While homework in kindergarten requires coloring and learning the ABC’s, the high school homework load has become increasingly difficult and time-consuming. “ I think homework takes a long time to do,” Ross Perry, Grade 10, said. “It helps you learn sometimes, but not really that much. I stay up until midnight doing homework and sometimes there is no point in even starting to do it.” Hallie Rojeski, a junior high teacher, tries not to give her classes homework, hoping not to discourage students. “ I try to give minimal homework because students should be playing and taking exercise more than working inside all day. Students usually don’t have good study habits when they come into the 7th and 8th grade. I offer a necessary after-school assignment so they will learn them.” Teenagers are encouraged to get 8-9 hours of sleep and participate in sports or physical activity outside school. With 2-3 hours of homework it can be difficult to do everything. Homework takes different amounts of time based on what courses students take . “I give my Spanish students little bits of homework,” Melody Downie, a Spanish teacher, said. “That is about what we learned in class, because for a foreign language you need to do work that reinforces ( 巩固 ) what we learn. I hardly give my history class homework.” “ When students do their homework they should be in a quiet area,” Hallie Rojeski said. “ They also need to do work for 30 minutes and then take a 10-minute break because it is hard for students to keep focused for a long time.” The University of Michigan found in a recent study that the amount of homework had increased by 51% since 1981. Harris Cooper at Duke University says that students who do small amounts of homework do better on their tests, but when they exceed 60-90 minutes of homework , the test scores fall. “ Homework is given to motivate students to learn,” Principal Gary Schultz said. “Repeating what they learn in school helps them to remember and learn things for tests. Some kids do not need homework to learn but most do. I believe practice makes perfect.”