The dependencies still need not be taught in a boring way. For example, if teachers did surveys of students strongest interests and goals, they can think of ways to 'inject' (in a genuine way) dependencies as stepping stones to their goals. "In order to achieve goal X, you need to know how to do Y, and in order to know how to do Y, you need to know how to do Z". Let's assume Z is the boring task. Just by connecting it in a sequence to the student's goals it becomes less boring because the student instantly sees the relevance.

Contrast this with "Do this" "Why?" "Just do as I say if you want good grades"

So in practice this would be "Ben, I know your most important goal is to become like LeBron James. LeBron James has this special trick that you like called X. He has said in the past that the fastest way to achieve this is to practice Y boring technique for at least 2 hours a day"

"John, your most important goal is greater flexibility. To be as flexible as possible, you need to do this other boring exercise more frequently 3 hours a day"

If the goal is important enough, they will go through it. However, an even wiser method is to frame it this way: In your brain you have the 'you-now'/thalamic/elephant part of your brain "Give me candy now" and the 'you-in-the-future'/cortical/mouse riding elephant "I have to lose weight". These 2 are always competing, but the 'elephant' always wins. In order to solve this, one has to research what is it that 'tastes good', and develop a diet that tastes better than the junk they already eat. If you do that, you'll stick with your diet long-term. Why? Because your diet is always the best tasting thing on the menu.

The dumb approach is to say "I'm going to force myself"... you'll burn out eventually. Reference: "Immediate Rewards Predict Adherence to Long-Term Goals" https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1177/0146167216676480

In other words, the higher-level abstract representation of this is both the 'elephant' or the 'you-now' has to be as maximally satisfied (given its range of options, the 'best' one is the most fun one), and the 'mouse thats trying to direct the elephant' or the 'you-in-the-future' also gets what it wants.

Put simpler: if you don't have fun, it will never get done.

Emphasizing relevance is in the spirit of just-in-time learning. To give an example, years ago, I struggled to learn programming for a long time. I'd watch 11 hour courses, and nothing would stick. "Today, for-loops, and conditionals..." In my mind: 'who cares? How is this relevant to the thing I'm trying to do?'

It wasn't until I found a meaningful goal and exciting project that still was simple enough, and broke it down into a series of 'google-able steps' that I finally learned and remembered what a "for loop" meant.

The irrelevant rote approach is not a good method of memorization or learning. More intuitive approaches which try to build on your existing background (reducing the friction), and your existing goals (increasing attraction), are more likely to help you remember.