Should Homework Be a Thing in Today's Classrooms?

Since I was a young student as far back as elementary school, I have had some teachers assign homework to other teachers forbid assigning homework. The amount of homework per teacher has been nothing, to an astounding amount. But why is this the case? Why are some teachers assigning homework, while others aren't? Back in middle school I wrote upon whether or not we should be given homework, and back then it was very up in the air, even after writing that paper. There are easy pro's and con's to having homework assigned to students. Listed below are the pro's and con's to having homework:

Pro's:

1.To get more educated in the material.

2.Extra practice.

3. Be given a responsibility. 

4.Gives you a sense of deadline.

5.Can be fun and informative.

6.It can be a good moment to have help from your parents.

7.To have students understand that day's classwork in a different point of view if they missed it the first time.

Con's:

1. Less time outside of school doing extracurricular.

2.Less family time.

3.Once the school day and time is done, homework starts after school, so more time at school.

4.Homework can be boring and time consuming.

5.Students could lose sleep, meals, and energy.

6.After school programs would have to be put aside, or even start work later at night if you're on a sports team, and then have homework after that.

7.Home shouldn't feel like another school zone.

8.Students can feel guilty or ashamed for not finishing it.

9.If students have questions or are stuck and the parents can't help, they have to pause, etc till the next morning.

Based on these pro's and con's listed above, there's things and reasons to pick from both that students are given good and bad reasons to why there should be homework. I also think it depends on the teacher and grade. I believe that teachers that teach younger grades should make some homework optional, with fun worksheets that will help stimulate their brain and if their parents feel like they need more work. (Article on Optional Homework) With other high school level students, I think there should be longer classes to cover more work and information rather than homework that is just repetitive to them and could benefit more from being in class and getting ideas to bounce off others and the teacher. I would have specific tasks due by a certain time frame to make students aware of dates and deadlines with future work and careers.