What you are describing is anecdotal and the same problem we have with Facebook - social group isolation. You have a large number of Catholic schools in your area because you have a large number of Catholics in your area. They are operating under different principles, and so attract people who want those rules. If I went to a Sushi restaurant and proclaimed that nobody wanted Pizza anymore, or to live under the tyranny of tomato sauce and cheese, because nobody in the Sushi restaurant wanted pizza it wouldn't make sense to anyone else.
I know teachers who are very supportive of mask mandates and that the schools and teachers are generally doing ok, and people who I work with who send their kids to schools with masks are very happy for the kids to have socializing opportunities.
Your friends and community are free to find a solution that works for them. But it is not the only way, and it does not make sense to condemn a system that works for the vast majority of people.
I know teachers who are very supportive of mask mandates and that the schools and teachers are generally doing ok, and people who I work with who send their kids to schools with masks are very happy for the kids to have socializing opportunities.
Your friends and community are free to find a solution that works for them. But it is not the only way, and it does not make sense to condemn a system that works for the vast majority of people.