There is nothing better than coming home after a long day of school and football, kicking off my shoes, and relaxing. Then, I woke up. When NAHS students come home from school, the word “relaxation” escapes their vocabulary. Most teachers want to give student’s extra “help” to learn their class material, but this causes a ton of problems for students. This extra homework may seem harmless to a teacher, but to students it means so much more.

When student’s get more work it means, less time to sleep or relax, a lot more stress, and it can even make them sad or depressed.  A North Atlanta student has four classes a day, that means around four (or more) homework assignments (normally) and it takes away all the so called “freedom” we are supposed to have. With no freedom, a massive amount of work, a ton of hormones and drama, it can lead to some pretty dark thoughts. Teenagers are some of the most fragile beings on the planet because of their hormones and emotions, when depression enters the mind of a teen it can ruin their connections with the people that they care about. Long story short is that teens in today’s world face too much stress and pressure and need time to themselves.

This excessive work that teachers are giving doesn’t just negatively affect students but it takes away time from the teacher as well. Homework only means more work for teachers to grade in their free time. After conversing with teachers at North Atlanta High School, a lot of them say their time at home is grading papers. “I’m aways grading papers,” frequently says our journalism teacher Jack Stenger. Why do teachers continue to put stress on themselves and students? Is it to try and help them understand the unit more? Or are teachers just trying to find a way to enter more grades?

The reality of it is this, homework makes things complicated, stressful, and difficult for everyone. If teachers want students to study more or understand the class more, they should teach better! They should make students want to learn want to succeed. Most teachers just sit in silence while their students work in a dark room on their computers. I had a talk with Hank Debardeleben, here is what he wanted to say about the matter. “Teachers make class so boring now. At least Stenger makes class fun,” said (my buddy) Hank.

In my humble opinion, homework is sort of pointless. If it doesn’t help anyone then why do we continue to do it? Homework makes us stressed, annoyed, and takes away our “me” time. So, teachers: Do us all a favor and utilize the classtime for teaching students, so we won’t have to worry about doing homework.