Dear Future President,

The issue that I would like to address is the excessive amount of homework that students are expected to complete each night. I am aware that homework can be a useful learning tool for students, but only at the right amount. Massive amounts of homework can be more detrimental to a student’s learning than beneficial. Large amounts of homework often can increase student stress levels, prevent students from broadening their horizons, and cause students to lose interest in subjects that they once found interesting.

According to the American Physiological Foundation, the healthy stress level for an adolescent is 3.9 out of 10, but students are reporting that their current stress levels are closer to a 5.8, often due to homework. It is also alarming that adolescents report that their stress levels are at the same level as adults. These statistics are a clear sign that, in general, too much pressure is being put on the youth today. The teen years are supposed to be a time of learning and enjoyment, but it seems the enjoyment is becoming compromised under the weight of the learning.

Large amounts of homework also make it difficult for students to broaden their horizons and try new things. Students need time away from school to take part in after school activities. More often than not, students are not capable to do try out the new after school activity that they are interested in because it will be too overwhelming with the ridiculously large amounts of homework that they have. In some cases, students do participate in extra-curricular activities, and they are put under extreme amounts of pressure trying to balance school work and after school activities. I know from experience of these challenges. I am on a competitive dance company, and it is absolutely exhausting to have to come home from 7 hours of school, and go to a 3-and-a-half-hour rehearsal, only come home to more school work that we are forced to do at home. It is also truly devastating when a student has to give up an activity because it is becoming too much with their progressively increasing homework.

School is supposed to engage students in what they are learning, but with the excessive amounts of homework that they are given, it seems to being doing just the opposite. The extra work that students are given cause their school subjects to feel like a chore, even if they once enjoyed them. Students on average go to school for 7-8 hours. You think that that would be enough, right? Well, no, it apparently is not. Students come home to countless hours of homework when they already give up the majority of their day going to school. Homework also often seems repetitive and pointless, which also can cause students to lose interest.

You see, POTUS, the youth of our country are suffering because of stress and hopelessness, often caused by the pressure that their school and homework puts them under. Please take into account the well-being of the students of America and reduce the amount of homework that we are given each night. A more balanced amount of homework will benefit students everywhere because the current homework situation put students under extreme amounts of stress, gives them less time to enjoy extra-curricular activities, and causes them to lose interest in the subjects that they once found engaging.

Sincerely,

Macy