Tim's All Too True Take on Homework

Homework: A JMS Student’s Shocking Reality
by Tim C.

Almost every day, middle school students come home from a lengthy day at school with an excessive amount of work that they must complete. In addition, teachers are using the class time they posses to have their students work on the extensive assignments they issue for class work.
Handouts for students to complete at home tend to be practice work from the daily class work.

Students should be spending around 70 minutes a night on homework. However, some students have to stretch that time into a few hours a night. While this is not consistent for the entire school year, there are periods of time in which this occurs. Some students in classes obviously do not require the homework that becomes tedious for them.


There are other schools in Albuquerque that have a daily schedule that permits students to complete the majority of their homework in the class it was assigned. This is because class periods are longer than those at Jefferson Middle School. Thus the diligent students who finish the class assignments have additional time in the class, which they use to finish the homework.

Aside from extended class periods students can take advantage of the time for lunch.
The lunch period at JMS is 30 minutes long give or take. A longer lunch period would amount to about a full hour in length. If students would not like to have homework when they travel home, they have sufficient time to eat and tackle assignments which they could not complete in a class period. With longer amounts of time in class and at lunch, students could reduce the amount of work they have to worry about, when they arrive home.


We must at least consider the advantages of making drastic changes to school schedules. Students would have time to finish their homework in class and therefore have more time outside of class. With this time, students could participate in practice for sports and/or music lessons, without having to worry about fitting a night’s worth of homework into their schedule.


There may also be positive effects on student attitudes. Without the fear of getting more homework, causing them to dread the next school day students may wish to attend school and possibly even enjoy the day. Students may then be more willing to work in the classroom and socialize with the other students.


In the long-term, students who would not do their homework may eventually see the light and change their motives in the classroom and maybe even themselves altogether. We could also see a decrease in the drop out rate of high school graduates in New Mexico. Students who would otherwise not engage in extracurricular activities may even be compelled to do so.


The proposals above offer ways to improve schooling in New Mexico. Homework is an issue in some schools that must be dealt with.