A friend was telling me that his kids' school (his kids are 5 and 7) has decided to give out extra homework for all students, a minimum of 4 hours per night, to

A friend was telling me that his kids' school (his kids are 5 and 7) has decided to give out extra homework for all students, a minimum of 4 hours per night, to help them get used to the workload as the progress through their education. I fail to see how this sort of practice helps create productive citizens. A lot of people I know were burnt out on anything that required reading, science or math before they even graduated/left high school. Education as we know it is no longer pushing society forward, it is holding us back in a very serious way.