Can’t have the people thinking that they are in control of the government.
It’s actually desirable that people should think they are in control of the government, and the US public education system has done a fine job of this.
The important thing is to prevent the people from actually obtaining control of government in any policy area that would reduce the power of the ruling elite.
The ruling elite are quite happy to concede to popular whims on issues of little or no consequence to the ruling elite. It makes the little people think they are in charge, and gets them fighting amongst themselves over trivial matters. That’s the function of the student counsel that we call the US Congress.