Dear President,

I hope all is well in your new leadership of America, thank you for putting in your best effort to win the presidency. Hopefully you have had time to notice all of the controversy in our beautiful country and have created a plan to deal with the vast majority of it. Unfortunately, I fear that some topics are not given enough attention during this time of enlightenment. Take the education system for example. As I am sure you know, our school system is rather ridden with weakness. As a student in an American public school I have seen and been the victim of the burdens observed in the education system today. I am also a teenager fighting for relief I am obligated to write this letter to address an issue that does not seem to be glanced at by national government. The ridiculous amount of homework students, both high school and middle school, is an issue many chose to ignore even though the problem is consistant throughout time.

As Peggy Riggs Wildman states in the Peabody Journal of Education “A major pressure [upon students] stems from gigantic homework assignments.” which I have found to be true. As a teenager most of my stress comes from the homework that I receive. After coming home from a long day at school I just want to throw my books on the floor and be done with it, but because of the pressure put on me to have decent grades I know that I must sit down and start working on my homework which would not be upsetting if the homework I received was simple and could be completed within the hour. However, the homework I receive as well as many of my peers can take up to four hours a night! This plus all the work I have to do around the house puts me to bed feeling obliterated each and every night. I find myself struggling to mentally cope with the stress put upon me and I am sure others feel the same. After all the stress that a teenager is going through: getting a job, buying a car, getting good grades, and applying to college perhaps four hours of homework should not be reality.

I would also like to point out that having this amount of homework has been scientifically proven to have absolutely no benefit. According to Alfie Kohn an editor of IU bloomington no study has even concluded homework to be effective. In fact, it has been found in my peer’s experience that homework is actually negatively impacting her grades! She stays up late doing homework instead of studying and then receives poor grades on homework assignments that were not even properly explained in the first place. Then the poor homework grades plus the grades she receives after haphazardly completing a test while sleep deprived and stress bring her grade down an outstanding amount. No one wins in this situation. Teachers are forced to grade homework assignments while also trying to grade other perhaps more important assignments. This may also be affecting students’ grades in the sense that teachers are paying less attention to both homework assignments and classwork resulting in even worse grades than before.

Homework has always been a debated topic. As Brian Gill and Steven Schlossman state in Villain or Savior? The American Discourse on Homework that though most parents support homework being assigned, homework has seen a massive increase since Sputnik and, in return, has received less positive views. Even though Sputnik was launched nearly sixty years ago the message rings clear. Homework has become a bit of an annoyance for everyone. So the question is, why has anything yet be done about the issue? President, the increasing amount of homework is causing almost everyone to suffer. Something must be done. Though I know not of a true solution to the problem, other than simply limiting the amount or the size of homework assignments given to students, I would hope that you as the leader of our country will be able to both create and enforce a proper solution. Please President, the youth of America and thus the future needs you.

Sincerely,

Jesse M.

Works Cited

Gill, Brian P., and Steven L. Schlossman. "Villain or Savior? The American Discourse on Homework, 1850-2003." Theory Into Practice 43.3 (2004): 174-81. Web.’

Maltese, Adam. "When Is Homework Worth the Time." IU Bloomington. Adam Maltese, 08 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.

Wildman, Peggy Riggs. "Homework Pressures." Peabody Journal of Education45.4 (1968): 202-04. Web.