According to the American Sleep Center, teenagers are averaging 5 hours of sleep each night. Many teenagers are finding themselves staying up until 1 a.m. doing overwhelmingly large amounts of homework. I constantly find myself staying up later than that trying to complete projects and papers, giving me no time for a good amount of sleep in order to be prepared for the next school day.

With that being said, I feel like teachers should not be giving out as much homework every night on top of even more homework from the previous day or from other classes. I propose that teachers give out only one homework assignment each week for each class along with any in-class work a student does not finish during the class mod.

Not only do I feel like this will lessen the amount of stress homework is giving teens, but it will also give us more free time to spend with family and friends or give us time to work without worrying about how much homework that needs to be done after a shift.

As I look around at all of my peers in resource, I notice the heavy amounts of homework many are working on and how stressful it can be when each class piles on even more work to be done at home. I feel as if homework is a waste of time, mainly because no one ever does homework to retain or learn anything. They do it the fastest they can in order to get it done by copying, cheating, or even googling the homework sheet itself. Not many people do homework honestly; I rarely do.

I am not the only one who feels this way either; even some of the most influential people in our learning experience feel as if homework is unnecessary.

Amy Boettner, an algebra and geometry teacher at East shared her opinion on homework saying, “I think it is important for kids to be kids outside of school. There shouldn’t be more than an hour worth of homework after school because there are more important things their time should be spent on.”

Not only did Boettner agree with students receiving enormous amounts of homework, she said “When you don’t have a teacher to help you on your homework, it kinda defeats the purpose of it.”

Even teachers think students are burdened with too much work, making us miss out on events with friends and family, but even more importantly, sleep. Most people including myself, have activities and work outside of school, so having large amounts of homework is stressful. Not to mention, after school, I usually go to work until 10 p.m. or I go to a family event. When I finally get home, I barely have time for a shower, a soggy cold dinner and then hours worth of homework.

Students and myself are inundated with heavy amounts of ridiculous homework. Homework causes us to miss out on important life necessities, a.k.a sleep. I feel as if homework policies needs to change, so that way students are healthier, happier and smarter through the school year.

I am over homework as are so many other students here at East. A change needs to be made so we can sleep.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Oracle, Columbus East High School, and Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation.