Letter of the Week: Online assignment websites frustrate students

Middle and high school teachers need to become open-minded about their students’ opinions on online assignment websites such as LaunchPad and MasteringChemistry.

The low grades given on these assignments create stress for students and should be proof to teachers that the websites are ineffectual.

Over the last few years, the amount of online homework has increased, along with the amount of complaints about homework. The problems are too complicated, and the websites are poorly made. That makes homework frustrating.

For example, many websites will reload while students are working on assignments. All their work is lost. Pencil and paper don’t refresh and make you lose hours of progress.

Teachers began using these programs to aid their students. They believed the generation of technology would love to do their homework on the Internet.

They could not have been more wrong. Not a single online assignment has passed without a chorus of complaints from confused classmates.

Students are complaining about these websites. Maybe it’s time to listen.

Caitlin Smith, 15, of Lee’s Summit, is a sophomore at Blue Springs South High School. Her parents are Larry and Erin Smith. She has a 19-year-old brother, Brendan, who is a sophomore at Baylor University. She is in the Blue Springs South Choir and plans to go to college to major in psychology.

This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Letter of the Week: Online assignment websites frustrate students."