Peter Cole wrote:

I blame the parents. If the parents (dads, to be sexist) don't
understand simple bike operation & maintenance, how can they teach their
kids?

I blame the Japanese vehicle manufacturers. Here's why. Back in the days
when everyone owned American cars (or English or German cars as the case
may be), it was very common to do your own maintenance, and cars needed
a lot of it. You needed 3K oil changes, rather than 7.5K to 10K oil
changes. You had to change spark plugs (and gap them), replace points,
condensers, rotors, distributor caps every 5-10K miles, and alternators,
water pumps, suspension went out a lot more etc. So a lot of dads did at
least some of their own maintenance and the boys picked it up (I know
I'm being sexist here). Plus the tools were all in the garage to use,
with or without permission!

Then the Japanese auto companies began exporting much more reliable
vehicles that needed much less maintenance, and the U.S. and European
companies copied their efforts. Now there's not only a lot less stuff
the home mechanic needs to do, there's a lot less stuff they are even
able to do, so few people do any of their own vehicle maintenance.

I don't remember my dad ever fixing my bike, from around age 10 I did it
all myself.