I first heard of “no homework nights” at the beginning of my freshman year. “No homework nights” were created by Westlake Epicosity in an effort to reduce students’ stress. Eight days of each school year are designated to be without homework. I have to say that, at first, I thought that the idea sounded cool – I think most people could agree. A day without homework can only be good, right?

But “no homework nights” ended up like most things that seem too good to be true. Teachers failed to plan accordingly – their lesson plans required scheduled homework for those nights – but it didn’t take long to find a loophole.

Instead of assigning homework, most teachers decided to assign class work (usually during the last few minutes of class) and tell their students “I know it’s a no homework night, this isn’t due tomorrow, it’s due the day after tomorrow,” and then assign additional homework the next day.

If you choose not to do your “class work” on a “no homework night,” you end up having to complete double the homework the next night. And occasionally, while tests aren’t allowed to be the day after, there are tests two days after – making it so that you have a test along with the extra homework.

There is no wonder “no homework nights” aren’t going as planned, because there is nothing to prevent the teachers from using the loopholes. The nights themselves aren’t scheduled on any meaningful days – they could instead be scheduled on weekends that teachers don’t expect their students to complete homework (with Homecoming, ACL, SAT).

Actual “No homework nights” would be nice to have, but as they are implemented now, they are no different from days with homework.