French President François Hollande has proposed banning homework as part of a series of policies designed to reform the French educational system. "Education is priority," Hollande said in a speech at Paris's Sorbonne University. "An education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school, rather than at home."

A top independent school is making meditation compulsory and considering banishing homework to tackle an "epidemic of anxiety".

It turns out that the Harvard Crimson, the school newspaper at that most venerable of universities, had surveyed incoming freshmen and discovered that “42 percent admit to cheating on a homework assignment or a problem set.”

Homework can also be stressful for children, especially when they’re feeling overwhelmed by it! Stress can lead to childhood obesity as well!

. If an outright ban is too extreme, teachers could cut back a bit. Perhaps do homework three nights a week, instead of five.

Many students said that they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.

Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category.

A Stanford researcher has found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance, and alienation from society.

The study found that stress, frustration and conflicts over homework are particularly pronounced in families with a child who is struggling academically.

Children who get plenty of opportunities to interact with friends and family can gain valuable social, conflict management and impulse control skills. When homework reduces this time, children's social development may suffer.

Students who struggle with homework or who get a large volume of homework each night can experience negative effects in their family and social relationships.

''Students are so much more active outside of school now -- with soccer, sports, dance -- that even if homework might be the same amount, it's more difficult to manage,'' said Anne Wallace, the director for guidance at the middle and high schools in Rye Neck.

Research shows that homework has no value in itself until fifth grade.

Dr. Van Gilder says he's seen adolescent bedtimes pushed back an hour to an hour and a half over the years since teens started doing their homework on computers.

According to sleep expert Dr. Mary Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University and director of chronobiology and sleep research at Bradley Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, teenagers actually need more sleep than younger kids, not less.

Information from international assessments shows little relationship between the amount of homework students do and test scores. Students in Japan and Finland, for example, are assigned less homework but still outperform U.S. students on tests (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development 2004). Other studies find a positive relationship in math, but not in reading (Fuchs et al. 2004).

Many teachers are under greater pressure than ever before," says Kylene Beers, president of the National Council for Teachers of English and the author of When Kids Can't Read What Teachers Can Do. "Some of it comes from parents, some from the administration and the desire for high scores on standardized tests." Teachers who are under pressure feel the need to assign more homework.

According to William Crain, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at City College of New York and the author of Reclaiming Childhood, "Kids are developing more school-related stomachaches, headaches, sleep problems, and depression than ever before.

A young girl sits at her desk, reviewing her homework assignments for the evening. English: read three chapters and write a journal response. Math: complete 30 problems, showing all work. Science: do a worksheet, front and back. French: study vocabulary for tomorrow's test. It's going to be a long night.

Last year, the affluent village of Ridgewood, New Jersey, was shaken by two young suicides, causing school officials to look for ways they could ease kids’ anxieties.

The scraps are heated and centrifuged to reclaim bits of muscle and then the product is treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli before being mixed into ground beef.

Kids are going back to school and so is the ground beef filler dubbed “pink slime.”