I'm sympathetic to OP, it's not that it's a conspiracy--it's the survival criteria of the system. It has to "work" as an institution to go on existing. Things that make the institution of education more effective tend to happen:
1. It has to be compatible with the modern system of employment (feat the 40hr workweek, generally a commute, workers who typically fit into many companies in standardized roles)
2. Opportunities to make it more efficient that don't run directly contrary to its stated goal of educating tend to happen, e.g. standardized testing. And because students move around and it's inefficient for everybody everywhere to invent their own curriculum, they need to be standardized.
3. It needs to be legible meritocratically, to its own existence and measure performance, and also to usefully input into the employment system.
1. It has to be compatible with the modern system of employment (feat the 40hr workweek, generally a commute, workers who typically fit into many companies in standardized roles)
2. Opportunities to make it more efficient that don't run directly contrary to its stated goal of educating tend to happen, e.g. standardized testing. And because students move around and it's inefficient for everybody everywhere to invent their own curriculum, they need to be standardized.
3. It needs to be legible meritocratically, to its own existence and measure performance, and also to usefully input into the employment system.