Every student knows what it feels like.  You finally sit down after coming home from your sports practice or babysitting job, and you are tired. But you cannot go to bed yet. You still have to do the load of homework that’s due at midnight. But you also have to eat dinner, shower, and get ready for school the next day. Schools teach students that homework is  important and to put it before everything. In this position most students push themselves aside and do their homework all night.

Homework is every student’s nightmare. Coming home from learning and working for over seven hours and then having to sit down and get even more work done. It causes stress, sleep loss and mental health problems, so why can’t we get rid of it?

Many students have activities or sports after school. Others work and have paying jobs. According to the United States Census Bureau, “Fifty-seven percent of children between 6 and 17 years old participate in at least one after-school extracurricular activity.”  These students come home after their activities and jobs and then have hours of homework. Why would schools put this type of stress on students, and then talk about how they should get a good night’s rest.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital states, “The average amount of sleep that teenagers get is between 7 and 7 ¼ hours. However, they need between 9 and 9 ½ hours (studies show that most teenagers need exactly 9 ¼ hours of sleep).”

US News and Reports states, “Students nowadays are spending significantly more time on homework assignments – sometimes up to 17.5 hours each week.”

If students are coming home from school after working for 7+ hours, going to sports or activities and jobs and then doing around 3.5 hours of homework, how long are they going to actually get to sleep? High school students are not going to get 9.25 hours of sleep when they have homework to do that will keep them up all night.

In addition to losing sleep, homework is likely to affect students’ mental health well-being and social skills.

Staying home every day and focusing on homework can ruin relationships. Students will not get to see friends and family as often and people will start to drift away.

Homework also is a factor in many students’ stress. Coming home everyday after doing work to be faced with homework is tiring.

According to Oxford Learning, “A study by Stanford University, 56 per cent of students considered homework a primary source of stress. Too much homework can result in lack of sleep, headaches, exhaustion and weight loss. Excessive homework can also result in poor eating habits, with families choosing fast food as a faster alternative.” Also, “Students who spend too much time on homework are not always able to meet other needs, like being physically and socially active,” and “hours logged on schoolwork can lead to students feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated.”

Overall, homework is definitely the factor of many students’ stress, depression, anxiety, sleeping issues and so much more. At the end of the day, students should not have to do even more work after sitting in a chair learning for over seven hours.