How many students don’t do their homework? This question has baffled teachers and educators from all over the world quite a lot in the last couple of decades. Since we have all experienced the growing number of students going to school in the last couple of decades, we also know that the education system is rapidly changing and evolving.
Common perspective on homework
Being a teacher is a very difficult job under these evolving circumstances. No matter which grade he/she teaches, I am certain that many teachers hear about a plethora of excuses when it comes to students not finishing their assigned homework on time.
Still, they tend to miss a very important aspect of those excuses: What really drives them to come up with those excuses? Is it simply procrastination? Whatever maybe the reason or reasons behind those excuses, teachers from all over the world can easily look to some valuable research articles in order to nullify those.
Why do students fail to complete their homework?
This is the first question that teachers and parents should ask their kids. The problem with homework has turned out to be a major problem starting all the way down in elementary school, and going all the way to high school.
Let’s take a look at some legitimate reasons that have been cited by professionals in this field on this question:
- The subjectivity and the length associated with homework are slowly becoming irrelevant in today’s education sector for a particular range of subjects in the school curriculum.
- Considering how many students don’t do their homework, another reason has been cited by experts who suggest that the innate value of homework is getting lost in translation to today’s kids.
- Design and structure of homework in schools and tuition these days have not yet been renovated to suit modern sensibilities of students. As a result of that, students feel disfranchised without much kinship towards it.
- Lack of proper feedback is yet another reason as to why we are seeing a growth in number of students failing to deliver their homework on time. Public schools are affected by this the most where teachers are often understaffed to deal with the increasing number of students.
- The question of how many students don’t do their homework is also built into the lack of efficient assignment curriculum in schools all across the world. This is the reason as to why students are unable to relate their homework assignments to their classroom exercises.
- Last but not the least, some responsibility falls on the students as well. They often have no fixed plan for their homework and even if they do, simple procrastination prevents them from actually implementing that.
How to measure the value of homework for students?
The very first thing an educator should try to do is to make sure that students innately understand the value of homework. For students, homework only serves as an academic supplement in their day to day school life.
This is certainly not true when it comes to the actual motive of teachers while giving homework. In a very recent study made in 2014, it was reported that around 75% of teachers involved in US public schooling provided homework for a host of other reasons than academic supplement.
The study on how many students don’t do their homework included a focus group of around 200 teachers who listed the following reasons for providing homework to their students:
- Measure learning standards among pupils.
- Instill self-confidence in students.
- Generate a common sense of effective time management.
- Growth and development of the ability to take responsibility.
How to communicate efficiently with students?
Communicating the real value of homework to primary or high school students seems to be the real challenge for educators and school boards these days. We have certainly seen the discrepancy of opinions when it comes to students and teachers viewpoint of homework.
So how can these teachers effectively relay their purpose of giving homework to students? Well, for starters, it is absolutely necessary to change or somewhat modify the apparatus of homework. Keeping up with the changing infrastructure of education is very important.
Here are a few alternatives that can be put to good use if implemented properly in the conventional school system:
- Online education courses have become very popular in today’s age. Integrating them into school curriculum will serve students better.
- Introducing variety and purpose to alternative methods of homework will bring a refreshing change to the student, compared to the same old boring assignment problems on paper.
- Integrating both short-term as well as long terms benefits of homework in the curriculum will educate the students on its significance.
So before you go on questioning how many students don’t do their homework, try to follow how this has come about. So we can bring out effective solutions to provide the best education tools to our students.
