A lot of it is “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
Today’s kids are more dependent than any previous generation. For multiple reasons. They have been coddled and indulged by parents. Many are still living at home into their late 20s or beyond. Some can’t afford to move out because rents are high and some because they can’t find decent jobs. But many are just lazy and prefer to mooch. One woman in her mid-twenties told me she was one of only 2 people under 30 at her company who was not living with parents. She said the other 20-somethings were living large since they didn’t have to pay rent.
The dependency of the young is further encouraged by the nanny state. Kids might rebel against parents - that’s easy - but rebelling against the government which feeds you and controls you is much more difficult. It’s also much more difficult when “all the other kids” are doing it (complying with the government).
In schools, if you fail to parrot the (progressive) party line, you get graded down or failed. Students learn to go along to get along.
Maybe it was because I was an older student, but I never experienced this. Nor did I see it in any classes I took. I found students lazy, disengaged, poor writers, and even worse readers. I know, when have students not been like this? When I got a degree 25 years ago, I saw all that, but when I went back to school to get another degree it was more evident.
And when students did disagree or wanted to make points, their arguments were often poorly presented. I was fortunate to have teachers who wanted students to disagree, to debate, to express their viewpoints. But it was a challenge to get meaningful class participation.