I don’t fully agree with you assessment here.

If points are free, why even have the homework in the first place? To have students pay out the nose for some shitty online homework system?

Homework is assigned as an extension of the lesson, because teachers can’t teach the entire lesson in an hour. If homework is graded, students will feel the need to cheat (or, “pay[ing] out the nose for some shitty online homework system”, as you phrased it), because that’s easier and less stressful than trying. However, if the student passed (for 100%) just for turning it in, the students who care will use that opportunity to learn the content, while the students who don’t care, will use the opportunity to turn in some half-assed assignment. But, the thing is, those same students who cheat themselves will also fail the exams, because they didn’t learn, while the students who tried on the extended lessons (homework assignments) will do much better on the exams, since they did learn. See, homework was never intended to be a graded thing, but teachers started grading it, due to their failure (in their eyes) to motivate the students to complete the assignment otherwise.

The reality, though, is that those students who want to do well, will do well, regardless of the grading system of the homework assignments. However, those same students will be under a lot less stress if they can use the homework assignments as learning aids, as opposed to the equivalent of graded take-home quizzes.

As a sidenote, it was funny to see you start your comment with “I have to disagree” and end it with “You’ll also notice I always use positive language”, since they are contradictory statements haha

E: notice I refer to not receiving a “grade” and don’t use the term “feedback”. Feedback should always be given on these homework assignments, as they help facilitate learning.