Interesting, my first thought was perfectionism. But I definately have a personal bias here! I think it is a good skill to be able to know when to give it your top effort and really scrutinize the work, and when to figure out what the teacher wants and give it the minimum effort to please her, just to get it done. I think the younger the better, but the teacher's approach seems pretty extreme!
He may also be confused as what the teacher wants and is spinning his wheels because of this. Could you send the teacher an e-mail, asking her to take a minute to explain her expectations in case a misunderstanding on his part could be the issue.
Yes, I have told my children, yes that IS totally stupid and pointless, so the faster you get it done, the faster you can move on....
However, if a child's assignments are consistently at a mismatch with his intellect, then you have a whole different sort of problem.
