Given this a lot of thought over the years – and wonder if this is not the fault of younger crew coming through but the 'way' they are trained at ground school.
Not sure that it is the way they are trained. I have had the opportunity to watch a lot of students over the years in a variety of settings (both aviation and non-aviation) and an overwhelming impression has been that the majority of male students (not so prevalent among females) want to be told what they need to know for the exam/test/assessment, nothing more. In fact they will actively switch off if it is not directly related to why they are there no matter how beneficial it may be otherwise.