Out of all the homework you receive in a week, how often do you actually feel that it was beneficial? For me, it is mostly just busy work that I felt I could have been fine without.

According to Gerald LeTendre of Pennsylvania State University, teachers that give take-home assignments are mostly just busy work. This means that teachers give the homework just for the sake of giving you the work, not to benefit you. If a student needs the extra help, then he or she should do the homework. But there isn’t a point for the students who already understand the concepts. Richard Walker, a Psychologist at Sydney University, states that in countries where more homework is assigned, test scores are lower. In Finland, students not only have no homework, but go to school less than us and still have the highest test scores in the world, according to BBC and The Huffington Post. If Finnish students are succeeding in school with less class time and no homework, shouldn’t the U.S. and other countries be taking notes?

These facts just prove that we are doing it wrong. The Huffington Post also states that “Extra Assignments given to children… can lead to unhealthy levels of stress.” Being in school should be fun and something we always want to go back to when we are older. But since we are stuck balancing homework, sports, relationships, and relaxation, it just adds to the levels of stress we have from worrying about tests, whether you made the team, or if your best friend still likes you.

I understand that teachers may argue that homework is a vital part of our education and helps us remember what we learned in that day’s class. But, while I partly agree with this, teachers should only give homework to the students who really need it or possibly spend another class on the subject. My solution is that teachers should only be allowed to give homework to students who need it, even then at a reduced length. For students who don’t need the help, homework should be an option or eliminated. It just adds stress to our already stressful lives.