Why are these folks like this?

Because in order to be "politically correct", most "punishment" nowadays really isn't. What is the harm for that child in failing if he/she knows that 1) the school is forced to keep them 2) their parent(s) could give a shit 3) when they can't get a job the government will take care of them forever and 4) the rest of the world are forced to be sheep because those "civilized" folks all over the world insist that we not be allowed to defend ourselves?

Yeah...what a great experiment that was. Somebody figure out the question that spawned the answer 42 so the mice will end this experiment already.