As I have moved through my career here at BYU, I have had a lot of different experiences with homework. I have had homework that has helped me learn and be able to do well in a certain subject. There has also been homework that was purely a waste of time and didn't serve to further the education of any of the students in my class. The third situation I have found myself in is in classes that have absolutely no homework because the teachers expect you to study and prepare for the tests by yourself. In the different experiences, I have come to ask myself whether or not doing homework is actually worth the effort I put into it. What was the conclusion I came to? It depends.
In classes where the subject can only be learned through the application of the principle of being learned in the class, such as in chemistry or math, having good homework is crucial. Without it, it is impossible to properly prepare for tests and failure is imminent. However, there are other classes, such as student development classes, where learning is possible without homework. In such classes, it is preferable and more beneficial to not have any homework in the class. It can be detrimental to my ability to learn when way too much homework is assigned in a class where having homework isn't useful.
Teachers should make sure that the homework they are assigning will actually help the students they are teaching to practice the principles being learned in the class. If the homework takes longer than it should, the length of the homework should be shortened.
I absolutely agree with you. I have found that when those classes give homework when it is not really needed, I end up getting a worse grade because the points from the pointless homework that I struggle to do are added in. If the homework is necessary for learning a principle, I find that I get a mush better grade on the assignment itself because I am more willing to work on and learn from it.
ReplyDeleteLike Megan I absolutely agree with you too! Homework that is assigned as strictly busy work is the worst ever and isn't beneficial in any way. This was a good and relatable post!
ReplyDeleteIn high school I developed a strong dislike for busy work. Little did I know it would just continue in college. I think some homework assignments can be very beneficial and will actually help me learn something and help me pass the tests. But a lot of my homework is just so there is something to go in the grade book.
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