What's with these kids?

Summer holidays kick in and bring along with them bags of boredom, frustration and what-the-hells. They seem worthless and a torture during the college days when you have absolutely no work to do and you are reduced to the point where studying is considered a viable option. IITs have been famous for leaving its students literally idle during the holidays. There had been times when basic functions like attending nature's calls featured in the to-do lists. But days were not like these during the school years. We used to get some holiday homework, which was more of a test for parents. I remember enjoying looking at my parents who used to slog in making models and trying to display their artistry which acted as a proxy for mine. They even went to the extent of making the Qutab Minar using bamboo and popsicle sticks. I've passed those days but my parents have not been relieved from the onus as I've a brother still climbing the school ladders. However, there has been a little twist. Since I've have absolutely no work to do, the holiday homework conundrum has been bestowed upon my shoulders. Now when you have tasted the college curriculum, you tend to weigh everything based upon their final percentages. I would rather waste my time in an assignment which is worth 15 marks rather than 5 marks (Well the latter might not be even considered). So extrapolating this logic to the school life, I found that my brother's holiday homework per subject would have fetched him just 5 marks out of hundred. Why would one go into so much trouble for just 5 marks which, in normal circumstances, might not even matter in the final grades? Each subject requires you to make a model, a project file with pictures, some course based homework and in extreme situations writing poems. The rate of return for all this is almost zero. May be school wants to teach that marks are not the only thing in the initial stages of your life. But even then, an incentive of 5 marks, which you might not get in entirety, is very little. For me it is, and that is why I've decided to opt out from helping my brother. I would rather torture myself with boredom and ennui than being a part of this travesty.