I think maybe some of this is just different personalities. When you have a kid--as Dazey and I do--who takes LONGER when the work is too easy, sometimes a WHOLE LOT LONGER to do what seems like it should be a walk in the park, you just come to the conclusion that it's not worth it. Good lessons are not being learned and many bad lessons are, so why bang your head against the wall?
OTOH, I was a "do it while the teacher is explaining the next assignment" kind of kid, so I never had homework, and the work from one subject kept me from losing my mind completely from boredom during the next.
However, I don't think this was anything like an ideal situation! That's important!
I had a good bit of trouble when I finally got to high school and hit a challenging academic situation. I was a straight-A student and I considered suicide (briefly) because I got a B+. That's just insane, and I am not an insane person! If I had not been bored to death all along with drill and kill and molded into a perfectionist whose feelings of self-worth hung solely upon perfect scores because everything was always easy, I KNOW that wouldn't have been my reaction.
The combination of experiences--my son's and mine--is why I feel pretty strongly about this. Even if the kid goes along with the drill and kill, that doesn't mean it's a smart move.
(With the important caveats that every child is different, short-term is different than long-term, and if there's a specific goal for the child that requires his/her toeing the line, then that's a different kettle of fish.)
