Schools can overestimate a student’s ability to complete hours of homework and still maintain their mental health, family time, hobbies, and more. More times than not, huge amounts of homework everyday is damaging to students’ overall health and wellbeing.

A Stanford study written by Mollie Galloway, Denise Pope, and Jerusha Conner found that an excessive amount of homework was detrimental for students in many areas. They sampled 4,317 students for the study from “high-preforming” high schools where homework averaged to 3.1 hours per night. The study found that homework benefits stopped at two hours. According to the study, the ideal homework time is from 90 minutes to two and a half hours.

Recurring themes in the study include high amounts of stress, worse physical health, and less time for outside activities and social pursuits. Students in the study and in general feel they do not have a healthy balance between their school life and personal life because of superfluous homework. The study suggests that this problem hinders students’ pursuit of education.

Schools need to reconsider the homework they give for students and help them maintain healthier, happier lives. While a smaller amount of homework can be beneficial to students, excessive amounts are draining and provide less benefits. The physical and mental health of students is just as if not more important than their education.

After complaints of the hybrid schedule providing less class time and more homework time, the school has modified it. The new schedule allows for 65-minute classes instead of 45. This will allow students to finish more work during the school day and less during their personal time. This is a good step towards better student morale and health.