How much time does the average high schooler spend on homework every night?

Many students find it difficult to finish their homework in a reasonable amount of time. Whether its a huge exam to prepare for, a presentation, or just a worksheet to complete, students are often stressed out by their loads of work and feel that they have taken on too much, too fast. The amount of work drastically changes when transitioning from middle school to high school.

Specifically high schoolers find themselves cramming down to the last second and racing to complete their tasks on time. Sophomore, Madelyn Murray, described her amount of schoolwork as “Too much!”

In a survey that I conducted, I found that 27/40 students feel completely overwhelmed with their homework,  13/40 said they sometimes feel overwhelmed with their workload, and the rare 0/40 said they didn’t feel overwhelmed whatsoever. My results were as I expected. The majority of students feel as if they are drowning in schoolwork.There was not a single student that said they were fine with the amount of homework received. Many of the students who felt overwhelmed with work explain that they spend up to or more than 3 hours every night on schoolwork. Although, that could be due to the fact that midterms are coming up, and everyone has a lot of schoolwork.

Based on my results, high schoolers expressed a strong disliking of homework and one even explained that, “I feel like none of our teachers realize that we are being assigned homework in other classes too.” So many students feel forced to choose schoolwork over excelling in other areas, talents, or skills.

Researchers have found that the work given by teachers in many cases has caused extreme anxiety. A study done by Healthline states that, “From kindergarten to the final years of high school, recent research suggests that some students are getting excessive amounts of homework...so much that it’s taking a toll on their health.” So many students feel completely bombarded with work, feeling hopeless that they’ll be able complete it all to the best of their abilities, and at the same time, have time to do other things that they love to do.

Healthline also stated that, “it can lead to significant stress — for children and their parents…” The loads of homework that teachers give to students not only directly affects the student, but the parents too. Many parents feel helpless when they realize how different the curriculum is now a days, and that they are unable to help their child. Issues like this have the potential to cause stress and unnecessary drama at home.

While homework is a great way to reinforce the work done during class, it’s just too much sometimes for high schoolers. Having to go to school for six hours every day, go to extra curricular activities after school and then go home to do two or three hours of homework every night is simply too much.

Many students just can’t seem to find the time to finish their work. With all these extra curricular activities such as sports, clubs, and even just socializing with their  friends. School has left so many adolescents struggling to balance the both.