Over the years, the debate of whether or not homework has a positive or negative affect towards students has intensified. Even with the positives of having homework, the downfall is too great to be ignored.

The nights where teenagers stay up too late and become stressed over homework has to come to an end.  Teenagers in today’s society are becoming more involved in after school activities, like sports and band.

For example, a sophomore that plays basketball at Kaneland High School doesn’t get home until around 6 p.m. on practice days. The days that a freshman has a game, he wouldn’t get home until 8 p.m. or even 9 p.m. some nights if he has to stay for the varsity game. How is he supposed to go home, eat dinner, maybe do a few chores, take a shower and do homework while still getting a good night’s sleep?

The bottom line is that he has to choose between homework and sleep. This decision that teenagers have to make is unacceptable. Sleep is too valuable to lose because a student has to be able to function on a daily basis. According to sleepfoundation.org, a teen needs to get somewhere between 8 and 9 hours of sleep every night.

Many teenagers hold jobs in society today. For example, junior Gemma Esposito works on average five days a week and works usually until 11 p.m. Homework is the last thing she has on her mind when she gets home.

“I’m just too tired by the time I get home to even think about getting homework done. My motto is if I don’t get homework done at school, it won’t get done,” Esposito said.

The reason that many teenagers don’t do their homework is that the added stress just doesn’t equal the reward.

Completely abandoning homework isn’t a very viable option, as it has many positives such as reviewing class materials, but neither is giving a student three hours of homework every night. However, a change has to happen. Being stressed out about homework everyday is not healthy, and is no way helping any student. In this day and age, teenagers need to be given the chance to have reasonable time to complete their homework.