By Monika Gerges, Staff Writer
Every summer, as soon as students think they can take a break from school and relax, they’re bombarded with Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors assignments during their short vacation. Let’s take a step back and discuss whether it’s fair to assign students all this difficult and time-consuming summer homework even though they’ve already been working hard throughout the long school year.
Why summer homework?
Many parents and teachers view summer assignments as a means for students to keep themselves busy throughout the summer months. Students get to do something meaningful with their time and are prepared for the upcoming school year, especially since most summer assignments are mandatory for students taking challenging AP and Honors classes.
Summer homework is also assigned so students are introduced to the course. This makes sure that on the first day of class, everyone is on the same page . For example, in AP European History at Fountain Valley High School, teachers assign homework so that students are familiar with the background of the course and have completed its first unit.
Additionally, proponents of summer homework argue that it keeps students educated during the summer and prevents students from struggling with new content when they return to school. Harris Cooper, Chairman of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, synthesized 39 studies about “the effects of summer vacation on standardized achievement test scores.” He found that “on average, achievement test scores declined between spring and fall.” Cooper claims the decline is due to students not being exposed to learning material throughout the summer.
Pros
Although summer assignments can be grueling and sometimes annoying, there are some undeniable positives that come with the work.
To start off, summer homework keeps students productive. Like everyone else, I sit around my house bored with nothing to do since my parents are at work and everyone is busy. Summer homework gives me something to do in the middle of all those hours on my phone and laptop.
Summer homework also isn’t as bad as students believe it to be. Teachers assign a reasonable amount of vacation work so that students have time to complete it before school starts. However, from our perspective as students, we feel like there’s too much work and too little time.
But the truth is, summer break is almost three months long, and the homework is time flexible. The homework assignments may require some time, but they still leave you with plenty of opportunities to hang out with your friends, spend time with your family or do anything that you please to do unrelated to academics.
Furthermore, as aforementioned, summer homework refreshes the knowledge of students while they are on summer break. Most of the material assigned to students readily prepares them for the upcoming course by helping them establish a solid foundation.
Cons
Now that we’ve talked about some positive aspects of summer homework, let’s discuss why some strongly dislike summer assignments.
Summer homework is an added source of stress for students. School is already demanding, especially when taking challenging classes and being involved in sports and clubs. It’s exhausting for students to manage both their school life and their social life, not to mention that college is a constantly looming presence.
Continuously feeling stressed and anxious is not healthy for young adults, according to an article by the American Psychological Association. Students should be given at least a two-month break from this stress where they can do something they enjoy and find happiness in, rather than simply reading and studying all the time. Summer can be the only time for some students to have a fulfilling personal and social life. Us students deserve to have this time so we can make new experiences and memories.
Conclusion
Education is a topic we all need to take seriously because it affects students, and students are the future of our country. Summer homework has many advantages and disadvantages that all need to be addressed. That way, educators can determine how to make summer homework more effective or whether to remove it from the curriculum entirely.
