The NYP is suddenly disposed to display a race of person
(media.scored.co)
If too many kids fail, the school loses funding because of No Child Left Behind. This creates an incentive to simply not fail students and just keep passing them through the grades even if they don't learn. What kids do learn is that failure has no consequences, so they don't bother trying. The teachers have no authority or power to discipline kids (parents complain and the admin always takes the parent's side), so kids do not respect them.