Everyone gets homework, it’s a part of school that will always be a thing students have to do, but lately many students of RBMS have been complaining about the amount of homework and I wanted to see their thoughts and opinions on why they might think they are doing this.

“It has been very stressful with the homework amount that we have to do,” says 8th grader Kaleb Bielfeldt. “I have been working nonstop, and it is really hard for me to get everything done with football and extracurricular activities. I think that they are doing this to make up for the lack of work from last year. I am one of those people that can only focus for a limited amount of time then I can’t think anymore.” “The work hasn’t been that hard,” said 7th grader Brody Martin. “I haven’t got that much work to do. The only assignments that I have to do are missing work or work I need to get caught up on, but not any homework.” Others like 8th grader Gavin Glover said, “It is way too much work. I am overwhelmed with the amount of work. It doesn’t help that I have extracurricular stuff and football.” On the other hand, 7th grader Jonas Estada says, “I’m happy with the amount of homework that people are giving out. I am happy because we don’t get hardly any homework, and it is nice for me.” “Some teachers give a lot of homework out,” said 7th grader Violet Henri. “I think that the teachers are giving a lot of homework out so we can catch up from last year and get used to the normal.” 

From many interviews with 7th and 8th graders, it seemed that the 8th graders were getting more homework than the 7th graders. Based on our Cougar News website poll from October 8, 2021; 63% of students say that they have a lot of homework which means that 38% do not. The majority do have homework and that needs to change. I feel quite a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work I have as an 8th grader. I always finish a lot of assignments then immediately get more assignments after that. It is really hard to keep up with especially since I have to do extracurricular activities as well. Like the other kids have mentioned the teachers are probably doing this to get us used to the normal again from last year. I feel that the teachers need to cut down the work a little bit. We are already in school 8 hours a day and it doesn’t help to have more outside of school. 

Although some teachers may be giving homework, a lot of teachers also give time in class to finish assignments and what doesn’t get done becomes homework, so the responsibility ultimately lands on the students themselves. Mrs. Dossey shared with us that they have a curriculum to follow which dictates what they have to do and how much they have to squeeze in within that 6-week timeframe. “Teachers always get the blame for the homework load, but a lot of times it’s over their heads and we are also just trying to survive like y’all are.”

Overall everyone has a lot of work on their plates right now, so it’s best to proceed with kindness for students and teachers.