Personally I've never really understood the concept of homework or why it's important. Sure if someone is failing something then it might be reasonable for them put in some extra time at home to make sure they succeed. But other than that most people learn stuff better at school rather than at home. From what I can tell homework is given out for the hell of it, not because it's needed for people to meet the requirements to be given a grade at the end of the year.
It's different for everyone. Homework is annoying to do, so I do it during breaks at school.
Homework enables the student to "revise" what he/she has done during class; some subjects like maths give you questions to do which further processes and helps you to better understand, which for me, I personally understand more of the topic when doing it than listening to the teacher explaining it.
But other than that most people learn stuff better at school rather than at home.
Again, it's different for everyone.
From what I can tell homework is given out for the hell of it
Yep, absolutely right. Let them have homework for the crack!