Is homework really worth it?

After spending over six hours in school all day, and usually some sort of extracurricular after that, as most kids do, is there really any benefit to homework? Most people are tired at the end of their day, and getting a good night sleep would benefit them more for the next day of learning rather than continuing their studies at night. Many only do the work halfheartedly in order to just get it done. Of course some things are necessary for a students success, especially in high school. The amount of studying that a student does, for example, shows how dedicated they are to their schoolwork and how much effort they are willing to put it in. If students, particularly ones in high school, were given more time to study instead of completing worksheets, charts, and readings assigned by the teacher, they would be more motivated to go to school the next day and learn more. If a student is not overwhelmed by their academic workload they will find the topics more interesting because they will not see them as such of a task, more of an opportunity to learn. The Washington Post published an article on this topic recently, where a professor at Duke University, Harris Cooper, states that  "it appears than more than two hours of high school homework, and more than 1 1/2 hours of middle school homework, have no academic benefit and may produce negative results." Many reasons can contribute to homework having a negative affect. It can cause sleep deprivation if students are up late doing it after a long day, stress due to an overbearing amount of work, and a decrease of interest in the topic because it is seen as a chore to the student. Also in this study, an example is given of an elementary school in Tuscon, Arizona where homework was banned but students created their own independent projects after school because they wanted to keep learning. Traditional busy work, and the endless amount of worksheets and packets students receive for homework eliminates the desire to learn. If students, even elementary aged ones, can appreciate what they do in school when given freedom to explore what they want, then homework should be banned. Even if test scores do drop by a point or two, a child's appreciation of education should never be discouraged just because of homework.

(Source: Washington Post, "As Homework Grows, So Do Arguments Against It")