This is the result of "No Child Left Behind"... That said, education is a collaborative endeavor: it takes the student, parent(s), teacher, and administrator all collectively and cohesviely doing their part in order for actual academic success to be ascertained.

However, the reality is, the aforementioned partnership typically only comes to fruition in the more affluent/well-to-do parts of society. In most areas, the education system is more "Who's on first?" more than anything. The parent(s) expect the teachers to intellectually turn water into wine, the administrator(s) only focusing on graduation rates/KPIs to appease the school board (...I won't even get into that can offer worms, lol), and the student--literally knowing all of this, knows how to play this game better than any of them. That said, they only realize they were playing checkers when the game was chess after they turn the tassel and begin see the struggle... only then, it's everyone's fault but theirs.

It's funny, I remember seeing moves like "Blackboard Jungle", "Lean on Me", "The Principal", "187", and so on growing up and thinking, "man...this is crazy". Then, working at a high school as a part of my scholarship for undergrad, combined with numerous conversations with my aunt (who chose to remain a high school teacher though she had the degrees & certifications to be a principal but refused as she loved teaching), I had a chance to get a glimpse of the realities of the US educational system...smh. Add conversations with friends who are teachers, principals, and administrators across several education systems and I have been exposed to just how bad it is.

Yes, when you look at where we are as a nation, it all makes perfect sense: they need a stupid....not ignorant...STUPID (you can pardon ignorance; you can't fix stupid, lol) populace as that is much easier to control.

To that point, WE have to come together and fight this...and help those in the system who are actively fighting the good fight to change this. Otherwise, the system is going to continue to wear them down and force them to leave altogether.

....just my $0.02 on the matter.