> I have pretty cynical opinions as to the "why" of this, largely involving the fact that the vast majority of software engineers refuse to learn anything that they weren't explicitly taught in college, but regardless of the reason

I think it's not only SWEs, but general persons that goe to college primarily to get a job, without having a natural curiosity for things.

Probably true, I've just only ever worked in the software engineering world so I cannot speak about anything else.