Homework By: Jake Ryan

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He trudged inside toward the kitchen table and plopped his bag on the ground. Droplets of water scattered across the ground as he pulled out his cool water bottle covered with condensation. Jack sat down and prepared for what was to come: endless hours of figuring out stacks of papers of homework, most of which containing information his teachers failed to educate him on (side note: this is not meant to reference any teachers since all of the information in here is fictional.) The corners of Jack's mouth dropped as he realized just how many tests, upon tests, upon tests, he had in store for tomorrow. He first took out math, expecting it only to take a short period of time, as only a few questions were assigned. Though by now he knew better than to expect it to only take a few minutes. The first questions flew by, though they were easier than what was to come. The soft scratching of pencil on paper filled the room for an hour, then two. "How can I finish all of this work?" he asked himself, dreading the time which he would stay up until. By the time of completion, it was already five o'clock. "Next subject," Jack sarcastically told his mother, "I don't think this should be too long."

Time dragged on as the stack of papers grew smaller. Around him, his family talked and sat together, enjoying their evening. For Jack, the same destiny came as did every night. Finally done, Jack was pleased, though he couldn't exclaim his joy for his family members were all fast asleep. Quietly tip-toeing up the stairs, he checked the clock, 11:54 pm, it read. The grey of his eyes blended with the dark night as he climbed into his bed. Jack's eyes clamped shut as he pondered whether or not anything new will happen the next day or if it will just be the same as always: school, homework, sleep, repeat.
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Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 5, 2019 at 4:03 PM

    I love the way this was written. And I can relate to this so much. It makes me think of the theory that kids should be given ten minutes of homework a night for each grade they're in(so a 1st grader would have ten minutes of homework). That would mean we should have about an hour and 40 minutes of homework per night. I think that's still a lot, but it's definitely better than some nights when the homework and studying really pile on.

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  2. AnonymousNovember 6, 2019 at 4:38 PM

    As someone who has similar experiences, I really like how you made a fictional story expose a very real issue with our education system.

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  3. AnonymousNovember 11, 2019 at 11:26 AM

    I get worried about falling into a cycle of 'school, homework, sleep, repeat' too. That, as well as the part about how his family all sat and talked together while Jack had to do homework, really struck me. Only half an hour to an hour of homework per class doesn't really seem like a lot, but when you multiply that for 8 classes, and add after school activities, sleep becomes this elusive thing. (Even though sleep is so critical for learning, so having so much homework actually works against the end goal.) I know there are some school districts across the U.S. banning homework but I doubt that will become a nation-wide thing anytime soon.

    Overall though, good job! I found the story so relatable and you articulated the small day-to-day effects of excessive homework in such an impactful way!

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  4. AnonymousNovember 11, 2019 at 5:03 PM

    I like how you noted Jack basically had a never-ending cycle of how life goes. I too feel like I'm in an never-ending cycle of waking up early, then going through a flawed system for about 7 hours, for about 70% of the week, for about 90% of the year, and then spend hours on homework and studying for tests, and then sleeping. The cycle just repeats from there. Even when we graduate high school and college, it'll probably the same for most people yet just replaced with a job. Hopefully, by the time college rolls around and jobs, we can being pursuing something we love so it's not as bad.

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  5. AnonymousNovember 12, 2019 at 7:35 AM

    I liked your piece. I can see how his can be a never ending cycle for some students. I feel that many students can connect to this.

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  6. DanielleNovember 13, 2019 at 10:35 AM

    This is a sad story. It goes back to the idea that we ask kids to work a "second shift" and maybe we need to rethink that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousNovember 14, 2019 at 5:04 AM

    This is a very real story that exposes some of the difficulties we go through as high school students. Jack seems to be a hard worker, not a procrastinator, and he still can't get all of his work done by a reasonable time to get a full night of sleep to go and do it all again over and over. Most of the time, homework is unnecessary. Going home should be rest time, not another several hours of school.

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  8. AnonymousNovember 17, 2019 at 3:14 PM

    I love how relatable this story is. I know that as high school students, each of us gets at least an hour of homework every night even after being in school for 6 hours, which is ridiculous.

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  9. AnonymousNovember 30, 2019 at 5:26 PM

    I agree completely, an hour along assignment turns into 4+ hours of homework and long nights.

    ReplyDelete

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