It is often argued whether it’s effective to give children homework or not. In all seriousness, I suppose they are quite useless. The purpose of this essay is to confront both options.
Let’s begin with the pros off homework. It has surely been the nightmare of millions of students for decades. Advocates of this traditional learning approach sustain that it’s fundamental in order to ensure continuous learning between children. Naturally, there’s no way a child would start to study autonomously once at home, in contrast with university students or professionals. To do so, they need a prompt, which is homework. Furthermore, home studying really helps to stick what has been learned at school. And this clearly explain why they’re still very common in most today’s educational systems.
On the other hand, there’s a major drawback. Are we 100% sure of their effectiveness? Personally, I am not. A growing number of experts claim that they are too obsolete and need to be replaced. There’s a few advanced countries in Northern Europe (Finland, Denmark, Sweden), which are experimenting new ways of teaching, and they all got rid of homework. Matter of fact, these countries have the highest levels of education worldwide. What’s more, massive workloads might have dramatic consequences on children, in terms of stress. An excessive exposition to this stimulus, especially while being a child, can have a dramatic effect on brain functions.
On the whole, I guess children shouldn’t be packed with thousands of homework, since it’s unnecessary and ineffective. That said, I’m not suggesting eliminating them all. I’d rather integrate more innovative learning tools, aimed to improve children’s learning experiences.