Max
Please don`t spill your Pimms but I think you are a little out of touch with what goes on in the Regions at places bereft of Sid`s and Star`s.
For example, in my little part of the world one of the standing agreements means outbounds are climbed to FL90 before transfer to the next agency. Hence Pilots can become conditioned to hearing a climb to FL90 so sometimes when they were given heading 090 without the "degrees" they have climbed or read back that they were climbing to FL90.
Now with the degrees on the end it is almost a thing of the past. If it bothers anyone that much why not use heading 085 or 095 then there is no need to say the dreaded "D" word.
I`m afraid that in our proffessions you will always have to cater for the lowest common denominator as their number is increasing steadily. Everyone has a licence to drive a car but there are wildl variations in driver abilities and our licences are no different. Passing a few exams doesn`t make you good at your job it simply gives you a chance to become good.