During our time doing online classes, there have been many complaints from the student body about the increased homework load. Many have said their stress levels increased tremendously and they have lost a large amount of sleep after moving online. This has raised concern amongst many of the students in regards to their mental health. Students should not have to spend over one-hour doing homework a night, but at the moment, they are having up to four or more hours. Many students have jobs and must take care of their siblings and family, but instead, they are preoccupied with loads of homework. Thus, administrators should take action and decrease the amount of homework that is given to the students each night. 

Personally, I spend up to eight or more hours on homework. I have seen an increase in the homework load during online school and that has been very stressful. I start classes at 9:00 AM and wrap up most of my homework by 11:30 PM every day. The Wednesday schedule has been very helpful, but only beneficial for a single day. A decreased amount of homework could provide me with more time to see my family and relax.

Sara Kosty ‘22 has also seen the workload increase. She spends up to four hours of homework each day and wants to see a change. She states, “We as students need to be able to destress and be able to have time for ourselves. With the homework load being so much it does not allow time for that.” Sara makes a good point, as students should be able to take some time off of academics.

Mr. Beeby, a teacher for Earth and Space Science and Engineering Physics, has been very aware of the busy schedules of O’Dowd students. He has expressed how difficult student’s lives are now, especially with online learning, so he has made his homework more flexible. He claims, “my practice for remote learning is not to assign any homework at all. I mindfully end my zoom meeting before the end of the scheduled class time to allow enough time so that my students can complete lesson/activity during the remaining class time.”

Speaking as one of his Engineering Physics students, I can agree that he has given us fun and entertaining assignments even though the curriculum has changed. His class has benefited me because I love participating in his mediations and overall the online class experience in his class has been top-notch, especially during this time. 

Students want to see a change in the amount of school work that is provided to us. It would decrease stress and increase mental health, along with giving people the time to see family and practice self-care.