The life of a high school student can be compared to attempting to play the piano while putting together a jigsaw puzzle. If you are involved in extracurricular activities, it can be challenging to manage your academics when you have practices, games and competitions every week.

I am a member of the school’s Color/Winter Guard, I take dance classes outside of school, and I maintain a 4.0 GPA. In a regular week, I have color guard practice three to four times a week, dance classes twice a week, football game on Friday, and competition on Saturday. With all of these commitments, naturally my academics are given the least amount of attention. But as I am a perfectionist, I desire to achieve straight A’s despite what that may do to my sleep schedule.

High school students who are involved in extracurricular activities tend to give up either the success of their grades or the amount of sleep they need. Homework is a contributing factor to this lack of one or the other. When homework is assigned in several classes, around two  hours are added to a student’s already packed schedule. The student has a choice between doing their homework when they get home and losing sleep, or not doing their homework when they get home and allowing their grade to suffer.

A solution is to simply abolish homework completely. Classwork should be assigned to be completed during that class period, and excess work should not be assigned to be completed outside of school.