The reason for why stuff like this has come about definitely lies in the American education system. Higher education has just become a business at most universities. Students are customers purchasing a product, a degree. It doesn't matter how they get that product, just as long as they get it.
One of the biggest reasons that I see is the way many college classes are set up as auditorium lectures with hundreds upon hundreds of students. The only way to assess student learning in such situations is to give exams and assign papers to be read by a team of graduate TAs (often socially stunted and resentful of the undergrad students who are having much more fun than they ever did as undergrads). There are no close working relationships between student and instructor, and thus, no oversight. The students are not motivated to do good work and increase their knowledge and intellectual capacity, but just to pass the class with a good grade at any cost.
With my class, I only have 20 students. I know each and every one of their names by the end of the second week. I assign daily quick writing activities in order to get a feeling for their writing style and intellectual capabilities. And through mandatory 1-on-1 conferencing, I get to know them a little better than just as a statistic. What happens is that I develop a close working relationship with each of them and can give them individualized instruction. I like to think that they are more inspired to write and work hard because of this, but if anything, it also allows me to recognize when something is out of the ordinary with their writing.
American universities need to begin moving back towards smaller class size and taking only the brightest and most motivated students. College isn't for everybody.