I don’t think it’s malicious intent. Hanlon’s razor: never ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence. It’s simply that nobody at any level takes actual responsibility for outcomes. People at the bottom of the system (teachers, parents) can see problems but are usually disempowered and voiceless, and can’t fix them on their own. And people at the top are either ignorant of the real problems or lack real leadership and incentives to fix them. (Or they feel overburdened and overwhelmed).

An old friend of mine teaches the first year CS curriculum at a local university. By all reports he’s phenomenally good at his job. He truly cares and his students adore him. But he’s making a fraction of the salary he could be making in industry. At some point he’s probably going to quit to do a job he’s not as good at, and doesn’t enjoy as much. Why is he paid many times less than he’s worth? Because the university wants to pay CS lecturers who teach 2000 students the same as they pay people who teach poetry to a class of 5. So my friend can’t get a competitive salary without entire departments revolting. Who’s fault is that? I don’t believe it’s malicious intent. It’s just a boring, systematic failure high up in the org chart leading to bland mediocrity. The only people who can do something about it don’t care about outcomes enough to fix the problem.