http://austingwalters.com/please-excuse-my-grammar/
I almost never did "homework" prior to college, the one exception being that I read everything that was assigned in my school (in every class). I barely graduated and almost dropped out in the junior year of high school. I only passed with the help of several teachers and my knowledge that, "well, the public education system is awful."
That being said, I have a slightly different perspective than many.
I don't think homework is a good idea, daily quizzes (during every class), is the best way to learn. 5 minutes at the start of every class to show people what to focus on (make this worth an extra credit point or something). Then the last 5 - 10 minutes make give quiz that covers the material.
This ensures that the 8 hours a day people are in school, are the only time they are working on "studying." Let's be honest, no kid really wants to do homework or bashing their head into their homework after football/band/dance/etc practice.
I should note, that I had worked my way through several programming books, a calculus/physics books, and had read a hundred or so books in my junior year (50 or so were technical/business). This is the same year I nearly dropped out, because I never did anything in school.