Homework should not be removed as an activity in school

Nowhere in my statements do I mention students not doing homework. All I mentioned was that students don't LIKE homework. And I would like to ask my opponent, why consider only American surveys and students in the USA? My statements refer to the general majority of the world's students, who do not like homework, and I was one of them too. In fact, statistically, my country, India has more number of students than the USA, and hence I strongly state that a majority of students do not like homework. American surveys suggest a positive outcome, well, maybe American teachers are very talented in giving the right kind of homework, but it just does not happen all over the world. And not every American student likes his homework, does he? When we talk about long term benefits like time management, I feel there could be ways to teach the students the same with activities that are far less boring than homework. One hour a night for homework, are you kidding me? I just passed out of school last year! "Monstrous beasts" might have come across as an exaggeration. But let me clear my point here. I do NOT feel that parents ARE really "monstrous beasts", it's only the pressure to which young minds succumb which makes them feel so. As more and more importance is given to academics, we tend to neglect other talents/activities. Parental pressure, which is nothing but expecting better grades/setting standards for their kids is a major reason why kids are not comfortable with their homework. And I do not refer exclusively to India, as one might think. Research has also shown that homework may be harmful to the kids learning process. Researchers at Penn State have proven the parent-child psychology that I earlier mentioned. I quote directly from the research paper: "An unintended consequence may be that those children who need extra work and drill the most are the ones least likely to get it. Increasing homework loads is likely to aggravate tensions within the family, thereby generating more inequality and eroding the quality of overall education". These words are by David P. Baker, professor of education and sociology. Hope this was the kind of evidence my worthy opponent was looking for. Do your research before arguing about lack of evidence. "American students appear to do as much homework as their peers overseas -- if not more -- but still only score around the international average. Undue focus on homework as a national quick-fix, rather than a focus on issues of instructional quality and equity of access to opportunity to learn, may lead a country into wasted expenditures of time and energy", says Gerald K. LeTendre, associate professor of education. As all families can not help their wards equally in their homework, it would result in an unfair advantage to the few who take homework seriously and have the resources required to do their homework the way it's supposed to be done. Dr. Baker adds in the same research paper: "If schools expect every family to reinforce the child's learning process at home, they need to realize that, when families are unequal to the task, students will not receive the same quality of education. The addition of homework will only exacerbate existing inequities within a nation's student population and pull down overall scores." Piling on the homework doesn't help kids do better in school. In fact, it can lower their test scores. That's the conclusion of a group of Australian researchers, who have taken the aggregate results of several recent studies investigating the relationship between time spent on homework and students' academic performance. According to Richard Walker, an educational psychologist at Sydney University, data shows that in countries where more time is spent on homework, students score lower on a standardized test called the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. The same correlation is also seen when comparing homework time and test performance at schools within countries. Past studies have also demonstrated this basic trend. According to current trends, homework is nothing but an added burden on students. It tends to bring down productivity. I hope my arguments and references to research documents are sufficient to prove that homework is pretty much useless, and should be abolished. Source 1: National Differences, Global Similarities World Culture and the Future of Schooling David Baker and Gerald LeTendre