homework much many

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So much or so many homework

• Thread starter wilnab
• Start date Dec 25, 2009
• Dec 25, 2009

i have a homework that confuses me....please help me clarify these... Which is correct? so much homework or so many homework ? thanks  

Senior Member

wilnab said: i I have a homework question that confuses me. ... P lease help me clarify these. .. Which is correct? so much homework or so many homework ? T hanks . Click to expand...

"Much" only with uncount nouns, "many" - only with count ones.  

• Dec 27, 2009

Hi, Please help me clarify two more sentences that confuses me and why is it the answer, 1. Jorge has had (so, such, so much, so many) serious problems with his boss that he's thinking of quitting of his job. 2. The dentist said the reason I have (so, such, so much, so many) terrible teeth is because I eat (so, such, so much , so many) sugar. 3. Yesterday, I got (so, such, so much, so many) e-mail messages that it took me all afternoon to answer them. Thank you.  

wilnab said: Hi, Please help me clarify two more sentences that confuses me and why is it the answer, 1. Jorge has had (so, such, so much, so many ) serious problems with his boss that he's thinking of quitting of his job. 2. The dentist said the reason I have (so, such , so much, so many ) terrible teeth is because I eat (so, such, so much , so many) sugar. 3. Yesterday, I got (so, such, so much, so many ) e-mail messages that it took me all afternoon to answer them. Thank you. Click to expand...

• Dec 30, 2009

hello, with further clarification below, why can't I use "such"? 1. Jorge has had (so, such, so much, so many ) serious problems with his boss that he's thinking of quitting of his job. Thank you.  

Member Emeritus

You can use "such."  

but in the rule of such is such + (a/an) + adjective + noun or I am just wrong...  

in so many is ... so many + count noun  

You have such a lovely home. You have such lovely eyes. You are such a pain. You have such painful memories. All are correct.  

how about in here? 2. The dentist said the reason I have (so, such, so much, so many ) terrible teeth is because I eat (so, such, so much , so many) sugar.  

2. The dentist said the reason I have (so, such , so much, so many) terrible teeth is because I eat (so, such, so much , so many) sugar. I believe that such is the answer to agree with with the reason but then I am not sure....Can anyone help me to reason out with that?  

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Much , many , a lot of , lots of : quantifiers

We use the quantifiers much, many , a lot of, lots of to talk about quantities, amounts and degree. We can use them with a noun (as a determiner) or without a noun (as a pronoun).

Much, many with a noun

We use much with singular uncountable nouns and many with plural nouns:

[talking about money ]

I haven’t got much change. I’ve only got a ten euro note.

Are there many campsites near you?

Questions and negatives

We usually use much and many with questions (?) and negatives (−):

Is there much unemployment in that area?

How many eggs are in this cake?

Do you think many people will come?

It was pouring with rain but there wasn’t much wind.

There aren’t many women priests.

Affirmatives

In affirmative clauses we sometimes use much and many in more formal styles:

There is much concern about drug addiction in the US.

He had heard many stories about Yanto and he knew he was trouble.

In informal styles, we prefer to use lots of or a lot of :

I went shopping and spent a lot of money.

Not: I went shopping and spent much money .

Lots , a lot , plenty

Much of, many of

When we use much or many before articles ( a/an, the ), demonstratives ( this, that ), possessives ( my, your ) or pronouns ( him, them ), we need to use of :

How much of this book is fact and how much is fiction?

Claude, the seventeenth-century French painter, spent much of his life in Italy.

Unfortunately, not many of the photographers were there.

How many of them can dance, sing and act?

This much, that much

When we are talking to someone face-to-face, we can use this much and that much with a hand gesture to indicate quantity:

[the speaker indicates a small amount with his fingers]

I only had that much cake.

A lot of , lots of with a noun

We use a lot of and lots of in informal styles. Lots of is more informal than a lot of . A lot of and lots of can both be used with plural countable nouns and with singular uncountable nouns for affirmatives, negatives, and questions:

We’ve got lots of things to do.

That’s a lot of money.

There weren’t a lot of choices.

Can you hurry up? I don’t have a lot of time.

Are there a lot of good players at your tennis club?

Have you eaten lots of chocolate?

Much , many , a lot of , lots of : negative questions

When we use much and many in negative questions, we are usually expecting that a large quantity of something isn’t there. When we use a lot of and lots of in negative questions, we are usually expecting a large quantity of something.

Much , many , a lot , lots : without a noun

We usually leave out the noun after much, many and a lot, lots when the noun is obvious:

A: Would you like some cheese? B: Yes please but not too much . (not too much cheese)

A: Can you pass me some envelopes? B: How many? (how many envelopes?)

A: How many people came? B: A lot . (or Lots .)

Much with comparative adjectives and adverbs: much older, much faster

We can use much before comparative adjectives and adverbs to make a stronger comparison:

Sometimes the prices in the local shop are much better than the supermarket’s prices.

I feel much calmer now I know she’s safe. (much calmer than I felt before)

She’s walking much more slowly since her operation. (much more slowly than before)

Too much , too many and so much , so many

Too much , too many with a noun.

We often use too before much and many . It means ‘more than necessary’. We can use too much before an uncountable noun and too many before a plural noun, or without a noun when the noun is obvious:

I bought too much food. We had to throw some of it away.

They had a lot of work to do. Too much . (too much work)

There are too many cars on the road. More people should use public transport.

There are 35 children in each class. It’s too many . (too many children)

So much , so many with a noun

We use so rather than very before much and many in affirmative clauses to emphasise a very large quantity of something:

He has so much money!

Not: He has very much money!

There were so many jobs to do.

As much as , as many as

When we want to make comparisons connected with quantity, we use as much as and as many as :

Try and find out as much information as you can.

You can ask as many questions as you want.

Much , many and a lot of , lots of : typical errors

We use much with uncountable nouns and many with countable nouns:

It doesn’t need much effort.

Not: It doesn’t need many effort .

We usually use a lot of and lots of rather than much and many in informal affirmative clauses:

There are a lot of monuments and a lot of historic buildings in Rome.

Not: There are many monuments and many historic buildings in Rome .

She gave me a lot of information.

Not: She gave me much information .

We don’t use of after much or many when they come immediately before a noun without an article ( a/an, the ), demonstrative ( this, that ), possessive ( my, your ) or pronoun ( him, them ):

They haven’t made many friends here.

Not: They haven’t made many of friends here .

We don’t use a lot of without a noun:

A: Do many people work in your building? B: Yes. Quite a lot . (quite a lot of people)

Not: Quite a lot of .

Word of the Day

have irons in the fire

to be involved with many activities or jobs at the same time or to make certain that there are always several possibilities available

Binding, nailing, and gluing: talking about fastening things together

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• I have a lot of books in my bag.
• They drink lots of water .
• There are n't many tomatoes .
• I do n't eat much sugar .
• ‘ How much rice do you eat? ’   ‘ Quite a lot . ’
• ‘ How many potatoes are there? ’   ‘ Not many . ’
• ‘ How much money do you have? ’   ‘ None . ’
• I do n't have any money .
• He eats a lot of apples .
• I drink lots of milk .
• I eat quite a lot of apples . I eat quite lots of apples.
• I drink quite a lot of milk .
• We do n't have many books . ( = We have a small number. )
• I do n't have much money . ( = I have a small amount. )
• We do n't eat lots of potatoes .
• I do n't have a lot of time .
• How many books has she got?
• How many cars are there?
• How much money do you need?
• How much cheese do you eat?
• ‘ How many shops are there? ’   ‘ A few./Quite a lot./ A lot. ’
• ‘ How much homework do you have? ’   ‘ A little./None. ’
• ‘ How many shops are there? ’   ‘ There are quite a lot of shops . ’
• ‘ How much money have you got? ’   ‘ I have n't got any money . ’
• ‘ How much meat do you eat? ’   ‘ None ./I do n't eat any meat. ’
• ‘ How much money is there? ’   ‘ None ./There's no money. ’
• Practice 1   Gap-fill
• Practice 2   Gap-fill
• Practice 3   Gap-fill
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• Practice 7   Gap-fill
• Practice 8   Gap-fill
• Practice 9   Multiple choice

Much or Many?

Many people confuse the words much or many. These two words are not used interchangeably, usually in sentences that ask a question or state a negative. In short:

• You use much with nouns that are singular and not countable. An example is: How much water is in the fish tank?
• You use many with nouns that are plural and countable. An example is: How many pizzas should I buy?

Now, it is your chance to practice. Complete the following sentences by using either much or many correctly.

• Our Mission

What’s the Right Amount of Homework?

Decades of research show that homework has some benefits, especially for students in middle and high school—but there are risks to assigning too much.

Many teachers and parents believe that homework helps students build study skills and review concepts learned in class. Others see homework as disruptive and unnecessary, leading to burnout and turning kids off to school. Decades of research show that the issue is more nuanced and complex than most people think: Homework is beneficial, but only to a degree. Students in high school gain the most, while younger kids benefit much less.

The National PTA and the National Education Association support the “ 10-minute homework guideline ”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But many teachers and parents are quick to point out that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the amount of time spent on it.

The guideline doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. And homework can widen the achievement gap, putting students from low-income households and students with learning disabilities at a disadvantage.

However, the 10-minute guideline is useful in setting a limit: When kids spend too much time on homework, there are real consequences to consider.

Small Benefits for Elementary Students

As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning, and assigning too much homework can undermine that goal. And young students often don’t have the study skills to benefit fully from homework, so it may be a poor use of time (Cooper, 1989 ; Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). A more effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically and graduate from high school (Fiester, 2013 ).

For second-grade teacher Jacqueline Fiorentino, the minor benefits of homework did not outweigh the potential drawback of turning young children against school at an early age, so she experimented with dropping mandatory homework. “Something surprising happened: They started doing more work at home,” Fiorentino writes . “This inspiring group of 8-year-olds used their newfound free time to explore subjects and topics of interest to them.” She encouraged her students to read at home and offered optional homework to extend classroom lessons and help them review material.

Moderate Benefits for Middle School Students

As students mature and develop the study skills necessary to delve deeply into a topic—and to retain what they learn—they also benefit more from homework. Nightly assignments can help prepare them for scholarly work, and research shows that homework can have moderate benefits for middle school students (Cooper et al., 2006 ). Recent research also shows that online math homework, which can be designed to adapt to students’ levels of understanding, can significantly boost test scores (Roschelle et al., 2016 ).

There are risks to assigning too much, however: A 2015 study found that when middle school students were assigned more than 90 to 100 minutes of daily homework, their math and science test scores began to decline (Fernández-Alonso, Suárez-Álvarez, & Muñiz, 2015 ). Crossing that upper limit can drain student motivation and focus. The researchers recommend that “homework should present a certain level of challenge or difficulty, without being so challenging that it discourages effort.” Teachers should avoid low-effort, repetitive assignments, and assign homework “with the aim of instilling work habits and promoting autonomous, self-directed learning.”

In other words, it’s the quality of homework that matters, not the quantity. Brian Sztabnik, a veteran middle and high school English teacher, suggests that teachers take a step back and ask themselves these five questions :

• How long will it take to complete?
• Have all learners been considered?
• Will an assignment encourage future success?
• Will an assignment place material in a context the classroom cannot?
• Does an assignment offer support when a teacher is not there?

More Benefits for High School Students, but Risks as Well

By the time they reach high school, students should be well on their way to becoming independent learners, so homework does provide a boost to learning at this age, as long as it isn’t overwhelming (Cooper et al., 2006 ; Marzano & Pickering, 2007 ). When students spend too much time on homework—more than two hours each night—it takes up valuable time to rest and spend time with family and friends. A 2013 study found that high school students can experience serious mental and physical health problems, from higher stress levels to sleep deprivation, when assigned too much homework (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013 ).

Homework in high school should always relate to the lesson and be doable without any assistance, and feedback should be clear and explicit.

Teachers should also keep in mind that not all students have equal opportunities to finish their homework at home, so incomplete homework may not be a true reflection of their learning—it may be more a result of issues they face outside of school. They may be hindered by issues such as lack of a quiet space at home, resources such as a computer or broadband connectivity, or parental support (OECD, 2014 ). In such cases, giving low homework scores may be unfair.

Since the quantities of time discussed here are totals, teachers in middle and high school should be aware of how much homework other teachers are assigning. It may seem reasonable to assign 30 minutes of daily homework, but across six subjects, that’s three hours—far above a reasonable amount even for a high school senior. Psychologist Maurice Elias sees this as a common mistake: Individual teachers create homework policies that in aggregate can overwhelm students. He suggests that teachers work together to develop a school-wide homework policy and make it a key topic of back-to-school night and the first parent-teacher conferences of the school year.

Parents Play a Key Role

Homework can be a powerful tool to help parents become more involved in their child’s learning (Walker et al., 2004 ). It can provide insights into a child’s strengths and interests, and can also encourage conversations about a child’s life at school. If a parent has positive attitudes toward homework, their children are more likely to share those same values, promoting academic success.

But it’s also possible for parents to be overbearing, putting too much emphasis on test scores or grades, which can be disruptive for children (Madjar, Shklar, & Moshe, 2015 ). Parents should avoid being overly intrusive or controlling—students report feeling less motivated to learn when they don’t have enough space and autonomy to do their homework (Orkin, May, & Wolf, 2017 ; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008 ; Silinskas & Kikas, 2017 ). So while homework can encourage parents to be more involved with their kids, it’s important to not make it a source of conflict.

Many / much - exercises

Many / much / a lot of

• How much / how many

Worksheets - handouts

Many / much

Worksheets - exercises.

• Many / much - pdf worksheet
• Many / much - worksheet
• Quantifiers - handout
• Much and many - exercises
• Some / any / much / many
• Many / much / few / little
• Quantifiers - worksheet
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• Some / any / much / many...
• Countable / uncountable
• Many / much / some / any
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Grammar lessons / rules

• Much / many / lot / little / few
• How much / how many - grammar
• Much / many / a lot of - quantifiers

• many or  much  — Exercise 1
• 1. I don’t eat bread. much
• 2. He drank so wine that he couldn't drive. much
• 3. Susan has friends in the USA. many
• 4. I'm sorry, but I don't have time. much
• 5. I have never seen so birds in the sky. many
• 6. There were cars on the road. many
• 7. Emma wants to lose some weight, so she doesn't eat food. much
• 8. houses in my street look the same. many
• 9. Not people know that I've decided to move to Australia. many
• 10. There isn't space in my flat. much
• 11. My daughter has toys. many
• 12. I don't drink coffee lately. much
• 13. How money did you spend yesterday? much
• 14. I see maple trees out of my window. many
• 15. I've put too salt in the soup. much
• many or  much  — Exercise 2
• many or  much  — Exercise 3
• many or  much  — Exercise 4
• Change into plural — Exercise 1
• Change into plural — Exercise 2

Much or Many?

• Confusing Words

We use use much and many in questions and negative sentences. They both show an amount of something.

Use 'Much' with uncountable nouns

We use much with singular nouns.

Question: "How much petrol is in the car?" Negative clause: "We don't have much time left."

Use 'Many' with countable nouns

We use many with plural nouns

Question: "How many people were at the meeting?" Negative clause: "Not many of the students understood the lesson."

Use a 'A lot of' and 'Lots of' with both

Both mean a large amount. We use them with countable and uncountable nouns. A lot of is a little more formal sounding than lots of .

"A lot of people work here." "Lots of people work here."

Uncountable:

"There was a lot of snow last night." "There was lots of snow last night."

Now decide which word is needed to complete these sentences:

• 1 - How ___ kittens did your cat have? many much
• 2 - There are not ___ dishes left to clean. much many
• 3 - Why was there so ___ smoke in the room? much many
• 4 - There were so ___ people on the bus I got off and walked. much many
• 5 - We don't see ___ birds in winter. much many
• 6 - How ___ money should I save? much many
• 7 - We couldn't think of ___ good ideas. much many
• 8 - Does this TV use ___ electricity? many much
• 9 - Is our teacher going to give us ___ homework? many much
• 10 - There's ___ information to remember. much many a lot of

• Lesson Index

Seven Letters

English language Schools

Much, Many, Or, A Lot Of

Table of Contents

Much many a lot of:.

Much , many , and a lot are quantifiers . They indicate a large quantity of something. For example, “ I have a lot of friends ” means I have a large number of friends. “ I don’t have much money ” means I don’t have a large amount of money.

Much, Many, and A lot with countable and Uncountable Nouns

The choice between “much,” “many,” and “a lot” depends on whether the noun is countable or uncountable .

Many For Uncountable Nouns:

• Definition: “Much” is used with uncountable nouns (e.g., money, bread, water)
• Question: How much money have you got?
• Answer: I haven’t got much money.

Many For Countable Nouns:

• Definition: “Many” is used with countable nouns (e.g., students, desks, windows).
• Question: How many students are in the classroom?
• Answer: There aren’t many .

Positive, Negative, and Questions

In the interrogative forms we use:.

• How  much  money/bread/water…is there?
• How  many  students/teachers/desks… are there?

( See the lesson on countable and countable nouns  )

In the negative forms we use:

• I haven’t got  much  money/bread/water…
• There aren’t  many  students/teachers/desks…

In the affirmative forms:

In spoken English and informal writing we tend to use:

• A lot, a lot of, lots of  with countable and uncountable nouns.
• “How many students are there in the classroom?”
• “There are  a lot .”
• “There are  a lot of  /  lots of  students”.
• In formal written English, “much” and “many” are sometimes used instead of “a lot of,” “lots of,” and “a lot.”
• Along the way, there are many  surprises and exciting adventures.
• There are many  reasons for swollen feet.
• There are many success stories in our team.
• Much time was spent on studying.
• Today, there is much  confusion in the world.
• There is much  talk concerning the equality of men and women.

Much And Many With “SO”, “Too”, and “AS”

In affirmative sentences with so , as, or too , we also use much/many .

• “Carla has so many friends.”
• “She has as many friends as Sue.”
• “Kevin has too much money.”

More on much man a lot of here .

Related Materials:

• Exercise on much, many or a lot
• See also “countable and uncountable nouns”
• See also “A Little And A Few”

• Adjectives, Adverbs and Related Topics
• General Grammar Exercises
• Nouns and Related Topics
• Prepositions
• Verb Tenses
• Verbs and Related Topics
• Listening Comprehension Exercises
• Sound Contrast
• Reading Exercises
• Cloze Exercises
• Advanced Vocabulary
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Much/Many, A lot of

You are here, much and many.

We use much with noncount nouns and many with count nouns .

• Many cars are equipped with GPS systems.
• I ate too many apples .
• How many trees did you plant this weekend?
• I don't know how many girls there are at our school.
• I don't have much money .
• Our teacher gives us too much homework .
• How much sugar do we have?
• I don't know how much water I drank.

We use a lot of with noncount nouns and plural count nouns.

• I ate a lot of apples .
• A lot of people like to swim at night.
• That dog has a lot of fleas .
• Mary bought a lot of furniture .
• The man gave us a lot of advice .
• Our teacher gave us a lot of homework .

Test your knowledge

Directions: Choose the best answer to fill in the blank. (10 problems)

More Activities on this Topic

• A Lot of (count noun / noncount noun) (Beginner to Intermediate)
• Much and Many (Beginner)
• Count/Noncount Nouns (tutorial & quiz)
• Count/Noncount Nouns (Beginner)
• Count/Noncount Nouns GAME (Beginner to Intermediate)

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Much, Many, and A lot – Easy English grammar (Video-Quiz-PDF)

The words MUCH, MANY, and A LOT (LOTS) show there is a large amount of something. Much is used with uncountable nouns. (smoke, water, money, etc.) Many is used with plural countable nouns. (cars, sunglasses, people, etc.) A lot (Lots) can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

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MUCH, MANY, and A LOT

This blog post will help you understand this grammar with images and lots of examples. Also,  improve your listening and pronunciation skills with the MUCH vs. MANY video at the end of the post. Soon you’ll be sounding just like a native speaker!

• MUCH rules and examples
• MANY rules and examples
• A LOT OF (LOTS OF) – rules and examples
• Countable Vs. Uncountable (Groups Vs. Items)
• Too much – Too many
• So much – So many
• Bonus #1 – Quiz
• Bonus #2 – PDF Download
• Bonus #3 – Much Many and A Lot infographic

MUCH is used with nouns we cannot count. Words like smoke, water, money , help .

• There is too much smoke in this restaurant.

MUCH is most often used in negative sentences. Too much or not much of something.

Saying “I have much money .” is not natural.

• I drank too much beer last night at the party!
• Kyle would like to travel more, but he doesn’t have much money .
• Sorry, I’m not much help .

MANY is used with the plural forms of nouns we can count. Words like: cars, sunglasses, people

• There are many people on this train.
• There are too many cars on the road. Public transportation is better for the environment.
• I have many apps on my iPhone.

*Apps is the plural form of the countable noun ‘app.’ It’s short for a software application.

Lot also shows a large amount of something. A LOT and LOTS have the same meaning, they are usually followed by OF, and they can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns. 

• He has lots of money. (Money is an uncountable noun)
• There are a lot of people on this train (People is the plural form of the countable noun person).

Difference #1 . A LOT OF is only telling you the size or amount of something whereas TOO MANY or TOO MUCH has a more negative feeling. It’s more than you need. A LOT doesn’t have this negative feeling.

Difference #2 . A LOT is not used with measurements of time or distance. For example, we can say “My school is many kilometers from my house.” But we would never say “My school is a lot of kilometers from my house.” X

• The captain spent many months away from his family. *Not a lot of months

Difference #3 . As an adverb, A LOT is rarely used in negative sentences. MUCH is better in these sentences.

• Pete lies to people, I don’t like him very much .

Positive sentences are fine.

• Jason is a nice guy, I like him a lot .

Countable Vs. Uncountable

Countable nouns are nouns that we can count, this means that they have a plural form.

Dogs is the plural form of the countable noun dog.

Children is the plural form of the countable noun child.

Uncountable nouns are nouns that we cannot count, they do not have a plural form. 

Uncountable noun examples:

Nouns that are liquid

coffee, glue, toothpaste, etc.

• If I drink too much coffee it’s hard to sleep.

*So far, we have used the uncountable noun examples water , beer , and coffee . You can guess that anything we drink is uncountable .

• Can you stop at the drugstore and buy some toothpaste ? We don’t have much left.

*Ice cream is not a liquid but we don’t count it. Ice cream is an uncountable noun .

• The restaurant had an all-you-can-eat ice cream bar so I ate much ice cream. This is incorrect. Using A LOT OF is better in this sentence. 
• The restaurant had an all-you-can-eat ice cream bar so I ate A LOT OF ice cream.

Nouns that are gas

smoke, steam, etc.

• Can we have a table in the back? There is not much smoke there.
• I don’t like the sauna at my gym. There is too much steam .

Nouns that are very small and act as a group

sand, rice, etc.

• We’re going to the beach but wear your shoes, the beach is mostly rocks. There is not much sand .
• The beef curry at this restaurant has just a few pieces of meat and too much rice .

Nouns that are categories

music, art, furniture, etc.

• When I was younger, I listened to a lot of music. Now I don’t listen to much music at all.
• My hometown had a very small museum. There was never much art to see there.

Other examples of uncountable nouns that you might hear with MUCH

luck, traffic, bread, hair, money.

• My brother and I went fishing this morning but we didn’t have much luck . I only caught 2 fish and they were quite small.
• I like to get to the office before 7:00. It’s quiet in the morning and there is not much traffic on the roads.
• My aunt makes delicious bread , but I always eat too much .
• When Ian was younger he had a lot of hair but now he doesn’t have very much .

Countable Vs. Uncountable Groups Vs. Items

Here is a chart with some countable and uncountable word pairs that describe groups ( uncountable ) and things ( countable ) are part of that group.

Groups – uncountable

Things in group – countable.

• Chair, table, sofa
• Chance, accident
• Car, van, motorcycle
• Dollar, Euro

Too MUCH – Too MANY

The adverb TOO is used to show that the amount of something is more than is good, necessary, possible, etc. This is a negative feeling.

TOO is used before adjectives and adverbs:

We arrived at the hotel 3 hours before check-in. We are TOO early.

• We arrived earlier than necessary. (Early is an adjective)

When TOO is used before much and many it is stressing that amount of the noun that follows it is more than is good, necessary, possible, etc.

I put too much sugar in my coffee this morning. I couldn’t finish it. (The amount of sugar is more than I needed, it had a negative effect on the coffee.)

TOO can be used with both much and many.

There are too many cars on the road.

I wanted to take a walk in the woods but there are too many mosquitoes tonight.

Thanks to Cambridge English .

So MUCH So MANY

Below is a quote from my SO and SUCH blog post (with video)

SO can be used with the determiners much, many, little, and few to make these words stronger. In English grammar, a determiner is a word that comes before a noun to show how the noun is being used.

• Greg has so much responsibility at work. I feel bad for him, he works overtime every day.

The noun responsibility is uncountable.

• There are so many rules at my school.

Rules is a plural countable noun.

MUCH or MANY QUIZ 8 questions – Test your English

Much, many, and a lot infographic.

MUCH, MANY, and A LOT Conclusion

Remember that MUCH is used with uncountable nouns usually in negative sentences. MANY is used with countable nouns in both positive and negative sentences. A LOT OF can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Thanks for reading my post. Use this grammar correctly and sound like a native speaker when you use English.

11-page MUCH, MANY, and A LOT PDF Download (the PDF includes a new quiz!)

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More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

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There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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11 Surprising Homework Statistics, Facts & Data

The age-old question of whether homework is good or bad for students is unanswerable because there are so many “ it depends ” factors.

For example, it depends on the age of the child, the type of homework being assigned, and even the child’s needs.

There are also many conflicting reports on whether homework is good or bad. This is a topic that largely relies on data interpretation for the researcher to come to their conclusions.

To cut through some of the fog, below I’ve outlined some great homework statistics that can help us understand the effects of homework on children.

Homework Statistics List

1. 45% of parents think homework is too easy for their children.

A study by the Center for American Progress found that parents are almost twice as likely to believe their children’s homework is too easy than to disagree with that statement.

Here are the figures for math homework:

• 46% of parents think their child’s math homework is too easy.
• 25% of parents think their child’s math homework is not too easy.
• 29% of parents offered no opinion.

Here are the figures for language arts homework:

• 44% of parents think their child’s language arts homework is too easy.
• 28% of parents think their child’s language arts homework is not too easy.
• 28% of parents offered no opinion.

These findings are based on online surveys of 372 parents of school-aged children conducted in 2018.

2. 93% of Fourth Grade Children Worldwide are Assigned Homework

The prestigious worldwide math assessment Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) took a survey of worldwide homework trends in 2007. Their study concluded that 93% of fourth-grade children are regularly assigned homework, while just 7% never or rarely have homework assigned.

3. 17% of Teens Regularly Miss Homework due to Lack of High-Speed Internet Access

A 2018 Pew Research poll of 743 US teens found that 17%, or almost 2 in every 5 students, regularly struggled to complete homework because they didn’t have reliable access to the internet.

This figure rose to 25% of Black American teens and 24% of teens whose families have an income of less than $30,000 per year.

4. Parents Spend 6.7 Hours Per Week on their Children’s Homework

A 2018 study of 27,500 parents around the world found that the average amount of time parents spend on homework with their child is 6.7 hours per week. Furthermore, 25% of parents spend more than 7 hours per week on their child’s homework.

American parents spend slightly below average at 6.2 hours per week, while Indian parents spend 12 hours per week and Japanese parents spend 2.6 hours per week.

5. Students in High-Performing High Schools Spend on Average 3.1 Hours per night Doing Homework

A study by Galloway, Conner & Pope (2013) conducted a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California. 

Across these high-performing schools, students self-reported that they did 3.1 hours per night of homework.

Graduates from those schools also ended up going on to college 93% of the time.

6. One to Two Hours is the Optimal Duration for Homework

A 2012 peer-reviewed study in the High School Journal found that students who conducted between one and two hours achieved higher results in tests than any other group.

However, the authors were quick to highlight that this “t is an oversimplification of a much more complex problem.” I’m inclined to agree. The greater variable is likely the quality of the homework than time spent on it.

Nevertheless, one result was unequivocal: that some homework is better than none at all : “students who complete any amount of homework earn higher test scores than their peers who do not complete homework.”

7. 74% of Teens cite Homework as a Source of Stress

A study by the Better Sleep Council found that homework is a source of stress for 74% of students. Only school grades, at 75%, rated higher in the study.

That figure rises for girls, with 80% of girls citing homework as a source of stress.

Similarly, the study by Galloway, Conner & Pope (2013) found that 56% of students cite homework as a “primary stressor” in their lives.

8. US Teens Spend more than 15 Hours per Week on Homework

The same study by the Better Sleep Council also found that US teens spend over 2 hours per school night on homework, and overall this added up to over 15 hours per week.

Surprisingly, 4% of US teens say they do more than 6 hours of homework per night. That’s almost as much homework as there are hours in the school day.

The only activity that teens self-reported as doing more than homework was engaging in electronics, which included using phones, playing video games, and watching TV.

9. The 10-Minute Rule

The National Education Association (USA) endorses the concept of doing 10 minutes of homework per night per grade.

For example, if you are in 3rd grade, you should do 30 minutes of homework per night. If you are in 4th grade, you should do 40 minutes of homework per night.

However, this ‘rule’ appears not to be based in sound research. Nevertheless, it is true that homework benefits (no matter the quality of the homework) will likely wane after 2 hours (120 minutes) per night, which would be the NEA guidelines’ peak in grade 12.

10. 21.9% of Parents are Too Busy for their Children’s Homework

An online poll of nearly 300 parents found that 21.9% are too busy to review their children’s homework. On top of this, 31.6% of parents do not look at their children’s homework because their children do not want their help. For these parents, their children’s unwillingness to accept their support is a key source of frustration.

11. 46.5% of Parents find Homework too Hard

The same online poll of parents of children from grades 1 to 12 also found that many parents struggle to help their children with homework because parents find it confusing themselves. Unfortunately, the study did not ask the age of the students so more data is required here to get a full picture of the issue.

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Interpreting the Data

Unfortunately, homework is one of those topics that can be interpreted by different people pursuing differing agendas. All studies of homework have a wide range of variables, such as:

• What age were the children in the study?
• What was the homework they were assigned?
• What tools were available to them?
• What were the cultural attitudes to homework and how did they impact the study?
• Is the study replicable?

The more questions we ask about the data, the more we realize that it’s hard to come to firm conclusions about the pros and cons of homework .

Furthermore, questions about the opportunity cost of homework remain. Even if homework is good for children’s test scores, is it worthwhile if the children consequently do less exercise or experience more stress?

Thus, this ends up becoming a largely qualitative exercise. If parents and teachers zoom in on an individual child’s needs, they’ll be able to more effectively understand how much homework a child needs as well as the type of homework they should be assigned.

Related: Funny Homework Excuses

The debate over whether homework should be banned will not be resolved with these homework statistics. But, these facts and figures can help you to pursue a position in a school debate on the topic – and with that, I hope your debate goes well and you develop some great debating skills!

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
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Poland’s kids rejoice over new rules against homework. Teachers and parents aren’t so sure

Ola Kozak, 11, sits at the table where she used to do her homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday April 5, 2024. Ola is happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. Julian enjoyed doing his homework. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Arkadiusz Korporowicz teaches history to 5th grade children at Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Pawel Kozak and his wife Magda Kozak, parents of three, stand at their home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. They have different opinions on the decision by Poland’s government that ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Children enter a classroom at the Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Julian Kozak, 9, sits at the table where he used to do his homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday April 5, 2024. Julian is not very happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Ola Kozak, 11, right, and her younger brother Julian Kozak, 9, sit at the table where they used to do their homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday April 5, 2024. Ola is happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. Julian enjoyed doing his homework. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Poland’s Education Minister Barbara Nowacka announces restrictions on the amount of homework for primary school children, at school number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Opinions are divided on what results can be expected from the strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Pawel Kozak, father of three, speaks at his home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Pawel and her wife Magda have different opinions on the decision by Poland’s government that ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Magda Kozak, mother of three, stands at her home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Magda and her husband Pawel have different opinions on the decision by Poland’s government that ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Julian Kozak, 9, sits at the table where he used to do his homework at the family home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Julian is not very happy that Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Magda Kozak, right, spends time with her son Julian, 9, at their home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Neither of them is happy that starting in April, Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Children walk in the corridor of Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Children with flowers wait for the arrival of Education Minister Barbara Nowacka at Primary School number 223 in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday April 3, 2024. Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades, starting in April. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Julian Kozak, 9, plays with his cat at their home in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, April 5, 2024. Starting in April, Poland’s government has ordered strict limits on the amount of homework that teachers can impose on the lower grades. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ola Kozak is celebrating. The 11-year-old, who loves music and drawing, expects to have more free time for her hobbies after Poland’s government ordered strict limits on the amount of homework in the lower grades.

“I am happy,” said the fifth grader, who lives in a Warsaw suburb with her parents and younger siblings. The lilac-colored walls in her bedroom are covered in her art, and on her desk she keeps a framed picture she drew of Kurt Cobain.

“Most people in my class in the morning would copy the work off someone who had done the homework or would copy it from the internet. So it didn’t make sense,” she said.

The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk enacted the ban against required homework this month amid a broad discussion about the need to modernize Poland’s education system, which critics say puts too much emphasis on rote learning and homework, and not enough on critical thinking and creativity.

Under the decree, teachers are no longer to give required homework to kids in the first to third grades. In grades four to eight, homework is now optional and doesn’t count towards a grade.

Not everyone likes the change – and even Ola’s parents are divided.

“If there is something that will make students enjoy school more, then it will probably be good both for the students and for the school,” said her father, Pawel Kozak.

His wife, Magda Kozak, was skeptical. “I am not pleased, because (homework) is a way to consolidate what was learned,” she said. “It helps stay on top of what the child has really learned and what’s going on at school.”

(Ola’s brother Julian, a third grader, says he sees both sides.)

Debates over the proper amount of homework are common around the globe. While some studies have shown little benefit to homework for young learners, other experts say it can help them learn how to develop study habits and academic concepts.

Poland’s educational system has undergone a number of controversial overhauls. Almost every new government has tried to make changes — something many teachers and parents say has left them confused and discouraged. For example, after communism was thrown off, middle schools were introduced. Then under the last government, the previous system was brought back. More controversy came in recent years when ultra-conservative views were pushed in new textbooks.

For years, teachers have been fleeing the system due to low wages and political pressure. The current government is trying to increase teacher salaries and has promised other changes that teachers approve of.

But Sławomir Broniarz, the head of the Polish Teachers’ Union, said that while he recognized the need to ease burdens on students, the new homework rules are another case of change imposed from above without adequate consultation with educators.

“In general, the teachers think that this happened too quickly, too hastily,” he said.

He argued that removing homework could widen the educational gaps between kids who have strong support at home and those from poorer families with less support and lower expectations. Instead, he urged wider changes to the entire curriculum.

The homework rules gained impetus in the runup to parliamentary elections last year, when a 14-year-old boy, Maciek Matuszewski, stood up at a campaign rally and told Tusk before a national audience that children “had no time to rest.” The boy said their rights were being violated with so much homework on weekends and so many tests on Mondays.

Tusk has since featured Matuszewski in social media videos and made him the face of the sudden change.

Education Minister Barbara Nowacka said she was prompted by research on children’s mental health. Of the various stresses children face, she said, “the one that could be removed fastest was the burden of homework.”

Pasi Sahlberg, a prominent Finnish educator and author, said the value of homework depends on what it is and how it is linked to overall learning. The need for homework can be “very individual and contextual.”

“We need to trust our teachers to decide what is good for each child,” Sahlberg said.

In South Korea, homework limits were set for elementary schools in 2017 amid concerns that kids were under too much pressure. However, teenagers in the education-obsessed country often cram long into the night and get tutoring to meet the requirements of demanding school and university admission tests.

In the U.S., teachers and parents decide for themselves how much homework to assign. Some elementary schools have done away with homework entirely to give children more time to play, participate in activities and spend time with families.

A guideline circulated by teachers unions in the U.S. recommends about 10 minutes of homework per grade. So, 10 minutes in first grade, 20 minutes in second grade and so on.

The COVID-19 pandemic and a crisis around youth mental health have complicated debates around homework. In the U.S., extended school closures in some places were accompanied by steep losses in learning , which were often addressed with tutoring and other interventions paid for with federal pandemic relief money. At the same time, increased attention to student wellbeing led some teachers to consider alternate approaches including reduced or optional homework.

It’s important for children to learn that mastering something “usually requires practice, a lot of practice,” said Sahlberg, in Finland. If reducing homework leads kids and parents to think school expectations for excellence will be lowered, “things will go wrong.”

AP writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Michael Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed.

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About 1 in 5 U.S. teens who’ve heard of ChatGPT have used it for schoolwork

Roughly one-in-five teenagers who have heard of ChatGPT say they have used it to help them do their schoolwork, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17. With a majority of teens having heard of ChatGPT, that amounts to 13% of all U.S. teens who have used the generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot in their schoolwork.

Teens in higher grade levels are particularly likely to have used the chatbot to help them with schoolwork. About one-quarter of 11th and 12th graders who have heard of ChatGPT say they have done this. This share drops to 17% among 9th and 10th graders and 12% among 7th and 8th graders.

There is no significant difference between teen boys and girls who have used ChatGPT in this way.

The introduction of ChatGPT last year has led to much discussion about its role in schools , especially whether schools should integrate the new technology into the classroom or ban it .

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand American teens’ use and understanding of ChatGPT in the school setting.

The Center conducted an online survey of 1,453 U.S. teens from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23, 2023, via Ipsos. Ipsos recruited the teens via their parents, who were part of its KnowledgePanel . The KnowledgePanel is a probability-based web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses. The survey was weighted to be representative of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 who live with their parents by age, gender, race and ethnicity, household income, and other categories.

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, an independent committee of experts specializing in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

Here are the  questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its  methodology .

Teens’ awareness of ChatGPT

Overall, two-thirds of U.S. teens say they have heard of ChatGPT, including 23% who have heard a lot about it. But awareness varies by race and ethnicity, as well as by household income:

• 72% of White teens say they’ve heard at least a little about ChatGPT, compared with 63% of Hispanic teens and 56% of Black teens.
• 75% of teens living in households that make $75,000 or more annually have heard of ChatGPT. Much smaller shares in households with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 (58%) and less than $30,000 (41%) say the same.

Teens who are more aware of ChatGPT are more likely to use it for schoolwork. Roughly a third of teens who have heard a lot about ChatGPT (36%) have used it for schoolwork, far higher than the 10% among those who have heard a little about it.

When do teens think it’s OK for students to use ChatGPT?

For teens, whether it is – or is not – acceptable for students to use ChatGPT depends on what it is being used for.

There is a fair amount of support for using the chatbot to explore a topic. Roughly seven-in-ten teens who have heard of ChatGPT say it’s acceptable to use when they are researching something new, while 13% say it is not acceptable.

However, there is much less support for using ChatGPT to do the work itself. Just one-in-five teens who have heard of ChatGPT say it’s acceptable to use it to write essays, while 57% say it is not acceptable. And 39% say it’s acceptable to use ChatGPT to solve math problems, while a similar share of teens (36%) say it’s not acceptable.

Some teens are uncertain about whether it’s acceptable to use ChatGPT for these tasks. Between 18% and 24% say they aren’t sure whether these are acceptable use cases for ChatGPT.

Those who have heard a lot about ChatGPT are more likely than those who have only heard a little about it to say it’s acceptable to use the chatbot to research topics, solve math problems and write essays. For instance, 54% of teens who have heard a lot about ChatGPT say it’s acceptable to use it to solve math problems, compared with 32% among those who have heard a little about it.

Note: Here are the  questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its  methodology .

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30,000 people will run the Boston Marathon. How many porta-potties will it take?

Hannah Loss

How many porta-potties does it take to relieve the Boston Marathon? A look at the "potty math" behind keeping thirty thousand runners and numerous spectators comfortable.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

The Boston Marathon is tomorrow, and it requires some serious logistics - hundreds of volunteers, first responders and lots and lots of port-a-potties. How do organizers figure out their port-a-potty math? Hannah Loss with member station GBH explains.

HANNAH LOSS, BYLINE: Santo Stramacchia has been ready for weeks.

SANTO STRAMACCHIA: So these are all units that are going for the marathon. We're already prepping.

LOSS: By units, he means portable toilets, you know, the blue plastic port-a-potties that align the 26.2-mile course from the town of Hopkinton into downtown Boston.

STRAMACCHIA: And everybody's already talking about it. Everybody's excited.

LOSS: We met two weeks before the marathon and gazed out across a sea of about 1,000 toilets, lined up on a dirt lot and in a warehouse in Northborough, Mass., 35 miles west of the finish line. Stramacchia is the field office manager for United Site Services here. The company has been supplying toilets to the marathon for over three decades. There's a special equation to figure out how many port-a-potties to provide, and it involves the different needs at spots along the course.

MICHELLE STRATTON: Seven hundred and thirty restrooms in Hopkinton alone.

LOSS: Michelle Stratton also works at United Site Services.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah, that's...

STRATTON: That's a lot of toilets.

LOSS: The starting line in Hopkinton gets the biggest batch. The toilets there are strategically placed for thousands of time-conscious runners, like near bus drop-offs.

STRATTON: 'Cause you don't want people having to wait in line because once they get off the bus, they got to get to the bathroom and then head - start heading to the start line.

LOSS: And at the starting line, Stramacchia says a bunch of port-a-potties will go right next to it for any last-minute nervous bathroom breaks.

STRAMACCHIA: There's 200 minimal at the CVS parking lot on Main Street.

LOSS: Along the course, he says runners can rely on 4 to 5 potties at each of the 24 hydration stations, plus more at each medical tent. They'll also set up about 50 accessible toilets for people with disabilities. And we haven't even talked about toilet paper math.

STRAMACCHIA: Each unit gets three rolls in it, so we order about 256 boxes.

LOSS: In grand total, there will be 1,400 port-a-potties at the marathon. The math to get to this number begins with a standard calculation for live events, one port-a-potty for every 100 people. Then that's adjusted based on other factors, like the number of hours and whether there's food or alcohol at the event.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS)

LOSS: The forklift was ready to load the port-a-potties onto flatbed trailers to take them to the famous marathon route. Once they're in place, there are some finishing touches.

STRAMACCHIA: Five or six gallons of water - you put it in there. Take your dye pack. You throw it in. It breaks. Boom, there you go. Your blue, scented, beautiful lavender water - whatever the flavor of the month is.

LOSS: And a handful of the newest toilets - Santo Stramacchia holds a special spot for those.

STRAMACCHIA: Those are the perfect unit. They're all good, but those would be the best of the best.

LOSS: Those, he said, go by the start and finish lines where there are the most cameras. For NPR News, I'm Hannah Loss in Boston.

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Yimou Lee is a Senior Correspondent for Reuters covering everything from Taiwan, including sensitive Taiwan-China relations, China's military aggression and Taiwan's key role as a global semiconductor powerhouse. A three-time SOPA award winner, his reporting from Hong Kong, China, Myanmar and Taiwan over the past decade includes Myanmar's crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, Hong Kong protests and Taiwan's battle against China's multifront campaigns to absorb the island.

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How much of the Masters purse did winner Scottie Scheffler get?

By Megan Cerullo

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: April 15, 2024 / 8:49 AM EDT / CBS News

A low score at the Masters at Augusta means a high payout for professional golfers.

The total purse for the 2024 Masters is $20 million, a record high, and up $2 million from last year. Tournament champion Scottie Scheffler took home a record $3.6 million — $360,000 more than last year's winner earned. Scheffler, who is American, also won the tournament in 2022, when he netted $2.7 million of a $15 million purse. 

In 2023, tournament winner John Rahm took home a $3.24 million payout in prize money, a nice chunk of that year's tournament's total $18 million purse. 

The remainder of the purse was split among 50 golfers, with the tournament's two runners-up taking home $1.6 million each in prize money. Only three golfers earned seven figures, based on how they placed. 

The purse for the 2024 competition at Augusta was announced Saturday. Following tradition, it is announced during, as opposed to in advance of the tournament. 

The 2024 Masters purse payout breakdown is as follows, with the top 50 golfers receiving cash prizes ranging from $3.6 million to $50,400. The remaining professionals, who do not place in the top 50, receive cash prices ranging downward from $49,200, based on their scores. Notably, amateurs do not earn money to compete. The first year the masters was played, in 1934, the purse was $5,000 and the winner took home $1,500. 

• Purse: $20 million
• Winner:  $3.6 million
• Second Place:  $2.16 million
• Third Place:  $1.36 million
• Fourth Place: $960,000
• Fifth Place:  $800,000
• Sixth Place: $720,000
• Seventh Place: $670,000
• Eighth Place: $620,000
• Ninth Place: $580,000
• Tenth Place: $540,000

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.

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Guest Essay

Many Patients Don’t Survive End-Stage Poverty

By Lindsay Ryan

Dr. Ryan is an associate physician at the University of California, San Francisco, department of medicine.

He has an easy smile, blue eyes and a life-threatening bone infection in one arm. Grateful for treatment, he jokes with the medical intern each morning. A friend, a fellow doctor, is supervising the man’s care. We both work as internists at a public hospital in the medical safety net , a loose term for institutions that disproportionately serve patients on Medicaid or without insurance. You could describe the safety net in another way, too, as a place that holds up a mirror to our nation.

What is reflected can be difficult to face. It’s this: After learning that antibiotics aren’t eradicating his infection and amputation is the only chance for cure, the man withdraws, says barely a word to the intern. When she asks what he’s thinking, his reply is so tentative that she has to prompt him to repeat himself. Now with a clear voice, he tells her that if his arm must be amputated, he doesn’t want to live. She doesn’t understand what it’s like to survive on the streets, he continues. With a disability, he’ll be a target — robbed, assaulted. He’d rather die, unless, he says later, someone can find him a permanent apartment. In that case, he’ll proceed with the amputation.

The psychiatrists evaluate him. He’s not suicidal. His reasoning is logical. The social workers search for rooms, but in San Francisco far more people need long-term rehousing than the available units can accommodate. That the medical care the patient is receiving exceeds the cost of a year’s rent makes no practical difference. Eventually, the palliative care doctors see him. He transitions to hospice and dies.

A death certificate would say he died of sepsis from a bone infection, but my friend and I have a term for the illness that killed him: end-stage poverty. We needed to coin a phrase because so many of our patients die of the same thing.

Safety-net hospitals and clinics care for a population heavily skewed toward the poor, recent immigrants and people of color. The budgets of these places are forever tight . And anyone who works in them could tell you that illness in our patients isn’t just a biological phenomenon. It’s the manifestation of social inequality in people’s bodies.

Neglecting this fact can make otherwise meticulous care fail. That’s why, on one busy night, a medical student on my team is scouring websites and LinkedIn. She’s not shirking her duties. In fact, she’s one of the best students I’ve ever taught.

This week she’s caring for a retired low-wage worker with strokes and likely early dementia who was found sleeping in the street. He abandoned his rent-controlled apartment when electrolyte and kidney problems triggered a period of severe confusion that has since been resolved. Now, with little savings, he has nowhere to go. A respite center can receive patients like him when it has vacancies. The alternative is a shelter bed. He’s nearly 90 years old.

Medical textbooks usually don’t discuss fixing your patient’s housing. They seldom include making sure your patient has enough food and some way to get to a clinic. But textbooks miss what my med students don’t: that people die for lack of these basics.

People struggle to keep wounds clean. Their medications get stolen. They sicken from poor diet, undervaccination and repeated psychological trauma. Forced to focus on short-term survival and often lacking cellphones, they miss appointments for everything from Pap smears to chemotherapy. They fall ill in myriad ways — and fall through the cracks in just as many.

Early in his hospitalization, our retired patient mentions a daughter, from whom he’s been estranged for years. He doesn’t know any contact details, just her name. It’s a long shot, but we wonder if she can take him in.

The med student has one mission: find her.

I love reading about medical advances. I’m blown away that with a brain implant, a person who’s paralyzed can move a robotic arm and that surgeons recently transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a man on dialysis. This is the best of American innovation and cause for celebration. But breakthroughs like these won’t fix the fact that despite spending the highest percentage of its G.D.P. on health care among O.E.C.D. nations, the United States has a life expectancy years lower than comparable nations—the U.K. and Canada— and a rate of preventable death far higher .

The solution to that problem is messy, incremental, protean and inglorious. It requires massive investment in housing, addiction treatment, free and low-barrier health care and social services. It calls for just as much innovation in the social realm as in the biomedical, for acknowledgment that inequities — based on race, class, primary language and other categories — mediate how disease becomes embodied. If health care is interpreted in the truest sense of caring for people’s health, it must be a practice that extends well beyond the boundaries of hospitals and clinics.

Meanwhile, on the ground, we make do. Though the social workers are excellent and try valiantly, there are too few of them , both in my hospital and throughout a country that devalues and underfunds their profession. And so the medical student spends hours helping the family of a newly arrived Filipino immigrant navigate the health insurance system. Without her efforts, he wouldn’t get treatment for acute hepatitis C. Another patient, who is in her 20s, can’t afford rent after losing her job because of repeated hospitalizations for pancreatitis — but she can’t get the pancreatic operation she needs without a home in which to recuperate. I phone an eviction defense lawyer friend; the young woman eventually gets surgery.

Sorting out housing and insurance isn’t the best use of my skill set or that of the medical students and residents, but our efforts can be rewarding. The internet turned up the work email of the daughter of the retired man. Her house was a little cramped with his grandchildren, she said, but she would make room. The medical student came in beaming.

In these cases we succeeded; in many others we don’t. Safety-net hospitals can feel like the rapids foreshadowing a waterfall, the final common destination to which people facing inequities are swept by forces beyond their control. We try our hardest to fish them out, but sometimes we can’t do much more than toss them a life jacket or maybe a barrel and hope for the best.

I used to teach residents about the principles of internal medicine — sodium disturbances, delirium management, antibiotics. I still do, but these days I also teach about other topics — tapping community resources, thinking creatively about barriers and troubleshooting how our patients can continue to get better after leaving the supports of the hospital.

When we debrief, residents tell me how much they struggle with the moral dissonance of working in a system in which the best medicine they can provide often falls short. They’re right about how much it hurts, so I don’t know exactly what to say to them. Perhaps I never will.

Lindsay Ryan is an associate physician at the University of California, San Francisco, department of medicine.

Source photographs by Bettmann and Fred W. McDarrah via Getty Images.

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