Published on February 1st, 2022 | by Sumit Bhowal

Why Is Having Homework on Days off Is a Good Idea?

Why Students Should Have Homework on Weekends

Many students, parents, and even teachers share a strong sentiment against homework, especially homework that is supposed to be done on weekends. The arguments used against this practice are more or less the same no matter who does the talking:

Students need weekends to restore their energy for the next week of studies, and having to complete homework assignments prevents them from it;
Due to their high workloads, students miss out on socializing and time spent with their families throughout the week, which means that they should be given time for it on weekends;
Students have other responsibilities other than school (church, Sunday school, sporting events), and weekends homework may interfere with them;
Due to their high workloads, students don’t get enough sleep throughout the week, and should be given an opportunity to compensate for it on weekends;
When students have numerous assignments to deal with and not enough time to complete them all, they may be tempted to pay for homework to be done by someone else to free up some of their time.

There may be some other arguments against homework on weekends, but these are the most typical ones. At a glance, they look viable; but are they, really? Do the benefits of forgoing homework on weekends really trump the downsides?

1. Having Homework on Weekends Improves Your Time Management Skills

When you know that you are going to complete a hefty home assignment on weekend, in addition to everything you do throughout the week, you are forced to plan and prepare accordingly. You cannot approach the distribution of your time haphazardly. If you put things off until the last possible moment, you will fail. In other words, you have either to learn at least basic time management skills and be responsible with your time or get used to getting substandard results. The earlier children understand this, the better.

2. Having Homework on Weekends Prepares Students to Live in the Real World

One of the common ideas that regularly crops up in the arguments of those opposed to giving students homework for weekends is that it is unfair. They are children/teenagers; they should enjoy their childhood/youth while they still have it rather than spend it studying. However, those who express this sentiment do not seem to realize that children are not going to stay children forever, and the world is not going to treat them as children for their entire lives, even if it does now. It means that they will be given the freedom to enjoy their childhood for now, and then, suddenly, this privilege (that they are used to) will be taken away.

The world is not fair. It is not obligated to accommodate your wishes and desires. Doing homework on weekends teaches you more than math or English; it teaches you an important lesson that sometimes you have to do things you do not like if you want to succeed; that you have to choose to work when you would rather be doing something else. The earlier children learn this, the less traumatic their transition to adulthood will be.

3. Breaks in Routine Makes It Harder to Get Back to It

It is often said that weekends are meant for rest and relaxation to prepare you for the next week of hard work. If you work all the time without taking prolonged breaks, you get tired and stressed out, which makes you incapable of continuing as efficiently as you used to. However, even if it is true, you have to pay for homework-free weekends in another way. When you maintain a routine (e.g., studying and doing homework every day), you get used to it after a while. It becomes a habit that is easier to follow the longer you do it. It is especially true when you have to do something you do not particularly like. It is difficult to force yourself to sit down and do your homework when you do it only occasionally. When you do it every day, you do not have to think about it – you just sit down and do it. A homework-free weekend creates a break in this routine, which means that come Monday, you will have a much harder time forcing yourself to do homework than if you just continued to do it without interruptions.

4. Teachers Cannot Pay Attention to All Students during Classes

This one is a purely practical concern. Depending on the class size, a teacher may have to instruct up to a few dozen students. No matter what teaching methods they apply, it is impossible to engage all these students equally – some of them are bound to be left unattended. Homework is the only way to make sure all students get enough workload to meet all the requirements of the curriculum satisfactorily.

5. Homework Encourages Practice

The practice may seem boring and repetitive. However, study after study demonstrates that practice is exactly the component that leads to excellence in a chosen field. It does not matter how creative and talented you are; if you do not get enough practice, you simply are not going to achieve your full potential. In the long run, how good you get at something directly depends on how many hours of dedicated and concentrated practice you put into it. You simply do not spend enough time getting enough hours of practice for them to make any difference. Moreover, your time in school is better applied in other ways, doing more interactive sorts of work.

So, the next time you say, “Why should I spend my weekend, the time designated for rest and relaxation, doing work?”, consider this: teachers and professors do not assign homework out of spite or because they are too lazy to teach you during classes. Homework itself is not fundamentally flawed. You do it for your own good, and this good goes far beyond just memorizing rules or practicing equations. It aims at creating a mindset you are going to need in the real world.

Tags: days off, good idea, homework

About the Author

Sumit Bhowal An Internet addict and a MASTAN , Also a lazy Freelancer . I don't try to reinvent the wheel I just like to soak things in Steroid's :p Thanks (y)