Back to: Andhra Pradesh Board Class 9th English Guide and Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction:
‘Homework’ is a short prose piece. As the title suggests, it revolves around homework, or rather, the limitations that accompany it.
About the Author:
The author of this text is unknown.
Theme:
The theme of this text revolves around the education system. The harms of burdening children with excessive homework have been starkly highlighted here. This prose piece aims to bring awareness by bringing this issue to light.
Summary:
Counter-productive:
The text begins with how the concept of homework had historically begun with the well-intentioned notion of helping children learn what they had learnt at school better. However, too much homework is seen to be counter productive as spending too much time in then can limit the time that child spends with their friends, family and extracurricular activities. Author Tamim Ansary has in fact stated how the amount of homework has substantially increased by more than fifty percent in recent times. Homework getting increased with higher classes is alarming.
Excessive homework, Excessive weight:
Teachers, however, continue to claim that homework is indeed beneficial. As Dr. Kralovec states, doing excessive homework has no impact in students or their process of joining college whatsoever. In addition, large amounts of homework implies that students are to carry a lot of weights, in some cases, more that 15% of their body weight! Statics reveal that this leads to acute problems such as chronic shoulder, neck and back pain in their later life.
Insufficient sleep and Obesity:
This pressure leads to children staying up well into the night in pursuit of completing their homework. While some parents and teachers argue that this is good for improving the children academically, what it leads to in reality is children lacking the amount of exercise they require. This leads to obesity, which in turn makes them the subject of ridicule and inferiority complex. Statics show an increase in obesity in children, a major cause for concern indeed.
Time:
Lack of time also means that the children, as said before, are unable to partake in extracurricular activities. Nor are they able to spend adequate time with their family. Homework thus severely affects them, both physically and mentally.
Negativity:
What excessive homework also leads to is children losing interest in the subjects they study. Dire consequences such as indulging in malpractices, in fact, stem from this cause, starting from copying assignments to copying in examinations. This sets off as a bad start to their lives.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the text ends by stating that homework should be given at a limited rate. While giving excess homework has its disadvantages, it does not imply that homework should be done away with altogether. Rather, homework must be given but must be given in a way enjoyable to children instead of stressing them incessantly.
