Homework given to students' by teachers is a waste of time.

Firstly, I would like to say that the last round will include rebuttals as this is literally the first counter-round for me. I need to be able to rebutt atleast once. Secondly, let's look at my opponents intro "No one can learn mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, or a number of other disciplines without doing an enormous amount of studying on their own, apart from class instruction. This is obvious from even a passing acquaintance with the hard sciences. In addition, it is the expert consensus of the teachers who teach classes in these disciplines, which is why all of them give homework assignments to students taking these classes. Since homework is necessary to learn the hard sciences, it is clear that the hard sciences are a counterexample to my opponent's claim that homework is unnecessary, so we should negate the resolution. " (I haven't quoted the entire paragraph) From this, all I can conclude is that my opponent is only looking at the pure science majors (Physics, Chem, Math and Bio - PCMB). However, there are fields other than Science that may interest people, even non-academic lines. The point is that not every field requires the same amount of practice and effort. Obviously, for these PCMB fields you need rigorous practice, but say for an athlete, is it going to help him writing down and repeatedly practicing these fields taught at school? No, because an athlete needs practice on-field. On that note, let me make this clear: I'm not telling schools to remove athletes from schools, what i'm suggesting is that we need to moderate both sides of development. Athletes need more classroom time and studious children need more physical training periods. What I'm trying to imply is that homework these days focuses only on the academic areas of development. This is biased to non-academic students and should be checked. Here is what my opponent has stated. "Point 1 is simply mistaken when it comes to the hard sciences. No one can learn to do physics or chemistry, or learn to program, without sitting down on their own and working through example problems. The only way to achieve comparable benefits without homework would be to spend hours of class time having students quietly work through problems. Point 2 overlooks the importance of learning concrete practical skills. It is more important to learn algebra than to get good at soccer, or other forms of recreation. Young people should spend some time on recreation, but the main focus should be building up a foundation of knowledge that they can carry into the future. Point 3, even if true, overlooks the fact that developing good study habits is a virtue in and of itself, regardless of whether it leads to other virtues. Having solid study habits will help students learn the skills to become good at any profession they choose to pursue. " Against point 1, I can say that my opponent is still referring only to pure science majors. I have covered that up earlier. For point 2, I have to admit I was kinda surprised. My opponent said that "algebra" is better than "soccer". This, I believe is one's personal opinion. No one should judge what is "better" for a student. That discussion should be open to children. Obviously, parents and teachers help a student to choose, but the final decision lies with the student himself/herself. The main focus should be on knowledge? Isn't it already? A footballer has knowledge (and skill) in playing the game, a musician knows what to play and has many mathematical principles in mind. Bottom line, knowledge is relative. What may be knowledge to one may be useless info to another. Lastly, the last line in point 3 is a bit overstated. It is not true that studying and rigorously doing homework helps students in all aspects of life. This is because, the homework at least the ones given today in schools requires no creativity, just by-hearting things taught at school. Children can only improve at something if they really put all efforts in the work. I guess we know what the majority of students think of homework. Don't we? All being said, thank you.