Religion was my partial read for "fixed beliefs" as well. I have been alive for quite some time now, and the major battle for the young mind in the US was regarding evolution vs. literal biblical interpretation. This is the reason for charter schools, destroying the U.S. Department of Education, and much more. Those "fixed beliefs" are very fragile when exposed to new information.
I think it is a side note on the charter schools issue. The main driver is terrible standards and discipline in public schools. There is a reason atheists are putting their kids in charter schools too, and even religious schools.
I hear you, solid point looking at the current state of public education. The next question is: why is our public education system so lacking?
My recollection is that ever since science started to counter strict religious teachings, a significant portion of the country stopped trying to improve the public education system, and instead began to undermine it.
> ever since science started to counter strict religious teachings, a significant portion of the country stopped trying to improve the public education
The Scopes Monkey trial was in 1925 [1]. The issue has been divisive for longer than American public education started failing.
IMO it started with no child left behind, and a wave of public sentiment and legal precedent that places the worst performing and behaving students above the majority.
I have a teacher friends who have to deal with students attacking them. One had a student break their hand and they could not suspend or expell them. Imagine trying to teach a class under such conditions.
That is not mutually exclusive. First, you can absolutely sacrifice the median to improve the average. Second, I was pointing out when I think it started. One hypothesis is that the negative impacts of no child left behind and similar programs were initially mitigated/compartmentalized by the heavy academic tracking used at the time. My understanding is that much of this has changed over time with a reduction in number of tracks.
Probably some blend of religious and moral values, political and civic beliefs and cultural views towards divisive issues.