Kim Kardashian’s controversial take on homework sparks back-to-school debate
Kim Kardashian is one of the many parents making a case for why homework should be banned.
The 44-year-old beauty mogul and mom of four shocked everyone when she was announced as the first celebrity guest on social media star Kai Cenat’s “Mafiathon 3” livestream, which kicked off Sept. 1.
At one point during the stream, Cenat was talking about the importance behind doing your homework.
But his friends weren’t on board — and neither was the SKIMS founder.
“I don’t believe in homework,” Kardashian said, which elicited a high-five from one of Cenat’s friends, according to an X video shared by E! News.
The reality star went on to explain why she believes doing homework is unnecessary.
“Kids are in school for eight hours a day. When they come home, they need to also then do sports, have a life, spend time with their family,” she said on the livestream.
“I think the homework should be left for in school,” she argued.
Kardashian’s controversial take on homework has sparked a major debate online as parents, teachers and students tackle one of the biggest back-to-school questions: Is homework necessary?
One poll on X, conducted by TMZ, showed just how split the country is on the issue.
Of the 900 votes registered (as of Sept. 3), 53% of respondents disagreed with Kardashian and voted that students “need” homework. The remaining 47% agreed that no homework is the way to go.
“They do need it. Kids need to learn how to work independently. Their college career is pivotal to homework and independent work,” one X user explained of their vote.
“I don’t like assigned homework,” another user wrote under TMZ’s poll. “Just give students a workload and class time. Those who can’t finish during the time are responsible to finish at home.”
Is homework necessary? Here’s what experts think of Kim Kardashian’s take
Kardashian’s recent comments are proof that everyone has their own opinion on homework.
According to Oxford Learning, homework can help improve student achievement, reinforce classroom learning and give parents (and teachers) an opportunity to see where their children are struggling.
But there’s also such a thing as too much homework — and after-school restraint collapse is real.
According to Roberts Academy, “after-school restraint collapse refers to the emotional release children experience when they come home after a long day of school.”
Registered psychologists Tammy Schamuhn and Tania Johnson, who co-founded The Institute of Child Psychology, argued that homework after school only exacerbates the problem.
“Kids before high school don’t need a lot of homework anyway, and I pretty much limit it to flash cards before bed for like five minutes for math and reading,” Schamuhn said on their “The Child Psych Podcast.”
Johnson added that she sets a timer for 15 minutes when it comes time for her kids to do homework.
“And whatever we don’t get done, I will send a note to your teacher saying that it was outside of our homework time frame,” she said on the podcast.
An advice columnist for the National Education Association takes it one step further and recommends limiting a child’s nightly homework to 10 minutes per grade level.
That means 10 minutes for first graders and 60 minutes (one hour) for sixth graders.
But one study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development argues that even one hour of homework per day can be detrimental to a child’s well-being.
“After around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance,” the study concluded, according to Time magazine.
One professor prefers interactive homework over no homework
As you can likely imagine, teachers play a big role in this longstanding debate.
Joyce Epstein, a professor and co-director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University, believes homework is necessary — but it has to be the right type of work.
That’s why Epstein is campaigning for more “innovative and interactive assignments” at home.
“Our data show that with ‘good’ assignments, more kids finish their work, more kids interact with a family partner, and more parents say, ‘I learned what’s happening in the curriculum,’” she said, per JHU Hub.
“We’re not trying to eliminate homework procedures, but expand and enrich them,” she added.
This story was originally published September 3, 2025 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Kim Kardashian’s controversial take on homework sparks back-to-school debate."
