Damn that is depressing as hell to hear. I wonder how much of that kind of thing has to do with larger cultural norms of different institutions, like if places tend to be more research focused, etc.
I'm reflecting on some of the formative experiences for my own cohort that ended up being extremely supportive and non-competitive, and I remember one of our early classes in neuro (perhaps our worst taught class) where we got a test back with grades like "Good job!" "Excellent Work!" and "Well Done!" A couple people were really upset because they didn't understand what those grades even meant, and were quibbling with the professor to try to get letter grades for what must of been fifteen minutes. A few of us just started cracking up laughing about the absurdity of the whole thing, because: who freaking cares dude. I feel like that might have set a tone down the line and it was helpful to have an absolutely ridiculous professor with a truly nonsensical system and total unwillingness to explain herself to highlight that dynamic and resolve those contradictions - so idk, maybe that's the solution: make sure every institution has at least one ridiculous ass professor.