Throughout the past years in Haddonfield, sleep deprivation and the struggle to finish excessive homework on time has caused controversy among students and faculty. Between the amount of school work during the day and the homework outside of school, many students feel overwhelmed. The amount of sleep students receive is not enough to function properly during the day, mostly because the homework limits the amount of hours a teenage body needs.
Statistically, when asking other students about how much time they spend on homework, the average answer was 1-4 hours per night. Teachers may argue that homework is necessary to boost students’ understanding of the material; however, what they are not taking into consideration is the fact that students have extracurricular activities and other responsibilities to uphold. One study in Health Wise called “The Scientific Case for Starting High School Later,“ articulates and pushes for teenagers to start school around 8:30-9:00 because their brains are not fully awake between 7:30 and 8:00 when school typically starts. The lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Judith Owens, says, “Only about 15% of U.S. high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later… chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents is one of the most common—and easily fixable—public health issues in the U.S. today.” When taking the information we know today, it clearly indicates that sleep deprivation and the worsened version, sleep inertia, can easily be saved by starting school at a later time.
Not only does sleep affect a student’s performance in school but also that student’s ability to study or practice their homework outside of school. On average sports practices go on for about two hours everyday, so students are getting home at around 5 every night. Then, they have to sit through 1-4 hours of homework each night, plus dinner, and expected rest breaks. Furthermore, if you take into consideration study time, which is separate from the homework, then that brings the hours spent on school work at night way up. It is very hard for a student, especially in Haddonfield, to maintain the 8-10 hours of sleep per night that experts suggest for teenage minds. This leaves every teenager stressing all the time, questioning how they are going to find the time to complete their homework.
Additionally, the Haddonfield High School has block days twice a week, which consist of 80 minute periods, giving students more time to accomplish the workload that teachers assign. These cycles are not something that not a lot of schools have, which means that our school should take better advantage of it. Most teachers spend their block periods on lectures and having students take notes, instead of giving extra in class time that they have to allow students to complete their work.
Understandably, an AP course is going to require students to have a lot of work outside of the classroom because of the timeline of the AP exams every May. This means that students and teachers have less time to accomplish their required curriculum, run by the College Board. However, the other courses that are not on a tight timeline are completely run by the teacher. They have the workload flexibility that AP courses do not have. This includes the amount of summer work that is being assigned. One would think that the summer break is a time to catch up on sleep, and relax on the beach or pool, however, is the summer break truly a break from school? The answer is no. They still have the burden of completing their summer work assignments, which are often very excessive. It is completely reasonable to assign math homework, to keep students updated on their math skills, however are the long English and history assignments really worth it? There are many circumstances where students are signed up to take accelerated courses, but then drop out of the course at the sight of the summer assignment. The reason for this is because students want to feel free. But the harsh reality of school is that they never truly feel free, because there is always another assignment to be done. Homework is a never ending cycle, that causes students to feel like a working machine, and it makes them question why they take these courses in the first place. This is extremely detrimental to a teenager’s mental health.
