While this quarantine is necessary because of negative circumstances, there have been many positive things to come out of it. One of the positives being that the perspective of a lot of people has changed, specifically when it comes to school and students. 

Quarantine has taught us that homework is just not essential. With online school, students are given classwork and projects, which is basically the same amount of work that we would be given and expected to finish during class. The classwork and projects have the same effect that homework would. If anything, homework would be redundant because the classwork and projects give students a firm grasp on the material already. 

Also, the due date for assignments was moved from 11:59 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The administration said that the reason for moving the due date was, “in an effort to reduce the stress for students and teachers feeling that they are working from morning until night.” If these weren’t the circumstances, and we were able to go to school normally, the students would still have to do homework, which on top of all their other activities, can have students working ‘from morning until night.” Therefore, when school does reassemble, it’s important to remember that the stress students and teachers were feeling during quarantine will still be relevant, for students especially, when we return.

With online school, the administration has also issued “no homework weekends.” The main reason behind this was because this time is very stressful, and takes a toll on everyone. However, normally students are just as stressed during “regular school.” In addition to attending school for six hours a day, students participate in many after school activities, such as sports, clubs, and endeavors outside of school. So, adding a couple of hours of homework to that, it makes it very difficult for students to catch a break during the school year.

An article from Healthline discusses the negative effects of too much homework for high school students. Stanford University conducted research in 2013 and found that, “students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives, and alienation from society.” The study proves that homework has serious effects on our health, and while teachers may not think they’re assigning a lot of homework, they also have to consider the workload that six other teachers are piling on in a day, and the extracurriculars students are involved in. The Stanford study also collected statistics on the student opinion of homework from 4,300 students that attend different schools in California, and “more than 70 percent of students said they were ‘often or always stressed over schoolwork,’ and less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stresser.” To further support the student’s opinions, researchers found that there are physical symptoms that correspond with the stress of homework, such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems. 

The Stanford study was conducted in 2013, and it’s currently 2020. If students weren’t already stressing themselves out and taking on more than they could handle in order to build a better future, after this quarantine, students definitely will. Homework would just be an added stress that is just unnecessary for students. 

Therefore, we must remember one of the most important effects quarantine has had on schools, that homework is not necessary, and it should no longer be assigned when school reunites.