Why Homework Is Good

By: Evan Mei

Everybody will learn reading, and writing, and arithmetic, and all the different school subjects we have to stuff in our brains. We all have a jolly nice menu of homework assignments. Would you like to figure out how atoms stick together to make water? Or perhaps you would like to thump your head on your desk for 2 hours straight trying to figure out how the quadratic equation works? Maybe type 50 page essays about Piggy from Lord of the Flies? There are a plethora of homework assignments to do. But even though homework seem like torture and endless boredom, it has advantages.

Most notably, it can teach students how to concentrate. Homework should be completed in a certain amount of time. Most people complain about force feeding themselves essays, and reading math textbooks in the bathtub, but getting homework done is all about time management. If you go full blown hardcore mode in class, meaning you take notes, ask teachers question when you have even the slightest misunderstanding towards the topic, and just concentrate in general, the amount of time homework should take should decrease a lot.

Another thing homework can teach is time management. Time is our most valuable currency, and unfortunately, it is automatically spent and cannot be saved for a later time. In fact, time is being spent as we speak. The best you can do is make the most of your time. Wasting time is wasting life. If you have too much on your plate, like you have tennis from 3-5, then piano from 6-8, then two hours of homework, then you have to either cut some activities or be more efficient. I know you should exercise, and learn a skill. That is very important to everybody. But in the future, the majority of people will work 9 to 5s. If you procrastinate in those jobs and push things to the weekend, you will get a real beating.

Like I said, time will not wait for you. Once it’s over, it’s over. But the same applies for homework. If you can get things done efficiently, you now don’t have to cut the 1 hour of Minecraft with your friends out of your schedule, with the added bonus of not having the guilt of knowing you should be learning calculus right now.

Of course, even if you are efficient, even if you tried to slice your schedule a little bit, even if you concentrate on the whiteboard so hard people think you’re trying to hypnotize it, you might still not be able to decode Newton’s first law. Well, don’t fret. The final point as to why we should have homework is because you build social skills. If you can’t figure out the density equation, there is a teacher you can ask. Maybe that teacher will type such a phenomenal college admissions essay that could get a pig into Harvard. If you can get that teacher to know you, I am sure that teacher will help you to the end. Or, if you don’t want to ask a teacher, there are many peers around you, at least one of which will help you. The more you get to know, the more friends you can make, and who knows, maybe after finally typing that Lord of the Flies book review, they will be the ones you play Minecraft with!