You're talking about a specific educational system ("our" system, "public education's goal"), but what the article is talking about is global. And the world's educational systems vary a lot. Now, yes, the effect is more pronounced in the US, which is probably where some blame can be placed on the educational system. But what can explain the remaining 95% (population-wise) of the world?

Maybe the algorithmic curation that's talked about here is enough on its own to prime the average user to behave a certain way. Or maybe humans are just like that and prefer it that way, and we're returning to the mean now that the internet is owned by average people. Either way, this seems to have a lot more complexity and I'm not sure if it can ever be solved at this point.