does homework help you learn?

isn't it better if, you do enough to get the information, then spend your free time doing things 10x more productive? and in this situation, the 10x more productive is defined by yourself.


you mite be asking, why do they give you homework if its not productive?

however, theres possible reasons why they stil give you homework even if its useless. when teachers see their students trying on something, they will think to themselves that their class matters a lot and its important. therefore, they think it needs to be refined to potential. but when this happens with all teachers, then there is a disaster, and ultimately, time is wasted.


so. is homework really useful?

Lol, its kind of controversial for me to post in this thread because I haven't been making homework for the past 3 years even though I'm supposed to

Yes, homework is definately useful. If you don't make homework it's a lot harder to fully understand whatever you are trying to learn.

part of my post was based off experience. i know a lot of people that get straight B's with really good test scores and the only thing bringing their grade down is cuz they don't do hw.

and the people that do homework lose knowledge on information outside of education and academics cuz they spent too much of their time doing hw. and they get the same test/quiz scores.

I could have easily passed everyone in my class If I did my homework. That's what always brought my grade down. I didn't mind working in school, but I was a huge procrastinator afterwards.

I think homework is more of helping you memorize what you have already learned, rather than helping you learn something new.

Homework is actually for review. Not learning anything new.

Homework is actually for review. Not learning anything new.

Indeed. For instance, doing physics-homework is something I do even without my teacher asking nowadays. You may question why, and it's as simple as this:
I'll remember stuff better (review, repetition, keep it fresh to be able to remember it better, you see the idea) and I'll be able to solve all kinds of exercises easier and faster. It basically helps me to "think" more as a physician and develop ways that I will bring into work someday.

I use homework to teach myself what I sleep through from my morning chem and calc lectures. Very helpful.

In university, one of the main ways you'll learn new material is through doing homework; not through lectures. By doing homework and going to a prof or TA to help you solve a homework problem you can't do, you learn a lot more that way. If you just read the textbook or sit through lectures it won't sink in.

isn't it better if, you do enough to get the information, then spend your free time doing things 10x more productive? and in this situation, the 10x more productive is defined by yourself.


you mite be asking, why do they give you homework if its not productive?

however, theres possible reasons why they stil give you homework even if its useless. when teachers see their students trying on something, they will think to themselves that their class matters a lot and its important. therefore, they think it needs to be refined to potential. but when this happens with all teachers, then there is a disaster, and ultimately, time is wasted.


so. is homework really useful?

You have completely missed the point of education. You also take education for granted, and seem to have no idea what hell you'd go through if education was not available to you.

The possession of a college degree increases your lifetime earning potential by over a million dollars. Put simply, you cannot get most jobs nowadays without having a college degree. That's just the piece of paper. Beyond that, a hard work ethic is crucial to succeeding in the workplace. If you don't do pomegranate at work, you'll get fired and replaced with someone who will do the job. Where do you think people get their work ethic? It doesn't magically materialize when you graduate high school or college. That's the real purpose of homework. You work your ass off doing tasks you might not necessarily like, and that prepares you for work -- which for most people is 8+ hours a day doing tasks you might not necessarily like, in exchange for a car, house, food and clothing. Also, if you work your ass off in school you will get into a better college. I graduated from Georgetown University because I had the grades to get into Georgetown University. I can get a good job much easier than someone who didn't do their homework because nearly every employer in America (and other countries) knows that my university is a very good one.

By not doing your homework, you're fucking yourself over. Your teacher doesn't have to give a pomegranate about your grades; he still gets his paycheck, even if you flunk out. Think about it, am *I* going to get hurt in any way if you choose not to listen to me? It's not my life. But those bad grades go on your report card, and that's permanent; and that'll hurt you; and someday you'll see it, but it'll be too late.

i stilll don't really understand. spending an average of over 5 hours on homework a day.. not All of that time is really helping you get information or sinking it in is it? you can spend that time doing a Lot more productive things.

the only reason people do homework is cuz it gets you a good grade. but if you don't do it, you probably would still learn just as much.

wenever i got a math teacher that didn't check homework, i never did it and i still aced tests/exams.

It usually depends on the person, but most of the time people who don't do homework goes down the drain. I remember in one 7th grade math class the teacher assigned homework, but only me and another person did it.

Everyone flunked a pop quiz that popped up and it depended on a homework assignment.

Everyone else that didn't do it also kind of did dismally on tests too.

Yes, it does. Homework is very useful for getting a feel for the subject material which *cannot* be gained passively. Even if you aren't doing homework, you are in some way actively preparing for tests (either that or you're taking easy classes and should go into IB, AP, or honours classes) which homework generally helps you do.

Also, acing tests proves nothing except the fact that you are a good test taker or cram studier.

i stilll don't really understand. spending an average of over 5 hours on homework a day.. not All of that time is really helping you get information or sinking it in is it? you can spend that time doing a Lot more productive things.

the only reason people do homework is cuz it gets you a good grade. but if you don't do it, you probably would still learn just as much.

wenever i got a math teacher that didn't check homework, i never did it and i still aced tests/exams.

It's not the actual stuff you're getting out of class for the most part, it's learning the diligence to do it in a timely manner. Even people who are only in it to get a good grade need the discipline to finish all their stuff. I don't know what sort of school you go to, but where I went, you needed to do your homework to do well on exams. You learn that at a young age, not at like 22 when you start working for a living. Laziness on the job is bad news. Yeah, the gangbanger is all cool in his gang colors, but 10 years later I'll be working and he'll be in jail.

For example, I never took notes. I was horrible at it and it was my weak point. But I listened in class, and stored away that knowledge. When the time to take the test came, I read ALL of the readings for that test 4 times in the week before the test, one being the morning of the exam, and during the essay test I responded with direct quotes from the reading, which was not in front of me but which I had memorized. That got me "A" grades the vast majority of the time. Let's just say not all of it fled my mind after the exam. I still remember some of this stuff like 9 years later.

Beyond the pragmatism, learning makes you into a full person, hence the term "liberal education." That comes from stuff you learn that you actually enjoy, but you still need to work to learn it. Learning about things I enjoyed was fascinating, and it taught me things about the world around me that I simply did not know before. Because of the historical and political knowledge I got from college I can understand and interpret things I otherwise could not. My teachers introduced me to stuff I would not have thought of picking up had they not pointed me to it. Let's say you love economics; how would you ever learn to love it if a teacher didn't introduce you to it?

tl;dr generally speaking good performance in school translates into good performance in the workforce translates into more money in your pocket and a better understanding of the world. Success without hard work is possible with a large inheritance or a large win at the lottery. Most of us don't have either.

so your saying.. homework is Good discipline and it makes you experienced.

so your saying.. homework is Good discipline and it makes you experienced.

Good discipline and prepared for the life ahead of you. Experience comes with age and practice.

It depends more on the type of homework, I'd say. Some teachers tend to assign "busywork" that has little purpose while consuming a lot of time.

It also depends on the amount. After spending a certain amount of homework (which is proportional to the amount of material being covered) it stops being productive. This kind of thing is hard to quantify though, especially since the amount of homework that is "enough" to make you retain information varies from person to person. And keep in mind that the teacher's goal is to make everyone understand the material, not just the top students in the class who may be able to absorb it all with minimal review.

There's also the whole other point that Quantact pointed out about your work ethic.

I think HW is necessary. It is for reinforcement, not just LOL U NIDS WORKZ

To support my opinion i shall give you a small anecdote:

In the 10th grade, i had a teacher. She taught everything in less than half an hour. Did i learn anything? maybe. Sometimes i would, someimes not (it didn't help that my class was at 7 in the morning). Well in this class, the homework was OPTIONAL. When looking at this, i shrugged it off thinking yes! oner less thing to do. What happens? I end up asking my friends for help DURING tests in order to get by. I cheated my way through the class because I didn't know the material well enough to finish it out on my own. This became the class i recieved my first ever "C" marking period grade.


tl;dr : study by using HW. It is important, which is why you have to do it

If the teachers taught us what they're supposed to, we woudn't have to keep learning at home

I think HW is necessary. It is for reinforcement, not just LOL U NIDS WORKZ

To support my opinion i shall give you a small anecdote:

In the 10th grade, i had a teacher. She taught everything in less than half an hour. Did i learn anything? maybe. Sometimes i would, someimes not (it didn't help that my class was at 7 in the morning). Well in this class, the homework was OPTIONAL. When looking at this, i shrugged it off thinking yes! oner less thing to do. What happens? I end up asking my friends for help DURING tests in order to get by. I cheated my way through the class because I didn't know the material well enough to finish it out on my own. This became the class i recieved my first ever "C" marking period grade.


tl;dr : study by using HW. It is important, which is why you have to do it

Reinforcement depends on the country; preparing for the work force, that I think is in all countries. Take Japan for example.

If you look at Japan, they use the Nazi (yes Nazi) system of education, which forces the student to be "average" in all things. For example, if you are good at English and bad at math the teacher will give you less English and more math. Their education system has nothing to do with learning, and everything to do with cramming for a one-shot exam that places them in a middle school, then high school, then college. There is therefore always a sense of panic regarding the future. They attend after school schools to do more of this, and then sit up till unholy hours doing homework. I have heard Japanese students get ulcers as young as age three. I think by that point, "reinforcement" is not exactly the word to use.

The whole system is retarded because with the sort of work most students put in, they can apply and get into a good American school, (provided their parents can pay for it,) and then they have more prestige than most Japanese college students will. However, the system is built entirely to prepare the Japanese person for a workforce where he will likely put in 100+ hours per week for what is basically a middle class salary.

Homework helps. There is no way I could make any sense in Physics or Pre-Calc. Yea, I'm usually consulting the notes the entire time. However, formulas stick with me. I remember how to do the problem from memory. Passing quizzes and tests become easier.


I do agree that there are some stupid assignments that are completely pointless. I've also seen homework that takes 3 hours to do for one assignment. It could've been cut into an hour and a half easily, but yea. :/


TBH, to make sense of things, I have to do it on my own. You can write whatever you want on the board and explain it in the simplest of terms, but I still have to do the problems on my own to understand it.