First, remember that we're talking about hiring college grads for entry level development positions. My statements are not true for seasoned veterans.
Lazy? I don't think so. Americans take less vacation time than Europeans. Are you one of those people who thinks you should get 8 hours of work out of an 8 hour day? You don't value time spent on anything but work that produces profits. You consider 5 minute breaks for a bit of solitaire or web surfing or chatting at the water cooler a complete waste of time. You frown on experiments and discourage innovations because they might not work.
So its nice that you can make up lots of things that arent true and try to label them on me, but lets stick to personal experiences or factual items please.
That being said, I do think I should get most of 8 hours of work out of a 9 hour day. A couple breaks are fine, a few minutes here and there on the web is fine. Thats not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the bulk of devs out there who will get away with doing an hour or two of work per day, and reading slashdot the rest, if they can get away with it.
It's also self interest. The more effective a person is at their job, the more money the business makes, and the more money that staffer makes. Conversely, the less effective a person is, the less money the company makes, which puts their own job at risk.
Who is the authority on the appropriateness of any questioning? Surely not the same authorities who might be the ones being questioned? Somebody might be wrong, and it might be authority, or the questioner, or both or neither. It might all be a big unprofitable waste of time. Authority hates being questioned, and has the power to fire people who disagree.
A newly graduated college student, for the vast majority of them, dont have the experience, perspective, or skills to have opinions on anything but things narrowly focused on their job. Ie, code, design, etc. They generally have zero idea about what it takes to run a business, to constantly have to bring in revenue so that everyone gets paid, or how to effectively deal with troublesome customers in a way that builds the relationship and makes the company more money.
There are a rare few that are gems, but in general, college grads are incredibly green.
I have no doubt that with an attitude like that, the grads who aren't idiots and who therefore have choices don't choose to work for you, and you never even learn they exist. You're suffering from selection bias.
The grads who arent idiots I hire, or at least try to. They are a small minority.