I don't think your opinion is shit, I just think your perspective has changed because you actually can code. The hardest thing for a beginner is just the syntax. If you've never written code before then the symbols in programming are alien as hell. By focusing on seemingly repetitive syntax drills I get them skilled progressively until syntax isn't a problem.

Another thing you might be missing is under each exercise is a real piece of programming they're learning. For example, with string formatting I'm actually teaching the concept of named variables. Later on I use the fact they've actually been using named variables to then teach the concept explicitly and then they get it quicker.