Homework has been a staple
of high schools across the world for
years, but the workload assigned by
some teachers has become unmanageable.
Students have never enjoyed
homework, and while to a certain extent
homework enhances the learning
experience of students, the right
of the teacher to assign homework
is often abused. High schoolers are
more than just students; from athletics
to music, other hobbies take up
much of their time outside of school.
Adding on to this, having a social
life has been proven to be just as vital
to success as academic excellence.
High school students can get forced
to make a decision between good
grades, a decent social life, other passions,
and a healthy amount of sleep.

Competition to
get into a top tier college has been
on the rise, especially in a county
as high-achieving as Fairfax County
Public Schools. It is essential for high                                                                                                                                               schoolers to take challenging
courses if they want to make it
into a good college, but some
students have had to abandon
their extracurricular activities
just so they can get all the work
done that’s required by these
rigorous courses. It appears high                                                                                                                                                       schools put a much heavier emphasis
on school work and academics
than athletics, social lives, and other
extracurricular activities. While at
first glance, giving a lot of homework
may seem like a good way to help
students be successful later in life,
Matthew Nguyen (11) tells otherwise,                                                                                                                                             “I’m a big fan of reading books, but due
to all the homework I’ve been getting
from my teachers, reading is something
I almost never get to do now.”
Students’ passions are arguably more
important in determining their futures
than the classes they take at school, but
it appears these passions have taken a
back seat to the obscene amounts of
homework assigned by some teachers.

School is designed to
prepare students for their adult life,
but high schools should reassess their
methods. Finland, a country that ranks
tops in the world in education based
on international standardized tests,
has an education that gives its students
an average of three hours a week. It is
not unusual for students here at Falls
Church to receive that amount in a
single night. Homework is reasonable
in small amounts, but teachers need to
acknowledge that students have other
responsibilities, ranging from jobs to
sports.