The problem with feedback

My goal in teaching is to have students come out with a product, new knowledge and better skills. Since both undergraduate and graduate programs have moved away from sequenced courses and away from a long list of required courses, you never know what students know and don't know. Add to that, that you have a range from brave undergraduates to ABD graduate students in your graduate courses, it becomes messy. So, when I design my syllabi, I think of things that might be useful products for the students to prepare them for the job after the BA/MA/Ph.D. Of course I cannot expect PHDed quality yet, but I want to push them in that direction. Because of that I also give grades of "Revise & Resubmit" or "X is your grade now, but you can resubmit if this is not good enough for you." I give feedback, make suggestions for content and format, recommend other resources, etc. And then I somehow magically expect that the feedback will be looked at and incorporated. While many students do, some don't. And when it is something where the student had to understand something, then I start doubting how I phrased it, or what I have taught and I try again, but sometimes it's simple things (e.g. delete X because we don't write X information in this kind of writing). When simple things are ignored it really makes me frustrated because I don't know how else to get the message across. On the positive though, some students really do improve a lot from one version to the next and it is fantastic to see the growth. I have seen a lot of improvement in the teaching philsophies. That was great. There are also people who acknowledge that they understood my feedback, agree with it, but haven't figured out how to fix it yet. That is also great. And then there are those who say: saw your feedback, get it, but don't agree with it. And when it is argued well, then all the power to you!
What is not so great, is that because I am allowing these rewrites, I am ending up being completely overwhelmed with grading. I should be rewriting my own article and start work on another two, but I have been grading without a break. So the summary of my life right now is: AHHHHHHHH, I need a break!
We are almost there, though. :-)