> They don't publish the full schematics of anything, which makes it impossible to do low level programming of the thing in a reasonable manner

The schematics aren't so much the issue. It's the lack of documentation for the SoC and other components.

The Raspberry Pi is a great learning platform and I think the Raspberry Pi foundation made the right choice in using the Broadcom parts, even if they are relatively closed. The vast majority of end users aren't using the platform for anything that requires access to the low-level, undocumented parts. Keeping the cost to a minimum was the right choice, IMO.

If someone needed low-level access to the SoC, choosing a Raspberry Pi wouldn't be the right choice anyway, schematics or not.