The #1 reason is institutionalized mediocrity. Go to a little league baseball tournament, every team gets a trophy whether they finished first or last. Every kid is told he is smart in school no matter how stupid he is. On down the line. They took the Special Olympics spirit and spread it to everyone.

Why aim to be the best at anything when you get just as big a reward for finishing 31st as you do first? It's not worth the effort. To save a few hurt feelings, they destroyed a whole generation. I think they knew what they were doing, it wasn't a mistake.