That, and there's the 'education as hazing' notion: "If I had to suffer through four years of high school bored out of my mind, so should the next crop of kids! It's good for the little buggers! Builds character!"

Frankly, the best way to deal with that mindset is to invent some crap for the people who have it to go through so they leave the rest of us alone. Maybe call it a team-building exercise.