homework doesn't "prepare you for a job" it doesn't make you smarter, it just piles on like 20 assignments and teaches you that to be successful you have to be working ALL THE TIME without stopping. when I was a kid I cried because I couldn't do homework. I was made to feel like it was my fault for being lazy. in actual fact, I was being pushed too hard.
in a job, if you have 20 assignments all due the next week, something FUCKED UP big time in the production process and you should form a union immediately. if it happens in school, that's supposed to be "normal"
I experienced a lot of this in high school, and there's an episode of Modern Family that always sticks with me on the subject. There's a parent-teacher conference and Claire goes and sees Alex's teachers. Alex is in all the honors classes, and it's basically been causing her to break down. As the teachers all talk about the work the students are doing and how much homework they assign, (one teacher says she "only" assigns four hours per night), Claire does the math right in front of everyone, and if all the teachers assign this much homework, how are the students supposed to have any time to themselves? And it clicks with her why Alex is struggling so much. And there's such a great moment as Claire talks to Alex after the conference and comforts her.