I've gotta be honest that's idiotic and just plain lazy

How is it lazy to use time productively?

I do a lot more work than the average student. I just try to not spend it in inane ways just because it is expected.

The world isn't just about what you love.

Academics are about intellectual pursuit of the individual. That's the whole underlying principle of academia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom

It's about doing what you have to do to get to where you want to be.

Yes. And it shouldn't be about what others want me to do so they allow me to get there. If I'm good at something, my contributions should be acknowledged, regardless whether or not I conformed to the rules set by others.

Not even to mention that most of the time homework is how you learn.

What?

I'm hoping for your sake you're a high school (or similar) student because that kind of work ethic totally just does not fly in college in any real way.

I already graduated with a master's degree.

I'm double majoring in Physics and Electrical Engineering and it's said in the first day of class for all of these that if I don't do or get a 0 on 4 homework assignments I automatically fail the class regardless of anything else.

Yes. And I just told you how idiotic that is and every single of your professors should be ashamed.

I double majored in mechanical engineering and economics after gaining a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.

That may seem a bit harsh but if I didn't sit down and put the hours in to actually learn all of the material through homework then I'd be failing regardless.

Yes, that's pretty sad.

I don't really see why you try and justify that.

Plus I know for a fact once you get in major specific stuff that the homework is entirely based around discovery.

No?

For example my professor will set up something like Ampere's Law in lecture and then in the homework we work our way through how to actually apply the law and everything that it takes to do it.

I don't need homework for that. And the professor doesn't need to assign homework to be able to judge my ability to grasp and apply content taught in his lecture.

Through all of this you really gain a grasp over what it is that it does, why it works, and why you need to know it that you wouldn't get any other way.

Personally, I gain a much better grasp by reading the material and applying it in a more productive way.

People don't get places just by knowing the stuff. They get places by knowing the stuff and proving that they can work for it.

So you ignored everything I said and the points I made, declared me wrong without even contradicting a single thing I said with arguments and end your comment in a self-aggrandizing endorsement of something I never even contradicted.