By: MacKenzie Butler
After a whole day of being taught at school, who wants to go home and do even more work? Most students have a strong opinion about homework, either positive or negative, but they definitely have one. In the past weeks, students have been bringing home more homework than they want, while others view homework as a necessary learning tool. Either way, it has become a talked about subject in the halls.
   One freshman, Matt Mattenhiemer, commented that it’s “just too much homework; much more than middle school.”  After just coming from middle school, one would think the freshmen are all prepared, but not Bella Chua, who noted that “middle school didn’t prepare me at all for all this work.” So is it just the new kids or is it just the tough classes? According to one Junior, Dominique Vonn, an AP student, “just in general, homework makes it tough to take part in extracurricular activities”. However, Lucas Smith, who is also enrolled in AP classes defended with, “homework is a tool meant for learning, if you don’t do it, then you’re lame,” That might be a nice way to view homework, but how do the students taking regular level classes feel?
   Tevin Holland, who is taking all academic level classes, said, “on a regular basis, I stay up ’til 2 in the morning trying to finish my homework for math, science, and the usual.” Some students say it depends on the teacher, but most just think homework should be gotten rid of– forever. While discussing homework Karissa Love said, “Oh, I wasn’t at school yesterday because I was finishing homework.”
   Some students have after school activities, like junior Tyler Willison, who says he has no time for homework “because I have football, I have to stay up until 1 AM finishing all of my homework”. The after school activities make it tough for many students to get a decent night of sleep and complete all of their work on time. Getting little sleep also causes tired, fatigued students, who have trouble focusing. Alexis Merithew said, ”staying up late really affects my singing, just to finish my homework”. In general it sounds like most students are having trouble keeping up with all this work. It seems to now be more of a time management issue than anything, with events outside of school, and sometimes just being lazy.