Fight The Procrastination

Procrastination is a complicated issue because even though it is evidently damaging to many people in our world, it is an addiction that many cannot put a stop to. While procrastination can give you instant gratification by delays, when the time arrives, all the built stress which had been put aside with countless excuses, is mind-blowing. Day after day, the time which can easily be used to do something, gone to waste because of procrastination. This is a continuous cycle which lacks hard work or determination. Don’t you think the overwhelming stress and pain in the end outweighs the small-term satisfaction?

Days will pass by, procrastinating each day by filling your day up with excuses. Deep down, you know you can do it with the time you have, but the stress and discomfort you have when you sit down just makes you feel… bad. So, you pass the time you have with all sorts of things you like to do so you can push away that feeling. For example, in the article by Tim Urban, “Why Procrastinators Procrastinate” said, “In college, the sudden unbridled personal freedom was a disaster for me… I would do those the night before, until I realized I could just do them through the night, and I did that until I realized I could actually start them in the early morning on the day they were due” said the author. The more time you have, the more you overestimate it. Somehow, the math in your brain tells you that the hours you need to finish your homework can be done on the last few minutes before you go to bed. That time you have slowly fades away since you are using it to waste. Especially in this article called “Procrastination: Oops, Where Did the Day Go?” by Timothy Pychyl, one sentence especially captured what I want to say. “Feel good now, worry about that intention later. Short-term gain, long-term pain.” Put all the negative emotions aside, have fun for a short while, and it comes back, worse. So why? If you have time, use it, or else it will result in enormous servings of anxiety.

Another reason why I think procrastination is damaging, is that the pain and stress when the time is the time is up, outweighs the small-term satisfaction during procrastination. Procrastination isn’t ‘caused’ by anything. You decide. The small-term relief of stress doesn’t even come close to being worth the wave of pain in that slim amount of time. An example of this would be from the article, “The Balloon” written by Marky Nemko, which states, “Tony’s procrastinating ways finally caught up with him. He had been smart enough to be able to slide by at work but, at 40, senior-citizenhood for programmers, his procrastination combined with not keeping up with the latest languages and the slight decrements to his brainpower--noticeable only in such cognitively demanding fields as programming--got him "laid off.” This means procrastination really can affect your health, career, and your future. Right now, procrastination only applies to your homework, but in reality, this is proof of how procrastination can really mess up lives. “Lives can be ruined by procrastination. Certain kinds of procrastination have severely negative consequences if we don't take care of the tasks now. Dr. Bruce Liese mentions his concern for patients who procrastinate on coming to the doctor for fear of confirming that they really are sick.” says the article, “Negatives Consequences of Procrastination” written by Bill Anderson. Doesn’t this prove my point?

After all this, there is still more. Procrastination causes lack of hard work and determination. Even small procrastinations can demonstrate the laziness and how quickly you give up. Because of all this delaying, it’s a hurry to finish at the last minute. From the same article written by Bill Anderson, it stated this, “Dr. Bruce Liese explores this question and gives some insight into some of the causes and effects of procrastination. He says that any kind of procrastination is essentially delaying and thus avoiding our obligations. However, many people "get away" with procrastination time and time again, causing a perpetual cycle that reinforces a lack of discipline.” What this shows and should prove to you, is the more you procrastinate, the more it becomes a habit in which you don’t bother and avoid the challenges you face. In BBC’s “Procrastination: Readers' Tales of Epic Time-wasting”, there was a story from Craig, Bedfordshire, “I bought a book called 52 Steps To Defeating Procrastination. I've still never read it - it was over 10 years ago, and I'm not even sure where it is now.” Funny right? Well, in reality there are more serious scenarios which harm many, in terms of perseverance and finding a solution to a problem. Would you like this to happen to you?

It isn’t easy to stop, but when it comes to fighting to procrastination, you need that hard work and determination. The sooner you learn to fight it the better, the built up stress overflows and will swarm you unless you use that time you have efficiently. Don’t make excuses, don’t delay, just do it. Personally, I was a hardcore procrastinator. No joke. I would have a bunch of homework and bail, and eventually stay up until midnight because I began so late. Because of the numerous incidents, I just remembered the stress and tiredness, so I work hard when I have homework. I even do some homework several days before it’s due! What you need to remember, is to live in the present. Do it now, and you will have a good rest. Sit down and don’t be distracted and start making excuses. Set a time to start and finish and see what you get done without any distractions. You’ll be surprised.

CITATIONS

Urban, Tim. "Why Procrastinators Procrastinate - Wait But Why." Wait But Why. N.p., 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
Pychyl, Timothy. "Procrastination: Oops, Where Did the Day Go?"Psychology Today. N.p., 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2016. ”Procrastination: Readers' Tales of Epic Time-wasting - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., 30 Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
Nemko, Marty. "The Balloon." Psychology Today. N.p., 11 Mar. 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
Anderson, Bill, Matthew Long-Middleton, and Sydney Llewellyn. "The Negative Consequences Of Procrastination." The Negative Consequences Of Procrastination. N.p., 9 Sept. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Homework: How much is too much?

Homework is very useful in helping children to learn and schools have been using it effectively for many years but have teachers ever thought about how much homework is being given? Too much homework can be detrimental, and children will benefit from homework only when the right amount is assigned. Some people may say that the more homework children get, the more they learn, but I say that too much homework can cause stress, impact a child’s freedom and can cause them to lose faith in teachers.

First of all, homework can cause a lot of stress for children. Just having homework does not cause enough stress to cause an impact, but having too much can cause more stress than children can handle. Clifton B. Parker, a social sciences writer at Stanford News, says “Students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance and even alienation from society.” (Parker, 2014) This shows us that too much homework can cause great impacts on children in their early years, which may affect them later on in life.

Second of all, too much homework can cause them to lose faith in teachers. Teachers are expected to help children in their learning. They are being helpful by assigning homework, but usually, they do not know how much they are actually assigning. According to Prad Vongpusanachai, a student at UWCSEA, there is a difference between the amount of homework teachers expect children to do, and the amount that is actually done. If children receive too much homework from their teachers, they may start to lose faith, or dislike them. As assignments get harder and children become more reluctant to talk to teachers, it can heavily impact their learning.

Lastly, too much homework can impact the amount of free time children get. The more time children have to spend on homework, the less time they have to spend on their passions. John Buell, an author of many articles and books relating to homework says “Free time plays a key role in fostering both creativity and emotional development, factors just as basic to long term success as an academic gains.” (Buell, 2000) How much homework is the perfect balance between learning and free time? According to a survey done on students in 7ELy, they think that approximately 1 hour of homework is the most effective balance between learning and recreation. Adding on to that, how serious is this problem of reduced free time? Well, out of 118 7th grade students asked “How much homework do you do each night?” Only 52 students said they do less than 1.5 hours of homework each night. On the other hand, 66 said they do more than 1.5 hours of homework each night, with 16 saying they do more than 2.5 hours of homework each night. This shows that the problem is quite serious, and impacts a lot more than half of the student population.

In conclusion, Homework can be very important in helping children to learn well in school, but too much can cause stress, less free time and less faith in teachers. Children with too much homework may still do well in school, but may have less benefits later in life compared with children that have less homework. This may not seem too serious, but in reality, it impacts more than half of the students at school. All of the effects may start to snowball, and can heavily impact the future of many children. This is why I think that teachers should reconsider the amount of homework they give children, so that children can have a better time in school, and live a better life.




Parker, Clifton B. "Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework." Stanford University. N.p., n.d. Web.

Buell, John. "Back to School: Why Homework Is Bad for Kids." Alternet. N.p., 22 Aug. 2000. Web.

Homework vs Videogames

The idea of homework has been debated as good or bad for many years, however till very recently, the concept of video games has not been a factor in such debates. In some cases, homework can help children further consolidate their knowledge and understanding about topics learnt in school. However, homework more often than not is a negative use of time and time that instead could be devoted to video games because despite cliche stereotypes, many video games provide psychological and academic advantages. This paper will explain why parents should allow children to play video games in moderation alongside homework as it can provide many psychological and academic benefits.

Homework has been adopted by many schools all over the world, it is now almost a tradition. However as it has grown more and more popular, no one has had the motivation to challenge it. But is homework really worth the time? The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia decided to look into homework and how much it really benefits children. These researchers reported no “substantive difference” in the grades of students related to homework completion, (Fuglei, 2016). This means homework plays little if any role in a child’s academic success. Another study by Penn State’s Education Policy Studies department found that “Pages and pages of homework that is simply marked and handed back have less effect than short assignments that are marked individually and discussed later in class, (Fuglei, 2016). This shows that the quantity of homework is not related to its benefits. Akshat Jain, an extremely academically successful middle school student, says “The reason I do well does not lie in the homework provided by school, I would be better off without the stress and pressure of homework.” (Jain, 2016). This represents two things. Firstly children do not appreciate homework as it build stress and wastes time. And secondly, homework does not blossom into success, success is found in other factors of a child's life.

Many people think that video games lead to a drop in grades. There are countless studies that have formulated theories putting video games down. However recent research and studies show that video game can provide many academic benefits. Drew Guarini (an experienced and active contributor to the huffington post) says “your mother was wrong. Video games aren't bad for you. They're actually making your life better.” (Guarini, 2013). Studies conducted in england, provide strong evidence that video game, especially strategy games, massively develop skills that they believe to be key factors to learning, like brain flexibility (Guarini, 2013). This not only proves all the olden day research to be horribly wrong, but also proves there is a positive side to video games. However this study wasn’t the only of its kind, a study, based on a set of psychological test done before and after the 72 patients play video game for 40 hours over the course of 6 weeks, conducted by the Queen Mary University of London, found there to be an improvement from the first test to the second test taken after videogame play, patients were also able to complete cognitive flexibility task faster after playing video games. This is fact based proof that video games can have a positive effect on a child's academic life.

However, video games are not only good for academics, despite many stereotypes that video games damage eyes and make people violent, video games can actually help prevent problems like bad eye sight and depression. Depression, a problem faced by many of our youth, depression can lead to bullying, aggression and worst of all, suicide. It is obvious it is an itch that needs scratching. Researchers in New Zealand, tested a new way to treat depression. Instead of using traditional counseling techniques, they experimented with video games. They experimented on over 150 teenagers with depression problems, most of which had already attempted the classic counselling treatments and saw no effect. Half were given the usual one on one counselor, the second half were given video games. 44% of the second half recovered completely, while only 25% of the first group recovered, (Guarini, 2013). This means video games could be the answer to one of the biggest problems faced by today's society. However videogames aren’t only good for curing depression. Researchers at the University of Rochester, found a significant improvement on people’s eyes after playing video games. The results for first person shooters like Call of Duty and Halo, were especially encouraging. Scientist found that they improved the players contrast sensitivity function. This allows people to pick out small changes in light and color, an important skill for common task like driving at night.

So why keep children from playing video games. Would you ever prevent your child from doing their homework? Focusing too much on homework can lead to stress and ultimately waist time. Homework in large quantities does not benefit a child any more than a solid 50 minutes a night. Success comes from developing skills like adapting, learning and flexibility, not pages of repetition. Video games provide the specific skills one needs to be successful in school like the three mentioned earlier. Video games can also decrease stress and allow children to focus harder at school. Video games also provide a variety of benefits outside of school as well like better eyesight and curing depression. So as the age old debates about homework continue, it is time to throw video games into the mix and give it a chance. Society moved past the old stereotypes about social media, children having mobile phones and even LGBT, so why can’t we do the same about video games.



Fuglei, Monica. "The Homework Debate: The Case Against Homework."Concordia Portland Online. Concordia Online Education, 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Pilgrim, Trevor. "Homework: Harmful or Helpful?" Eduflow. Eduflow, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Guarini, Drew. "9 Ways Video Games Can Actually Be Good For You." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Homework Balance

In a world where students are receiving increasing pressure to perform well academically, one of the biggest points of arguments that this pressure shows up is in homework. For many students, this drudgery seems like a torturous repetition of the already long school day. But even the students who hate homework most seem to acknowledge that there is some benefit to doing homework. In fact, for many students homework is a necessary reinforcement of concepts learnt at school through practice. But what is really going on? Is homework a great tool for students to continue learning even at home, or is it just an enormous time sink in the lives of already busy students? The evidence seems to say that schools should not give too much homework to students as this can cause stress, lack of personal time, and lessened interest in academics. Instead, schools should occasionally assign a small amount of balanced and relevant homework based on the individual student’s needs. This paper will argue in favour of a balanced and differentiated approach to homework, that hones in on the needs of individual students without overwhelming others with the unnecessary workload.

The first reason students should not receive too much homework is that it can cause stress. According to Youki Terada, a research trend tracker who holds a Master’s in Education and has studied educational research, one of the biggest drawbacks of homework is the fact that it can cause “...physical and emotional fatigue…” (Terada, 2015). He also mentions that homework “...can cut into sleep time…” and “...can increase pressure from parents to perform well…” The fact that we see homework causing fatigue and actually cutting into sleep time for students shows that there is a problem here. What is most important to see is that the homework that causes the most stress is rote memorisation homework - similar repeated exercises with only small amounts of changes. These repeated exercises tend to be, from my and other students’ experiences, very tedious and long tasks that are unhelpful to learning reinforcement. All this kind of homework does is cause stress without benefit. Instead, what should happen is a small but focused amount of homework - for example, according to Monica Fuglei, an adjunct faculty member of Arapahoe Community College in Colorado, effective mathematics homework “...should have a small number of varied exercises.” (Fuglei, 2013). The small amount prevents any possibility of stress while the varied exercises are even more effective for students to reinforce understanding and make analytical connections between concepts.

The second reason students should not receive too much homework is that it takes away from personal time. According to Trevor Pilgrim, a retired Principal of The Lodge School (a secondary/high school in Barbados), homework often “...disturbs family life…” and “...keeps them [students] up late at night…” (Pilgrim, 2013). He also says that it is important for students to “...relax, play and pursue sports and hobbies…”. These are major issues with homework, and how much time students have to spend on them. According to Terada, the average High School Student spends almost seven hours a week doing homework. Doing the calculations (not including weekends, which under most normal circumstances should be free for all students) that means students spend 1.4 hours a day doing homework. After a long, seven hour school day and co-curricular activities or sports for most students, 1.4 hours can often be the 1.4 hours before bed. There isn’t even time for them to go talk with their family or relax! This can often contribute again to feelings of fatigue, tiredness and stress in students - according to Antranik, a personal health trainer, “Stress and the lack of time go hand in hand. When we feel we don’t have enough time, we often panic!” (Antranik, 2013). One of the contributors to this problem is the fact that many teachers, especially in Middle and High schools underestimate what they call a “twenty minute task”. After a school day, student’s minds are tired and this task can take up to thirty minutes. Multiply that by four and we get two hours of homework. This is way too much - some teachers may not completely understand the busy lives of students. However, this can be fixed - homework that is set with outside activities, extra time and the three other pieces of homework from in mind, combined with effective homework practices like varied exercises and relevant work can make homework less of a time sink and more of a helpful tool to foster student learning.

The third reason students should receive less homework is because it can decrease interest in academics. Already mentioned is the problem of most homework being tedious rote memorisation. No student enjoys these kinds of tasks and might end up viewing academical knowledge as mostly just memorised information of no relevance to their own lives. Akshat Jain, a student from UWCSEA has mentioned that with regards to rote math practice, he “...feels frustrated, annoyed and angry with this kind of homework. I think this kind of homework is quite useless for my personal learning.” And it isn’t just him. Many students cry out similar complaints, and the evidence backing up these complaints is definitely stable - many students forget things within a summer of learning them because they have no interest in committing these things to memory. While some skeptics will say that learning to do things that are unenjoyable is an inevitable part of life, this is only true up to a certain extent, and after that, it can, in fact, be a detriment to student learning. Academics on their own in school already seem irrelevant and detached - according to a survey conducted on LiveScience.com, two out of three High School students report that they are bored in class every day, and 75% reporting that they do not find the material they are learning interesting (Bryner, 2007) - and homework is definitely not helping to correct this image.

So what can be done to fix this? Eliminating homework is not an option. John Bishop, author of the book Goal Setting for Students mentioned many important benefits of homework in his article entitled Ten Benefits of Homework. The most prominent include how homework “...teaches students about time management...how to set priorities...how to problem solve...how to work independently…” (Bishop, n.d.). These are things that can’t be learned elsewhere but are important life skills that students must eventually understand one way or the other. By eliminating homework, we throw the baby out with the bathwater. What is important for homework is that we don’t set too much of it, and what we do set is “...engaging, relevant, and supports learning…” (Terada, 2015). The best way to do this lies in several answers. Fuglei lists these examples: the flipped classroom - “...where students engage the lecture material outside of the classroom and then classroom time is dedicated to what would have been homework under the traditional setup. Teachers are then free to allow students to work in groups or individually, visiting each group and testing their mastery along the way.”, spaced repetition - “Spaced repetition covers and revisits material over time in ways that traditional homework has not, revisiting material that has been covered in the recent and distant past to reinforce a student’s knowledge base.”, and retrieval practice - “Retrieval practice can lead to interesting assignments like the role-playing homework described in “How to Create Effective Homework,” in which students adopted a historical persona. Their drive to maintain their character extended into their motivation for completing homework.” The flipped classroom is the most effective way to do this but requires a lot of logistical changes to happen. On the other hand, spaced repetition is something that can be easily implemented into the current homework regiment. Retrieval practice is something that can be done both in and out of class - one example being that of our school, where in Humanities Class, we engage with history through role-playing, like acting out the various parts of the Feudal System, exploring the differences between the English Longbow and the French Crossbow during the Hundred Years’ War by having a simulated battle, and learning about the Age of Exploration by role-playing a selected explorer. These are examples which many students can attest to enjoying, myself included, but yet we learn so much from them. Critics will argue that much of the benefit of homework has been lost by changing its format, and while this may be true in some scenarios, such as standardised testing where rote learning is what is most necessary, for other types of learning like skill development, this type of homework is much more effective. When it comes to assigning effective homework, there is no excuse - teachers are spoilt for choices.

In conclusion, homework is a widely but incorrectly used tool. While there are many benefits and positives to be derived from it, right now, it is overused, as can be seen through its damaging effects on students - effects like stress, detraction of time and boredom. But homework is at the same time a tool with great potential for improving student learning - it has many benefits for rote learning and things which cannot be done in class, as well as providing teachers with a progress chart for viewing their students on. While others claim that the only solution to this problem is to eliminate homework, I contend that that is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and that the true solution for most cases is to instead change the amount of homework quantitatively, and change how it is done qualitatively - so that there is less homework that is more relevant, personalised and interesting for students. This is something that must be done - homework can only be most effective when assigned in a differentiated and balanced manner and it is important for students to get their learning in the most effective manner, so this must be implemented in whatever way possible.

Bibliography

1. Bishop, John. "10 Benefits of Homework." HotChalk Lesson Plans Page. HotChalk Lesson Plans Page, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
2. Fuglei, Monica. "Ending the Homework Debate: Expert Advice on What Works." Concordia Portland Online. Concordia Online Education, 28 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016
3. Pilgrim, Trevor. "Homework: Harmful or Helpful?" Eduflow. Eduflow, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
4. Terada, Youki. "Research Trends: Why Homework Should Be Balanced."Edutopia. Edutopia, 31 July 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.
5. Bryner, Jeanna. "Most Students Bored at School." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 28 Feb. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
6. Antranik. "Time and Stress." Antranikorg. N.p., 20 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.