Should homework be banned?

Homework ensures students are practicing the material outside of class

Question: Should homework be banned?
Position‹2 of 2: No, homework should not be banned
Argument‹2 of 2: Homework ensures students are practicing the material outside of class

Repeating information is one of the best ways to learn. Students going home and reviewing their in-class material ensures that they will not lose all of the information they just learned.

The argument

Repetition helps with memorization and practice. For instance, languages would be nearly impossible to learn without homework because languages must be constantly practiced in order to maintain. Other skills, like math, require practice with different problem sets to ensure students understand the concepts outside of a controlled environment. So long as the amount of work is not unreasonable, homework should not be banned. Students need homework to practice the skills they learn in class, and they should be able to consult with a teacher on what they learned or struggled with.

Premises

[P1]Repetition aids memorization and mastery: languages must be constantly practiced to be maintained, and skills like math require practice on varied problem sets to ensure understanding outside a controlled environment. [P2] So long as the amount is reasonable, homework lets students practice class material and consult a teacher on what they learned or struggled with. [C] Therefore, because homework ensures students practice the material outside of class, homework should not be banned.

Counter-arguments

Many classes are not ones where repetition is a useful skill, and homework in those cases should be adjusted accordingly or eliminated.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The claim about repetition is accepted and is not specific to homework. Practice can be distributed within lesson time, and the premise's own examples — languages and mathematics — are the subjects where the case is strongest, which is what the counter picks up: nothing here supports homework across a curriculum. [Rejecting P2] "So long as the amount is reasonable" concedes the objection rather than answering it, since the dispute is about how much is set, by whom and with what oversight. The claim that homework lets students consult a teacher also has the direction wrong: the defining feature of homework is that it is done away from the teacher, which is why its value depends so heavily on the support available at home. [Rejecting C] The conclusion treats one benefit as decisive. The case for a ban rests on unequal home conditions, on time displaced from sleep and family life, and on evidence that the effect on attainment is small in the primary years — none of which the premises weigh, so the argument establishes at most that some homework has a purpose.