This essay earned an Honorable Mention in the 2025 Huaxia Writing Competition.

The History of Homework

Did you know that homework was first established in Germany? Then an American educator named Horace Mann traveled to Germany in the 19th century and brought the idea of homework back to the American modern education system. There is also a myth that Italian educator, Roberto Nevilis, invented homework as a way to punish students that misbehaved. However, there is a strong debate about whether students should be given homework in the US (while it is required in other countries). So, I think that is why we are having this debate today: Should students be given homework at school?

My Opinion

In my opinion, homework may help some specific children but not all. For example, I would say homework doesn’t help me that much, because I can learn everything during school time, and also homework is boring. However, as a compromise, I do my best to finish homework that is given to me.

On the other hand, I don’t think homework should be disqualified from schools completely, because homework can sometimes help some kids. Your brain barely remembers anything that you don’t try hard to remember. Some people even enjoy doing homework! However, some people do not like it because it is stressful. Well, believe it or not, some teenagers actually skip a few days of high school because they don’t want to experience the anxiety of homework!

Now you must be wondering: If we don’t like homework then why do we do it? And how do we eventually learn?

The Good About Homework

Students need homework to learn knowledge and skills. Your brain practices skills, techniques, and strategies as you experience the difficulty of homework.

Some people do not need to do homework to learn, because they are learning all the time. People that lived in ancient Rome did not have homework; however, they were always interested in whatever new things they found. They even made it into stuff. Curiosity generates success: think, work, and invent. If you do that, there is a big chance that you can brainstorm some fascinating ideas and accomplish your goals. So, you can live in a paradise of joy for the rest of your life without doing homework!

For people out there that do not have a chance to discover new things all the time, then it’s all about memorizing things that others teach you. Personally, I suggest that you don’t try to push yourself to hard to try to remember stuff, but you have to decide for yourself. When it comes to language and music, I love it, and you know why? Well, it’s because sometimes you are bored of your everyday life, and you just want to do at least once something different and not easy. One time when I was doing my homework way into the night, I was really tired but I kind of enjoyed it.

The best homework I ever had is from my public speaking class when I had to design my dream school. It was fun drawing my design of school on a large piece of paper, it has classrooms, playrooms, a cafeteria, and puppies. I liked it because I love designing things and building things, engineering and architect/STEM. It was also like playing the famous game: Roblox! Additionally, I also like doing homework from some other classes, like Chinese! The teacher gives us prizes if we accomplished something. For example, if we turned in the audio homework or got all the words right on a test, we would get a bird stamp. If we got 10 stamps, we got to pick either a panda keychain or a dog keychain. I kind of like Chinese homework more than others, because I now have a “zoo” with two species in it!

The Bad about Homework

All things considered, there isn’t much that’s bad about homework because it gives you tons of knowledge and fun. The only thing is that homework gives kids stress, and I guess probably even more stress for the parents!

Sometimes when your brain is really stressed out, like when you are doing homework after dinner, you might think, “I hate homework so much!”, even if you usually like homework. So, I don’t recommend you do homework after dinner.

Conclusion:

Homework might be good or bad objectively, but it actually seems to depend on what an individual person thinks about it. Do you think homework is useful and will be great contribution in the child’s future world? Or is it just an additional burden of stress to carry around with you? Children can like homework if they have enough creativity and encouragement. And most importantly, if they can design their own homework!