DBHS Student Publication.

The Bull's Eye

DBHS Student Publication.

The Bull's Eye

DBHS Student Publication.

The Bull's Eye

Eye of the Editors: Summer Homework

Eye+of+the+Editors%3A+Summer+Homework
Gloria Kim

Summer Homework. Two words that send shivers down our spines. Let’s face it, we all avoid it as long as we can until the clock ticks down and the school year comes around. It’s true that we all have the proclivity to procrastinate, but that does not, at the very least, mean that our quality of work is shoddy. So is it wrong to ask for the same courtesy we put into our assignments–that we can receive feedback and learn from the work we’ve done?

Of course, it is understandable that teachers, who generally instruct over 150 students, cannot look at every assignment their students submit. But if the work will never eventually be looked at, why assign so much summer homework in the first place? With the often-overwhelming amount of work that honors and AP students are mandated to complete over summer break, it seems as though the original purpose of assigning summer homework—to help students learn right from wrong from their assignments—becomes distorted.

Perhaps teachers feel that assigning more work will better prepare students for success in the higher-level course. Maybe the summer work plays a role in sifting out those who do and do not have commitment to survive in the class. To many teachers, summer work is also a way to gauge the general level of competence among the students at the start of the year. While these are true to an extent, the demanding workload counteracts its positive outcomes and induce the opposite effect, encouraging poor overall quality.

For example, writing multiple essays that require a high word count may promote verbosity and digression rather than encouraging deeper critical analysis. But because these errors are not corrected the first time around, students may not realize they are making a mistake until much later; hence, they will continue to repeat their poor habit without reflection.

Story continues below advertisement

What is even more infuriating about the entire process is the fact that one submission could be the best or the worst paper ever in the history of papers and we would never know it, not even the writer himself.

By no means are we promoting the elimination of all summer homework, however. There are, indeed, immense benefits to doing these assignments, especially for subjects like foreign language. As most students during the three months of summer vacation are entirely disconnected from exposure to the language, reviewing learned concepts and previewing future material may help student to smoothly transition into the new school year and succeed in the class.

All we ask is that teachers consider the long-term effects that mounds of summer homework create. Once realizing that the quality of their work will amount to nothing, students  may lose motivation to exert their full effort in the summer work. Furthermore, future generations of students, who will undoubtedly hear from the upperclassmen that the content of the summer homework is insignificant to their grade, may seek out loopholes.

In essence, it would definitely be a better investment, educationally, if students had less workload on which they could better focus and  receive feedback; this proposition will galvanize more students to work toward insightful work rather than just the number grade. After all, as the saying goes, quality trumps quantity.

Leave a Comment
Donate to The Bull's Eye
$0
$500
Contributed
Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Diamond Bar High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

Donate to The Bull's Eye
$0
$500
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All The Bull's Eye Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *