. The experience is essential. However, students should be able to prioritize which homework from which subject is most important. If students feel comfortable with a certain subject and do not need that practice, they should skip it and move on to more challenging homework. The question is not whether or not less homework should be assigned, it’s about which homework to prioritize and whether or not a teacher should check the homework. Taking that into consideration, teachers should not base their grading on a student and their completion of homework, especially not during high school since most students should be able to differentiate which homework is more important. Teachers should also realize that some students are stronger in a specific subject and will not finish the homework because they are comfortable with it. Teachers should also realize that a student has many other subjects in which the teachers assign homework as well therefore; completion of all homework should not be expected. If homework completion is so important to a teacher, they should allow for “make up” homework in which a student can show the teacher completed homework the following day, if it was not completed on the due date. Furthermore, one of the learning strands is imitative therefore, if a student is struggling with their homework, they should take initiative and ask for help. They are going to university after all, and should be capable of saying “I need help”. Continuing with university, homework is not assigned in it. University is more assignment and exam based and the questions in the university textbook are completed at the students’ discretion, therefore homework is neither a good reflection of university life nor the workplace. As for sleep deprived students, they are teenagers with rebellion phases and mood swings, therefore if they get more homework or less, they still will be sleep deprived since they will just have more time for their internet addition, unwillingness to work, extracurriculars, etc.