Perhaps you should teach in a different academic environment, if you do indeed teach. It's one things to be dedicated to your studies, and another to be equally as bright but being a well-rounded student--engaged in other productive activities.
What right do you have as a teacher to insist that your assignments will make your students any more knowledgeable? I can easily discern a worthwhile assignment from a meaningless one. Hard work comes in many forms. What time would they have for work experience or for volunteer activities or for being creative? Granted some students may utilize their time unwisely--with t.v. or computer-- but others do not. They need time for hobbies and for sports, friends and family.
Top priority, in my opinion, is finding inner peace. The amount of homework time a student is assigned does not match up with the amount of learning they have logged. There are plenty of excuses to have not done homework. As of late I have been very ill due to a serious condition. My health comes before my grades. That includes mental health as well--death and loss fall explicitly into that category.
What kind of life do you imagine for these children? A "plan of attack" on life does not involve shoving worksheets down a kid's throat and expect them to shit out A's. Hard work goes a long way, but wasted work towards something meaningless will not land a kid a paying job (if that is what you consider "success").