Students and teachers have been trying to reach a compromise on homework for quiet some time now. The amount of homework that should be assigned each day has been overly argued. However, individual teachers’ homework policy has become another debate topic. Many students whine about their teacher’s homework policies being too strict, but the blame isn’t to be put on the teachers.

Each teacher at Paly has a different homework policy. Some teachers have extremely strict policies, while others may not even collect homework.

A chemistry teacher at Paly counts lab reports late if they are turned in 2 minutes after the bell. While some students consider this unfair and too strict, I find nothing wrong with the rule. If the student has a legitimate reason for being late or absent, the teacher will not mark the report down. The main purpose of this rule is to prevent students from cheating or purposely handing the report in late with a fake excuse.

A social studies teacher marks research papers a full grade down for each day it’s late. With all the effort that was put into the research paper, it would be really unfair to the student if he was absent on the date the paper is due. Well if the student really cared about his grade, he wouldn’t hesitate a second before calling a friend to bring the paper in for him. Or if he has no friends, parents can do the job just as well, sometimes better.

An English teacher at Paly will not accept late work for the biggest assignment of the year. The assignment is worth about four or five times as much as others, and can take up to 10 hours to complete. Yet all effort will be in vain if the assignment is not handed in on the due day. This may seem harsh but you have to ask yourself, does this rule really matter if you just hand the assignment in on time like you’re suppose to?

The blame cannot be pushed onto the teacher’s homework policy if the students are not doing all they can to get their work handed in. It is the students’ responsibility to finish their work and hand them in on time. Students cannot expect teachers to cave in to their every complaint. Homework is the easiest way to bring up one’s grade in a class, so why cant’ you just follow a few simple rules and hand in your homework on time?