I am sure that whatever the circumstances, when a section of the world's population required education in order to adjust practices which are harmful, there were the 'knowledge queens' who spoke from high, confirming that thanks to their 'knowledge', they have the definitive reason why people cannot be educated, and gradually a change can come about.
Fortunately, enough people ignore the 'knowledge queens' and their lofty pronouncements that nothing will change, because they say so, and people have carried on and made a change anyway.
Simply spouting off that people cannot be changed is an easy cop out from a difficult situation, and will ensure that nothing ever changes for the better.
Thank heavens such narrow-minded pronouncers are a tiny minority when measured against the people with the will to change things - otherwise nothing would ever alter for the better.