American teenagers, on average, are spending less time on homework than they did a generation ago鈥攁nd the decline has steepened since the pandemic.
The homework slide, happening since at least the early 鈥�90s, accelerated between 2021 and 2023, according to , an ongoing national research project that tracks behaviors of teens and others.
In 2023, 8th graders averaged 36 minutes of homework daily, down 17% from 2021; 10th graders spent on average 47 minutes daily in 2023, from 60 minutes in 2021. Also in 2023, the most recent year of data available, 鈥渘o homeworkers鈥� reached a peak: 15% of 8th graders and 10.8% of 10th graders reported doing no homework that year.
鈥淚 think post-pandemic, there鈥檚 been just a real reconsideration of everything鈥攁 lot more cynicism, a lot more pessimism, a lot more pushing back on the idea of working hard, period,鈥� said Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego University and author of , a Substack newsletter on teens and social media.
The data didn鈥檛 differentiate between how much homework students completed and the amount teachers assigned. And many teachers have scaled back on assigning homework for a variety of reasons, including gaps in access to resources and parental help, the rise of artificial intelligence that could be used for cheating, and a shift toward grading policies that don鈥檛 give students credit for completing homework.
Even so, some 糖心动漫vlog say they鈥檝e seen an uptick in students not completing what is assigned.
Twenge noted that 36% of 18-year-olds in 2022 said they were willing to work overtime in their jobs, compared to 54% in early 2020, according to the Monitoring the Future data. The accelerated decline begs the question: Why?
Doing less homework may be symptomatic of students鈥� declining motivation, which is part of a broad cultural shift that accelerated during and after the pandemic, suggest experts.
The pandemic has been over for a few years, and some pundits say it鈥檚 well past time to stop blaming it for academic and related fallout. But it鈥檚 hard to discount its impact. For instance, in an EdWeek Research Center survey administered in February 2021, a nationally representative sample of 糖心动漫vlog reported that a significant percentage of their high school students were experiencing more school-related problems than pre-pandemic levels: 74% said students procrastinated more, 65% reported worse or incomplete grades, and 56% noted less class participation.
Other surveys in the following years have noted persistent increases in student misbehavior and disengagement. It鈥檚 worth noting that many adult employees today appear to be having motivational issues on the job similar to those that teens show at school. Further, the factors blamed for low employee morale may be similar to those that plague students.
Adults鈥� attitudes about work mirror students
As teens report low motivation at school and work, working adults shared similar feelings.
For example, the Wall Street Journal and NORC, a nonpartisan research group at the University of Chicago, polled 1,019 U.S. adults in March 2023, and 鈥攄own from 83% in 1998, the first year the survey ran.
Other statistics showed negative changes in employee attitudes post-pandemic. Findings from a recent national survey of U.S. employees that examined employee engagement before, during, and after the pandemic showed that it began to fall in 2021 and reached a 10-year low in 2024, when only 31% of U.S. employees reported being 鈥渁ctively engaged鈥� in work and 17% reported being actively 鈥渄isengaged.鈥�
These data align with the recent and highly publicized workplace trend of 鈥溾��: workplace behavior in which employees do as little as possible on the job. Gallup鈥檚 report indicated that 鈥渜uiet quitters鈥� made up 59% of the total global workforce.
The latest Gallup data found a strong correlation between low employee morale and employees鈥� feelings of disconnectedness. , according to the survey, published in January 2025. Related data published in August asserted that only .
Like employees, students are motivated when they feel connected
Students, like adults, report working harder when they have a positive connection鈥攊n their case, to school and, in particular, with a teacher or other staff member.
鈥淲hen there鈥檚 a teacher that I have a relationship with, I鈥�100%鈥攖ry harder in class. Even if I got no sleep the night before, I鈥檒l stay up for first period because I like the teacher,鈥� Warren Coates, a then-senior at Smyrna High School in central Delaware, told Education Week in the fall of 2024.
Michael C. Reichert isn鈥檛 surprised by this assertion. Reichert, a psychologist and executive director of the , believes all students, especially boys, are what he calls relational learners: They learn best when they have a positive relationship with their teachers. He and his colleagues have conducted multiple in diverse school settings that support this assertion.
Notably, Reichert has developed 鈥溾�� intended to help teachers initiate and maintain positive learning relationships with students. These gestures include proactively engaging with students to show interest in them beyond who they are in the classroom.
Antoine Germany, an assistant principal at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., agrees that students need to feel connected in order to perform their best at school. He suggests that teachers give students specific roles or responsibilities in class to boost engagement and effort. He also recommends celebrating students鈥� work by displaying it publicly, in the classroom or hallways, for instance.
These strategies may not translate immediately to students doing more homework. But, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, students鈥攏ot unlike employees鈥攎ay be motivated by 糖心动漫vlog whose concerted efforts make them feel like an integral part of a community.
