Too Much Homework
“But that’s how college is”
It’s ridiculous the amount of homework kids are given at any age. I sit in classes for four hours straight and then come home and do six hours of homework- and still have much more to get done. I haven't even gotten to the part of the semester where all the projects are being assigned.
Question, how the hell am I supposed to do a project on calculus? I could understand the honor’s section having an extra project or something, but not the non-honors section. Most of the students there don’t like math or are already overloaded from their other classes, why do you need to add an extra thing on top of that?
To be considered full-time at a college, one is expected to do 12 credits a semester (I believe grad school it’s 9 credits). 12 credits are about 3–5 classes, depending on how many credit hours each class is. The standard time one should expect to work on homework outside of class is 3–4 hours for each hour in class.
So for a 4 credit class- 12–16 hours. For a 3 credit class- 9–12 hours. So on and so forth.
This means if you can finish a week's worth of homework for a four-credit class within 12 hours, you have spent 16 hours on one class. Let’s say you’re taking three four-credit classes. That’s a standard full-time student. We’ll assume you understand everything in class, you don’t struggle with the material, you don’t need to be tutored, you don’t miss classes. You are spending 48 hours a week on school.
48 hours a week.
This doesn’t count travel time. This doesn’t count if you’re in a cohort that requires certain meetings or extra classes. This doesn’t count any extra events you decide to go to at school.
Now, let’s throw in some projects. Or maybe you needed to spend some extra time on your assignments this week.
16 hours of homework, plus 4 hours of class time. 20 hours for three classes makes-
60 hours.
Of course, that doesn’t always include the time needed to study for an upcoming exam, or a final.
This goes the same for taking four three-credit classes too.
How have we allowed this? This is an ungodly amount of time for what? What are we accomplishing here? To burn out young adults before they even get into the workforce? To completely kill any free time they have so they can’t develop interests or hobbies?
People wonder why adults (and even kids) are forgoing hobbies to instead sit in front of a screen or do something mind-numbing for the single free hour they have.
Hmm, maybe it’s because most people don’t have the energy to start a hobby? Maybe because most people don’t have the time for a hobby?
This type of overload isn’t just on college kids. It’s working adults. It’s high schoolers, middle schoolers, hell even some elementary schoolers are being expected to do an exorbitant amount of homework.
That’s a whole other story, and I could go on and on about each and every one of them. However, I’ll save you the time and just keep going on about college.
So let’s continue with the assumption that you’re some brainiac and only need to spend 48 hours a week on classes and homework. Let’s assume you live on campus so the time spent walking back and forth to class is negligible.
(It really isn’t, I just don’t feel like adding all of that up.)
Let’s also assume there’s a really good cafeteria on campus that never has a line and right by your dorm and your classes. You eat fast, which is not good for your stomach, but hey, who has time to eat when you have 48 hours of school each week?
Let’s also assume you have no disability, physical or otherwise. You can walk to places fine, you don’t ever have to wait for an elevator. You don’t have to take mental health days or have regular visits with a medical professional. You don’t have medication to take- medication that will ruin your day if you forget about it.
And just to make this even easier, let’s assume there is someone do to your laundry for you. Someone to clean up your room and the bathroom. You don’t have to worry about your living area getting dirty because you don’t have time to clean it, because someone else is cleaning it for you.
So, what clubs are you in? Are you working? Are you playing a sport? An instrument? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you spending time with friends? With your partner? Are you visiting family every now and then? Are you volunteering? Are you attending school events? Are you in a leadership position? Are you advocating? Doing things to put on your resume?
The list goes on and on.
Overwhelming isn’t it?
If you sleep eight hours a night, each night. That’s 56 hours a week. That means 104 hours for school and sleep (again, assuming you're great at your classes and only need 12 hours a week for homework for each class). There are 168 hours in a week.
Of course, no one’s college life is as perfect as I explained it. Many people have disabilities, physical or mental. Many people are placed in dorms that are across campus from their class. No one has a maid coming in and doing laundry for them. A lot of students are also working while in school to help pay for it- especially if they are lucky enough to live in a dorm.
So riddle me this, why are we putting people through this? Who decided this was okay?
This is not what being human should be like. When is our time to connect with friends and family? When is our time to rest? When is our time to discover ourselves? To go outside and enjoy nature? When is our time to slow down and enjoy life?
This go-go-go mentality is exhausting, even for someone who is a go-go-go type person. I don’t have time for my friends. I don’t have time for my hobbies. I barely have time to help out with chores around the house.
I’m not getting enough sleep.
And it’s not that I hate college- I’m enjoying making new friends and connections. I’m enjoying learning about adulthood and having coaches there for me. I’m enjoying some newfound freedom as I navigate the responsibilities of an adult.
What I do hate is all of the homework. I hate having online homework that forces me to watch videos on the material we already went over in class (I can’t even tab out and work on other homework because that stops the video). I hate having to do 20+ problems that take a page each because of the number of steps and complexity it is. I hate having written and online homework (that are both online??) and projects and written reports and etc.
Don’t even get me started on group projects.
And yes, I do know some amount of homework needs to be assigned for the professor and the school to assess the student. I do know sometimes papers or projects need to be assigned so the student can get a deeper understanding of the material.
However, there is a limit to how much of that needs to be assigned. A student shouldn’t have to do 10+ problems on the same material for the professor (or the school) to know that the student understands the material.
That’s just ridiculous.
People need their time back. Students need their time back. How are we to expect students to become their own people with personalities if they are expected to hit the grind the second they turn 18?
As one therapist once told me, sometimes the best treatment is for all of us to slow down and smell the flowers.
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