School without homework?

The concept of homework is a cornerstone of the modern education system. In almost every class, students are expected to bring work back home after school to continue working even when they’re no longer at school. The very concept of homework is eminently questionable, especially in a world like ours where the line between work and personal life gets thinner and thinner. With this and mind, we should ask ourselves as a society: is homework such a good thing?

First, homework in itself is one of the reasons most students don’t really enjoy school. The idea that you have to continually work even when you’re not in class can get very demotivating for some and can cause them to either not work at home or work with less determination when in school because they know it’s not over and it never will be. At least, if work was contained inside class hours, most students would probably work more during those hours knowing that the second the bell rings, they’ll be off the hook and free to do something else than work all day.

Second, letting students have some carefree, work-free time when they’re out of school would prevent one of our modern era’s worst downsides: the slow yet very real disappearance of the frontier between private life and work. By conditioning our youth to work all the time, without the healthy breaks a school without homework would provide them, we’re basically telling them as a society that working all the time, even outside of working hours, is perfectly fine. Thus, the next generation is encouraged not to cherish its private life and to become workaholics, which is tremendously unhealthy socially and mentally.

Taking all of this into account, it would be incredibly helpful to forge young people with balance in their life that can put work aside and just enjoy some well-deserved breaks once in a while. With all of the changes brought to our working habits by the technological revolution, it’s much needed to begin drawing a clear line between work and personal life. All of this begins with the removal of homework at school.