homework was a chain around our necks with unspeakable consequences had it remained incomplete

I had the opposite experience. I worked hard to always finish my homework, but many of my classmates completely blew off both homework and classwork and still "passed". I knew kids who had all F's but would get their grades suddenly changed at the last minute to a C- because if the school failed too many kids they would lose federal funding.

Felt like the value of my high school diploma plummeted considerably when I realized just how many of my graduating class were completely checked out for the entire curriculum. I dunno how different it is now; I graduated nearly two decades ago.