After being startled awake by an alarm clock before the sun even rises a student begins their day. Most probably press the sleep on their alarm and cherish the last few minutes knowing that shortly they will have to rush into their bathroom to shower and brush their teeth. From there they grab a quick breakfast, something that they can eat on their way as they run out the door to catch the bus. That is merely the beginning for students. Students are expected to sit through eight hours of classes with only a slight reprieve halfway through the day for their lunch break. There are many reasons why students hate doing their homework, most of which have to do with the enormous amount of time and effort that is expected from students during school and then carried over into their home and personal life through homework assigned by their teachers.
Homework Assignments
Students, just like full-time employees at businesses, are expected to actively participate and engage throughout their eight hours of classes. Along with active participation, students are expected to put in their best possible work, something that is then tested through homework, assignments, quizzes, tests, and projects. Unlike employees, students are obviously not financially compensated for their work. The only thing students get to take home from their educational work day is a book bag weighed down with homework. Another way in which employees differ from students, is that unlike students, most employees get the opportunity to leave their paperwork and assignments at work, on their desk when their shift has ended. Students do not get the luxury of leaving their work for school. They instead are expected to finish their eight hour, unpaid shift at school with a break on the bus ride and when they arrive home they need to begin doing the additional work that their teachers have assigned to them. The last thing a student wants to do when they arrive home is begin working on the pounds of homework, which only seems to get heavier as they grow older. They try to ignore the nagging feeling in their gut that they still have history vocabulary to memorize and a chapter of "Gone with the Wind" to finish reading for English class before awakening the next day to start the whole routine all over again.
Like employees, students, yearn to come home from school and relax. They believe their down time after school is a time that they could spend vising with friends or making some extra cash at their part-time job. Students hate homework so much because they believe that after spending the last eight hours in class completing work they should not be expected to come home and complete homework especially when their time is not being compensated with cash like their teachers' time. To most students homework is seen merely as busy work that has been assigned by their teachers as a special form of torture to eliminate every student's free time and social life. From the second the school day begins students are expected to complete all of the work that has been assigned to them with the dreadful, nagging feeling that the school work is only the beginning because when they get home they will have homework that will need to be completed for the next day's class.
It feels hypocritical for students to know that when they finally get home after a long day of working, participating, and engaging for free, it is only to begin starting their homework. While students are expected to do their homework they imagine their teachers getting to finish up their paid shift and come home to relax. They imagine that unlike them their teachers will have the opportunity to go out to dinner, enjoy some television while relaxing on their couch, or go to bed early while students stay up late finishing their homework.