Engels Task 3 ‘An Essay’ 5Havo
No heavy homework
Practice makes perfect—the famous phrase the teacher kept repeating anytime someone did not
complete the big stash of homework, which would simply take away six hours of free time. Schools
should not give students an overload of homework and label it as a good education. According to
teachers, homework increases student performance, but in reality, it seems quite the opposite. The
OECD has revealed that the Finns rank third in having the best education system, and it’s not without
reason. For instance, homework for the average Finnish student takes less than three hours. As a result,
the students can have a healthy relationship with school, so homework should not be a heavy workload.
First of all, research from a survey of high-performing public and private high schools reveals that
homework causes high stress levels. In addition to stress, it also causes serious health problems, both
mentally and physically. Moreover, with homework that takes around six hours on average, students
have no opportunity to do activities outside of school, avoiding these health problems. With balanced
and reasonable workloads, students can prioritize both their academics and their own health.
Secondly, having put in the most energy into finishing the homework, the students will feel exhausted.
So, this leads to a loss of concentration and motivation altogether when the actual lesson is taught.
Hence, setting them even farther back in scoring well. Having less homework will motivate students to
complete and to look forward to the upcoming lesson the homework is about. In other words,
homework will set the attitude of the student toward the lessons in class. Having homework they’re fond
of will automatically increase the students' performance.
However, it is true that most students tend to understand the topics better after doing homework. It
helps reinforce the content they were taught earlier in the day, so it stays in their long-term memory. As
mentioned, the Finnish education system gives less than three hours of homework on average, and the
results of the OECD show that they are leading in scores. Thus, the less time homework takes, the better
the scores and student performance. In other words, there should be a clear boundary between the life
of a student and their time at school. Should homework be given in smaller workloads and only when
necessary?
Overall, many would say that homework should be given with less heavy workloads. Students should not
have to choose between school and their own lives, and instead have a healthy balance. Looking at the
outcome of the OECD scores, it should be enough to take Finland as an example of how education is
made for the student and not that the student has to reform to fit in. Likewise, the outcome of the
survey was alarming and should be an indicator of less homework. Therefore, this should be enough to
reform all education around the globe to become like Finland. If anything, it should be called schoolwork
instead of homework.
No heavy homework
Practice makes perfect—the famous phrase the teacher kept repeating anytime someone did not
complete the big stash of homework, which would simply take away six hours of free time. Schools
should not give students an overload of homework and label it as a good education. According to
teachers, homework increases student performance, but in reality, it seems quite the opposite. The
OECD has revealed that the Finns rank third in having the best education system, and it’s not without
reason. For instance, homework for the average Finnish student takes less than three hours. As a result,
the students can have a healthy relationship with school, so homework should not be a heavy workload.
First of all, research from a survey of high-performing public and private high schools reveals that
homework causes high stress levels. In addition to stress, it also causes serious health problems, both
mentally and physically. Moreover, with homework that takes around six hours on average, students
have no opportunity to do activities outside of school, avoiding these health problems. With balanced
and reasonable workloads, students can prioritize both their academics and their own health.
Secondly, having put in the most energy into finishing the homework, the students will feel exhausted.
So, this leads to a loss of concentration and motivation altogether when the actual lesson is taught.
Hence, setting them even farther back in scoring well. Having less homework will motivate students to
complete and to look forward to the upcoming lesson the homework is about. In other words,
homework will set the attitude of the student toward the lessons in class. Having homework they’re fond
of will automatically increase the students' performance.
However, it is true that most students tend to understand the topics better after doing homework. It
helps reinforce the content they were taught earlier in the day, so it stays in their long-term memory. As
mentioned, the Finnish education system gives less than three hours of homework on average, and the
results of the OECD show that they are leading in scores. Thus, the less time homework takes, the better
the scores and student performance. In other words, there should be a clear boundary between the life
of a student and their time at school. Should homework be given in smaller workloads and only when
necessary?
Overall, many would say that homework should be given with less heavy workloads. Students should not
have to choose between school and their own lives, and instead have a healthy balance. Looking at the
outcome of the OECD scores, it should be enough to take Finland as an example of how education is
made for the student and not that the student has to reform to fit in. Likewise, the outcome of the
survey was alarming and should be an indicator of less homework. Therefore, this should be enough to
reform all education around the globe to become like Finland. If anything, it should be called schoolwork
instead of homework.
