My only evidence is two youths from two different Mamlachti-Dati schools I bumped into, but I was shocked by their deep and abiding hatred for gemara. They had no obvious reason to lie to me; they were under no obligation to do or say anything. (Also, they were unashamed, which indicates a lack of social pressure.)
I understood from them that gemara is reduced to a sterile foreign language exercise, a “majoring in the minors” or a set of useless skills, and all the life and excitement and holiness are squeezed out of it. Each one claimed the majority of their classmates had the same attitude.
They had plenty of diversions and hobbies, but those weren’t the cause but the means: they would do anything to avoid the torture.
Very taken aback. Reminds me of WHO KILLED HOMER by Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath. Again, this is based solely on two conversations with people I don’t know. It also fits my prior second-hand information or biases too neatly, and I record this without any further research, but…