I haven't read all the articles (will do so later) but here is what I think:
A little homework is ok. BUT, find that in this country, kids seem to have relatively long school days. Adding homework to that is not fair. Where is the time to be a kid? Yes, learning is important. But kids also learn in other ways, not just by going to school and doing homework. There also needs to be time for play and family.

When I was growing up (in Germany) school was generally only til 1:15pm. On some days, we had 2-4 lessons (a lesson was 45 minutes) in the afternoon. On those days, teachers weren't allowed to give us homework. I though that was a good compromise. School in the afternoons was only for the older kids, too. I can't quite remember how many afternoons at what age, but I think there was no afternoons before year 5, then 1 afternoon for year 5 and 6, 2 afternoons after that. And from year 9 onwards there might have been a third. But if it was 3 afternoons, it wouldn't have been 4 lessons each afternoon. Might have been one long afternoon and 2 short ones.
Not sure why I'm telling you all that as it is so not relevant. But I thought it was an alright compromise.
In general I find a lot of kids have too much on these days. Long school days, lots of homework, lots of extra-curricular activities and no time for just playing with friends.

Sasa