In my experience, a great deal of homework is nothing more than busywork or repetition of things already learned. Waiting till my son went away to college to learn the executive skill of doing homework would be a disaster.
I think the major difference with college study requirements is that one is typically not in class nearly as many hours as a 1-12 grader is -- thus, there's time to study or work on assignments outside of class.
On the other hand learning & practicing to do homework before you hit college is often very helpful for students. I do think some amount of homework is necessary in junior high/H.S. Learning to be prepared for class isn't instinctive for many kids. Studying for tests, reading books, practicing math program, writing an report, memorizing a poem, memorizing/practicing vocabulary for a foreign language. And for many kids having a quite space works better than a crowded classroom for learning these things.
I'm even in favor on small amounts for early elementary students. IMO one of the primary uses for homework in the early elementary grades is for teacher-parent communication. It's much easier to accept and understand how your student is doing in the classroom when small amounts of work are sent home for a parent to supervise. (Key here is SMALL amounts) Supervising my children do homework in the younger grades gave me a much better idea of how my children handled grade level work. (Struggling, bored, taking forever to do something easy.) I got a much better idea of issues both my children had watching them work on assignments than just seeing the same assignments returned with comments/grades.
