Having lived in Germany as an 11th grade exchange student, the rather minimal homework and the schooldays that ended in the early afternoon (early enough to eat lunch with guest family) were great.
It's important to consider that 30min to 1hr is a typical homework load for a single subject in many places in America, that American students get out of school at around 3pm, and that American students have extracurricular activities (sports, theater, etc) which run another 1-2hrs after that. Those rather insane circumstances create the hatred of homework.
It's also important to ask, "verify for whom?"
If the answer is verify for yourself, I don't think even the homework I did in Germany was much other than busywork. Trying to apply your own knowledge to some real world situation or problem is a much better self-verification. If the answer is verify for the central administration, that's just a strong statement about your culture/society's values with respect to the individual and the administrators/managers of large groups. Note that I'll freely admit: American homework mostly serves the central administration, and that's a statement about our societal and cultural values at present. (It did seem to be even more oriented toward administrative convenience in Germany, albeit with a lower volume of homework overall, even in a Gymnasium.)
It's important to consider that 30min to 1hr is a typical homework load for a single subject in many places in America, that American students get out of school at around 3pm, and that American students have extracurricular activities (sports, theater, etc) which run another 1-2hrs after that. Those rather insane circumstances create the hatred of homework.
It's also important to ask, "verify for whom?"
If the answer is verify for yourself, I don't think even the homework I did in Germany was much other than busywork. Trying to apply your own knowledge to some real world situation or problem is a much better self-verification. If the answer is verify for the central administration, that's just a strong statement about your culture/society's values with respect to the individual and the administrators/managers of large groups. Note that I'll freely admit: American homework mostly serves the central administration, and that's a statement about our societal and cultural values at present. (It did seem to be even more oriented toward administrative convenience in Germany, albeit with a lower volume of homework overall, even in a Gymnasium.)