” DEBATE
Content4
6 Your Nutrition
12 Your
Is Junk Food Made
to Be Addictive?
Relationships
How to Fight Fair
|e
Id Home
nui i ic
16 Your Health
Winter Sickness
Survival Guide
2 2 Changemakers
i
U l IIt or
One Teen’s Crusade
Control?.
for Diverse Books
2 4 Life Skills
Declining
an Invite
Vocabulary
There are 30 tricky
vocabulary words Some students (and even administrators) are
throughout this issue in calling for a time limit on outside assignments.
bold. Can you find them
all? Go to Choices Online Will this move reduce students’ stress levels—
for activities to help you or just make it harder to learn?
master these words.
COVER: PHOTOGRAPHY: ANTONIS ACHILLEOS;
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STYLING: KRISTINE TREVINO
$et in Touch!
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Fast Facts: Homework
BY MAIL
CHOICES, 557 BROADWAY ^Historically, ^ O n e survey ^As ^R esea rch
NEW YORK, NY 10012 1 homework ^ found that Ohom ew ork ^Fshows
has been in the U.S., loads increase, that students
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SOURCES: 1. Review of Educational Research, 2. The MetLIfe Survey of the American Teacher, 3. The American Journal
of Family Therapy, 4. The Journal of Experimental Education, 5. The Journal of Educational Psychology
2 C H O IC E S / January 2017
mww
One hour of
5 homework
per day is the
ideal amount,
TURN THE
according to PAGE TO
one study. TAKE A SIDE!
The students
who reported
more than 90
to 100 minutes
actually did
worse on tests.
CHOICES / January 2017 3
detrimental to our physical and
"Homework causes mental health.
~
YES t0° much stress
for today’s teens.”
For example, when I’m assigned
a big project during lacrosse
season, I often have to stay up late
to finish my work. The resulting
stress and exhaustion then affect
T h e a m o u n t o f h o m e w o rk th a t my learning and performance the next day. It’s a
American students are given vicious cycle. But that’s not all: I’ve actually given
every night is ridiculous! Most up joining other groups, like Italian Club, because
teens already spend six hours I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to honor the
in class each day, so when commitment. It’s disappointing, because those clubs
teachers assign several hours can help you meet new people and open you up to
Matt Nakamura, of homework, it limits our the wider world around you.
a high school opportunity to learn from other I do think homework is necessary, but even an
DEBATE PHOTOS COURTESY OF FAMILIES: SHUTTERSTOCK (ALL OTHER IMAGES)
junior from
California activities and experiences. hour a day is too much. Having a limit would relieve
Sports, clubs, hobbies, family a great deal of stress for students, allowing us to
responsibilities—these are all important parts of life fully focus on after-school activities that provide a
that teach teamwork, socialization skills, and work- different type of real-world education. Once we’ve
life balance. We should be allowed to enjoy them! returned home, we would be able to relax—then do
Unfortunately, teens today are under great our homework after we’ve recharged our batteries.
pressure to participate in extracurricular while also Tackling shorter assignments with a rested mind
juggling lengthy, excessive assignments. The result? and fresh energy would surely lead to more learning,
Everything suffers, and keeping up with the race better grades, and lower stress levels. It’s a win for
to be well-rounded—and the stress that results—is teachers, parents, and students alike.
HOMEWORK
AROUND THE.
WORLD!
How do your assignments com pare
w ith those of students in other countries?
ICELAND
4 .1 h o u rs
Researchers determined the average weekly
amount of homework assigned to teens all over the UNITED STATES
globe and found that-w hile spending more time 6-1 hours
on homework could lead to higher standardized
test scores—it doesn’t necessarily result in better
overall grades. The takeaway? Homework is just
one of many factors that influence school success.
(Students in Finland, for example, spend only about
2.8 hours a week on homework—but still tend to
excel on standardized tests.) BRAZIL
SOURCE: Organisation fo r Economic C o -operation and D evelopm ent 3 .3 h o u r s
4 C H O IC E S / January 2017
i A j
know, and we probably wouldn’t
“J u g g lin g o u r remember all of it either.
NO a s s ig n m e n ts te a c h e s us
im p o r t a n t l i f e s k ills .”
Homework also teaches us
persistence. For example, I learn
Spanish better when I’m first
taught the words, then given a
chance to write them out and recite
N o o n e is g o in g to s e t lim its on the vocabulary on my own. The same is true with
the work we’ll get when we’re other subjects, like math. If I don’t get to practice
adults, so why do it now? by myself, I’m never sure I actually understand!
Tackling homework every day Homework helps me—and many other students—
teaches us time management figure out the answers and push toward solutions
and organizational skills, which without relying on our teachers or classmates.
are crucial components of the Teachers should have free range to teach their
strong work ethic we’ll need classes as they would like. If you truly have too much
to succeed in college and the on your plate, talk about it
workforce. We might as well with your teacher, who can Wflicfl
learn how to handle everything now, rather than help you prioritize.
scramble to figure it out after we’ve graduated! Homework might not be Side A re You
The truth is, the homework that teachers give fun to do, but learning On?
us is not just busy work. It is meant to supplement to solve problems on Go t o S c h o la s tic .c o m
and reinforce the lessons we’ve learned in class, our own—and to juggle /c h o ic e s t o v o t e y e s o r n o —
a n d g e t r e a l- t im e re s u lts
enriching our learning and helping us retain what our assignments—
th a t show h o w you r
we’ve discussed. If homework were limited, we might will benefit us all in o p in io n s ta c k s
not be able to cover all of the information we need to the future. up.
C H O IC E S / January 2017 5
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