Homework Should be Banned, or at Least Made Optional

First off, welcome to Debate.org! I look forward to a good debate~ So when we examine this topic, we can't look at just the negative aspects of homework, but also acknowledge the benefits to three different groups of people: the students, the teachers, and the nation itself of the student. But before beginning, I'd like to mention that I am conducting this debate under the value of utilitarianism- that is, what does the most good for the most amount of people is the most morally justifiable. So first, benefits to the student. There are a few purposes of homework that are intended to further the student's educational career while simultaneously providing a better education from home. First, homework is intended as practice for the student. [1] A study done in 2006 showed a positive correlation between homework completed and class test scores. It combined multiple studies and each gave the same result: 77% of 35 studies found a link between time spent on homework and achievement in school. [2] Clearly, in a world where test scores are becoming lower and lower, it is up to the teachers (indeed, it is their job) to do whatever they can the raise these scores back up. Of course, homework does more than just force the student to practice. It also, in many cases, prepares them for class activities the next day and increases the student's involvement in their education. We need "active learners" as opposed to "passive learners" (if you are familiar with that term.) Homework is even intended to build student responsibility, perseverance, and time management. The point of school itself is to (a) educate us to become intelligent, contributing members of society and (b) prepare us for future occupations. Now, if we can't even manage our time, how can we even expect to jump into a busy, hectic job with plenty of stress? So yes, as odd as it sounds, we need stress in our lives to prepare us for our futures. But believe it or not, there are also benefits to teachers, as well. When teachers assign homework, believe it or not, they don't usually intend it as "busywork" meant to waste your time. Homework, of course, is intended to prepare the students for future classes as well review previous ones (which I mentioned in my last paragraph). But it's also a way of checking to ensure the students understand the material and are keeping up with the class. [1] In addition, by using it to prepare for future classes, homework will increase productivity because there will be more time in class for additional learning. Finally, homework also benefits our nation as a whole. When we mentioned that homework leads to higher test scores, and then also how it increases skills such as time management for the student, we must realize that these skills transfer over into a future careers and lives. When we begin to be able to explore subjects more than a 60 minute class will permit, we are increasing our knowledge and therefore furthering society as a whole. A new study recently reported that based on math, reading and science scores, the US is 36th best- in the world. [3] This is a problem. The US is 27th in math alone- out of 34 countries. [4] While these test scores are dropping by the day, it's clear that the issue isn't that we have homework, or even that are teachers are doing poor teaching. It's that we live in a society that places more emphasis on athletic achievement than academic. It's that we see people like Mark Zuckerberg succeeding without a college education and expect everyone to be like that. It's a lot of things, but obliterating our education by removing homework/placing restrictions on it is not the way to go. It's comparable removing hospitals in a plague. NOTE: I'd also like to mention that placing limits on the amount of homework a teacher can assign is unrealistic, as you mentioned, yourself, that "certain homework is difficult for certain students" and therefore has no set time. One may complete it in an hour, the other in 10 minutes. [1] http://www.cesdp.nmhu.edu... [2] http://www.districtadministration.com... [3] http://www.cnycentral.com... [4] http://www.oecd.org...