Am I really expecting too much from high school seniors?

Really just a vent/rant because I am tired. I switched schools mid-year. I am now teaching senior level English. It has only been a month. Is expecting them to have read around 30 pages of our class text in the last 3 weeks and complete about 2-3 activities a day when in person and 1 activity when on distance learning too much work for a senior?

We are in-person, and I was warned the seniors were rather done with all of the Covid stuff and were fairly apathetic about work. Most seniors are fairly apathetic about school work, but I thought I had it worked out. I kept most things the same as the teacher before me except I take off points if things are late because what is the point of a deadline if there are no consequences and from experience that "push" is sometimes needed for students who have time management issues. I originally took off 50%, but changed it to 15%, and most of the time I just waive the points deduction if a student gives me any reason or the class as a whole is not turning things in on time.
We have hour-long classes, so I list three to four 10 minute activities for the day. If we don't get to an activity, I push it to the next day. If students don't finish an activity that we start, it becomes homework. My students, especially one class, were immediate balking at that many activities and the late points deductions. We even walked through how long it actually took them to complete it and I explained that as a teacher, it is better to have more than have less. I also explained that life happens. If there is a reason something is late, just speak with me about it. Still there was lots of grumbling.

Most students got their work in when they showed up for class, even my problem period (though still constant grumbling). But, we had to switch to distance learning for a week, and 90% of my students disappeared. I assigned them around 2 pages to read and 1 activity a day. Most did not do any work. When we came back I had the first 2 days just be catch-up days. Some students worked and got their stuff done. But in that one class, only about a third bothered to catch up. Several vocal students say I assigned too much, and that it is ridiculous that I would assign work every day during distance learning. It is also ridiculous that I assign 3 activities a day when we are in-person.

Am I expecting too much? I have never taught seniors before. I am not a hardline teacher. I am very much middle of the road. I also use equitable grading, so they can't get below a 50%. I don't feel like a teacher. I feel like a babysitter. I would love to have great discussions, but if it is not worth points, they won't do it. Even if it is worth points and I explain the soft-skills it teaches them and why we are doing it, I still get arguments that it is all stupid and education sucks. It is a two-way street!