Overwhelming amounts of homework are causing students to devalue their learning. Recent studies suggest that high schoolers spend an average of 17.5 hours on homework each week. That’s 3.5 hours of homework per day. All that time spent on homework takes time way from relationships and extra-curricular activities.

According to high school students, that doesn’t leave a lot of time for their lives outside of school. Many students, especially in AP classes, are finding they don’t even have enough time to spend with the people they care about.

“I feel like it’s really hard to balance school, friends and afterschool activities, so I don’t get to see my family as much. A little bit of homework is helpful but I feel like the teachers give us way too much,” Bella Accetturo said.

While some teachers find their homework load to be reasonable, they overlook that five other teachers are thinking the same thing. Five other teachers could be giving an hour load of homework thinking their students can handle it. Homework loads go beyond just taking time from students. In some cases, it may even cost them their learning.

Most students believe excessive homework loads cause desperation, often driving them to rush through it without much thought or causing them to copy bits from a friend. While teachers usually expect learning to expand along with the amounts of homework they assign, students instead find themselves fighting just to make ends meet. This stress is leading students to value the due date more than the material they’re expected to understand.

“For the most part when I do my homework I just try to get it done, and I’m not really trying to absorb what’s going on,” Tori Wold said.

While teachers hope for their students to cherish knowledge, all students can think about is the numbers and percentages they receive as a grade. Teenagers are having mental breakdowns under the weight of it all, yet come Monday morning all that matters is whether or not they’ve finished their assignment.

“I’ve literally cried so much because of homework,” Sydney Peterson said.

Homework is just to much work for not a lot of gain.