I'm thinking the exact same thing. It also makes me wonder why professors still have mandatory homework when they know students will cheat. Why not give optional homework, and allow students to have their work reviewed by the professor or TA if the student wants. But if the student doesn't want to do it then, they can skip it and waste their money. Then, have mandatory in class tests that cover the material.
I feel like this would cut down the BS professors have to wade through, allow students that want to learn the opportunity to get valuable feedback, prune the students who don't want to try by failing them when tests come around, and hopefully lead to a better overall outcome for everyone actually invested in the education.
Students have lots of competing deadlines. If one class has no deadlines, most students will deprioritize it until the very end when it's too late to realize their mistake. So, having homework worth something (no matter how minor) would be beneficial to most.
It's unfortunate, but a key component of education is motivation -- and deadlines are one key way of providing that.
I feel like this would cut down the BS professors have to wade through, allow students that want to learn the opportunity to get valuable feedback, prune the students who don't want to try by failing them when tests come around, and hopefully lead to a better overall outcome for everyone actually invested in the education.