Homework has long been accepted as an integral part of school life. While the intentions are good, new studies are finding that the downsides might vastly outweigh the benefits, causing unnecessary stress on students, as well as parents and teachers. Learn more about the pitfalls of homework and what we can do instead.
Key Takeaways
- Homework adds undue stress for students and parents
- Youths should have more time for extracurricular activities and social life for healthy development
- Homework doesn’t reinforce classroom knowledge as well as initially thought
- Inequity means that homework causes a greater divide between students
What Is Homework Intended to Achieve?
The concept of homework makes sense at first glance. After all, it's a simple way to give students responsibility while reiterating topics from class.
Homework is supposed to help students (and teachers) by:
- Using repetition to help kids retain information
- Encouraging students to research on their own
- Introducing students to critical life skills like time management, problem-solving, and planning
- Reducing the amount of class time needed for certain topics
- Progressing the class in the curriculum to complete all the required topics before an exam or before the year's end
But when studies are done examining whether homework actually achieves any of these goals, the evidence just isn’t there.
The Human Restoration Project, a non-profit organisation in the US focused on improving the education system, published a thoroughly researched article6 about the downsides of homework. Some of the data mentioned there include:
- A study shows that countries that assign less homework have better test scores, and countries that assign more homework have lower scores.
- Too much homework is worse than none at all for student performance.
- Students routinely report homework having a negative impact on their studies, backed up by test scores.
- Only specific subjects had any positive correlation with homework.
The bottom line is: while the idea of homework is noble and sounds reasonable, the way it’s currently implemented is counterproductive.
The Negative Effects of Homework on Students
Homework is shown to cause students of all ages lots of stress. Childhood development experts even recommend against homework at all for young children. It’s incredibly difficult to study the exact correlation between homework, students’ well-being, test scores, and experiences after graduation, but the evidence that has been gathered is largely negative. Likewise, it’s all but impossible to prove that homework alone increases test scores.
Even if homework did, without a doubt, improve test scores, is all the pain and stress worth it? Or should classes be taught in a way that achieves the same outcomes without all the undue student suffering?
While not every student receives such a negative experience with homework, the downsides of homework – reported consistently, worldwide, for generations – indicate that there needs to be a change.
In Australia, many schools are already limiting the amount of homework for students in Year 6 and below. However, most secondary schools practise the 'standard' homework method used in many countries, assigning lots of homework per class.
1. Students’ Health and Mental Health Suffer
An overload of homework is one of the top complaints students have year after year.
Students frequently report the weight of homework stress being compounded by the (sometimes accurate) perception that much of the work is “pointless.” Students know they’re wasting their time, but can’t decide not to do it because it’s part of their grade.
Students have lots of other things to worry about. High school students, particularly, need to handle things like college applications and tours; volunteering, clubs, and other activities to strengthen said college applications, part-time jobs; AP courses; and parental expectations.
Studies find that many students turn to coping mechanisms like drugs and alcohol to deal with the stress of schoolwork. It also makes sense that tired, overburdened students would spend any free time they have doing things like using social media or playing too many video games, rather than more productive activities like reading for fun, going out with friends, or doing physical activities.
Some students end up oversleeping due to mental fatigue, while others sacrifice sleep. Healthy eating and other habits essential for well-being are often forfeited, both for homework time and out of sluggish exhaustion. Never being able to shut off the “learning” part of the brain to participate in non-academic activities leads to academic burnout.
This vicious cycle perpetuates anxiety and depression in school-aged children. Such intense levels of stress at a young age can affect students for the rest of their lives.
With respect to homework, especially for younger students, research shows that it doesn’t do much to improve student achievement or outcomes for their education, except for a handful of studies that show a tiny bump in standardized test scores. It has been shown to have negative effects on mental health and family relationships.
Lisa Ragatz, chemistry teacher at Hebron Academy in Maine, USA
2. Homework Is A Hotbed for Family Conflicts
Parents and schools have always had a complicated relationship, with the student being in the middle.
Some parents think that if their child needs help with homework, it means they are being lazy or aren’t paying attention in class, leading to conflicts between students and parents. Many parents might also feel their child is spending too much time on homework and is shirking other responsibilities. Some parents, especially those from backgrounds with a heavier homework culture, might think their child doesn’t study enough, leading to completely different issues.
Many students lack the type of parents who have the time, energy, or interest to help them with homework. And for the parents who do take an active role, many of them don’t know how to help, since they no longer remember the material themselves.
The methods by which subjects (especially math) are taught are sometimes very different from the way parents learned them, so even if they can help their child, it might not be the way the current education system wants students to learn, leading to confusion and frustration from students, parents, and teachers.
In all instances, it’s extremely easy for parents to become frustrated and even angry, creating more stress and emotional turmoil for the student.
Teachers need to spend hours creating and grading homework assignments, which also leads to a poor work-life balance and burnout. Clearly, too much homework is not healthy for anyone involved.
3. Time Pressure
Many schools adhere to the ‘10 minute rule,’ which suggests students should have 10 minutes of homework per day per grade level (so, 30 minutes per day for Year 3 students, 40 minutes per day for Year 4 students, etc). At the lower levels, this sounds very reasonable, but it quickly piles up.
Year 12 students are expected to spend 7 hours in school, plus 2 hours on homework, plus 1-2 hours (at least) on things like sports, clubs, music lessons, etc., on top of perhaps having a part-time job and helping out at home, all while maintaining a healthy exercise, eating, hygiene, and sleep schedule. Where is the socialising and having fun? When do students spend quality time with their family? Where is a student’s motivation to learn when it feels like school is all there is?
Students simply do not have enough time in the day or week to do it all. Having a huge chunk of homework to tackle on top of other commitments and responsibilities doesn’t teach time management; it teaches prioritising arbitrary achievements over things that really matter, like health and mental health, friendship, personal development, and family.
4. Widens the Achievement Gap
What is homework inequality? Educational institutions tend to assume all students have more-or-less the same lives, from cognitive abilities to income, to home life, and beyond. While many teachers truly care about each of their students and see them as individuals, there are generally just too many children and not enough teachers to support each child uniquely.
This is a widespread issue in education. When it comes to homework, it’s the assumption that each student has the same opportunities and resources after the bell rings to complete the same assignments as their peers. Students who lack a resource might struggle, increasing the amount of time it takes to complete their homework or not completing it at all, exacerbating all the other homework-related issues on this list.
Struggling students may just 'give up' in school in the face of all these challenges.
Generally, children from wealthier families tend to have better resources, but that’s not always the case.
What are all the ways students can face inequality when it comes to homework?
Unequal access to computers or the internet, or resources like libraries and clean, quiet spaces to focus
Students with parents who did not go to university have less help with assignments than their peers with educated parents
Students facing housing, food, and/or safety insecurity have more pressing things to deal with than homework
Many students are expected to have a job or assume parental roles at home, leaving them with little time or energy for homework
Students with health problems, especially chronic illnesses, will regularly be unable to keep up with assignments
Every student learns in a different way (visual, auditory, reading and writing, kinaesthetic), and homework generally only covers one method
Students with cognitive or learning difficulties need different approaches to learning
All these inequities have always existed, but now more than ever, schools are starting to consider them important factors in their educational approach.
It's one of the reasons why Finnish schools, which assign very little homework, succeed.
5. Doesn’t Prepare Students for Life After Graduation
One of the number one claims in favour is that homework helps prepare students for the “real world.” However, the skills and messages instilled through excessive homework are not useful for adult life.
Let’s compare the ideal homework is intended to instil, versus the messaging students often receive.
Intended Lesson
- Time management: Learn how to fit responsibilities into your schedule
Received Lesson
- Sacrifice management: What can you cut out of your day to finish your homework? (Usually, it’s sleep.)
- Reinforced learning: Repetition helps students retain information
- Rote learning: Memorisation without understanding
- Independent learning: Use notes from class, textbooks, and research to complete assignments
- Uncertain learning: Getting stuck on a question without a teacher to ask for help leads to growing resentment towards academics
Additionally, students receive the message that work comes home with them and extra work is normal, which is reflected by many young professionals working unpaid overtime at their full-time job after graduating.
Furthermore, students who spent their entire childhood without a moment to spare will be wholly unprepared for all the free time they finally find themselves with in adulthood. This leaves them vulnerable to harmful habits, like excessive mobile phone use or drinking, as well as a possible identity crisis. After all, if all your time was mapped out by others your whole life, how do you decide what to do when it’s up to you?
The concept of homework was developed for a totally different way of life using outdated beliefs; it’s time for an overhaul for modern students in the modern world.
Does Homework Have Any Benefits?
It’s easy to be in camp “Homework should be banned” or the opposite, “Homework should be mandatory.” But, like most things, there is a large middle ground worth exploring.
A reasonable amount of strategic, useful homework can be beneficial in helping reinforce information, allowing students to practise self-motivated study and manage their time.
The biggest problem with homework in most cases is that it’s often too much, is irrelevant or overly complicated, and is used as a substitute for a classroom lesson.
For high school students, especially, a reasonable amount of homework is shown to have some positive effects on their grades and exams. But, younger students receive little to no benefit, and in fact may be negatively impacted.
If homework is used appropriately as a learning tool, it’s very possible that it can be an important and enjoyable (or at least tolerable) part of the educational experience.
What’s the Alternative to Homework?
So, what can teachers do differently?
A growing number of countries and independent school districts around the globe are testing out (or have successfully implemented) minimal assignments and alternative forms of homework. Finland's world-famous approach involves leaving the discretion to the teachers to decide when, how much, and what homework should be assigned.
In Australia, some of the alternative types of homework being tested for students of all ages are things like long-term projects that require specific tasks over time, and encouraging students to go outside, participate in other activities, read for pleasure, or learn a practical skill (like cooking). Apps and games like BookWidgets and Kahoot! are also useful.
The debate about homework’s benefits has long been fought. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, since every school, every class, and every child is different. What’s certain is that the ‘traditional’ system typically used in schools is outdated and needs to change.
References
- 21 Reasons Why Homework Should Be Banned (2025). (2023). https://helpfulprofessor.com/reasons-why-homework-should-be-banned
- Clark, B. (2023). The case for banning homework so kids can have a life. In Crikey. https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/02/01/banning-homework-argument
- Does Finland Really Have No Homework? The Truth Behind Finnish Schools. (n.d.). In www.techclass.com. https://www.techclass.com/resources/education-insights/does-finland-really-have-no-homework-the-truth-behind-finnish-schools?srsltid=AfmBOootbGoN_ZZ9yc33ARZV9zzUk0p86I_GWsHBkisj0kMCJ6sqG9AY
- Homework. (n.d.). In Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/procon/homework-debate
- PhD, J. L. (2017). Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students. In University of San Diego Online Degrees. https://onlinedegrees.sandiego.edu/education-inequity-and-homework
- This is why we should stop giving homework. (n.d.). In Chris McNutt. https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/writing/this-is-why-we-should-stop-giving-homework
- Why Homework is Bad: Stress and Consequences. (2019). In Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/children-more-homework-means-more-stress-031114#Consequences-for-high-school-students
- Why Homework Should Be Banned In Today’s Classrooms. (2025). In Baby Domain. https://babyology.com.au/why-homework-should-be-banned-in-todays-classrooms
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