In my experience the institution itself (the state-mandated curriculum, the teachers, other students) is the limiting reagent, not the individual student who wants a meaningful education.
There's only so much you can do when everyone around you wants to know if "this is going to be on the test?" rather than "is there a deeper meaning to what this character said?".
Keep in mind that there are lot's of ways for a school to be bad. I'm always frustrated when people say "the problem with education in this country..." and then list the particulars of their experience. There is a vast diversity of dysfunction ranging from crumbling physical plant to horrible teachers and sometimes lousy parents and lazy students. There are also some phenomenal public schools in the United States.
There's only so much you can do when everyone around you wants to know if "this is going to be on the test?" rather than "is there a deeper meaning to what this character said?".