Many students aren't going to learn by rote memorization of completing homework. It it helpful to support different learning styles.
A big problem with math education is that it's too abstract. It's hard to relate mathematical concepts to real life. "When are we going to use this?", people ask. Phrasing your questions in terms of real problems with a narrative can help students learn.
Homework usually isn't rote learning (unless we're talking foreign language vocabulary – and there rote learning is important!), but practice.
Students get to practice what the teacher (tried to) showed them with different problems, so both they and the teacher can see if they mastered the topic.
IIRC most of the evidence shows homework isn’t very useful for learning.
(And, unfortunately, that almost no skills generally transfer over to other skills, ie that practicing math doesn’t improve anything other than that specific math.)
What about algebra? Which I consider the field of math that actually carries over to many many other things. Like physics and chemistry. And certain skill level in it is required to be able manipulate expressions in other fields.
