Sense of Ownership

The textbooks we use in our pre-service classes discuss the importance of developing a sense of ownership for our students so that they can have a deeper connection to what they're learning. I strongly believe in creating a curriculum that matters to them; otherwise, how will they ever believe a higher education would be of any worth to them?

My question for this is about a college education? Don't we need a sense of ownership as well? All the essays, projects, readings, but for what? Do our professors consider the students in their planning and assigning? Do the departments even think we matter? I have spent many nights writing up papers or reading up on chapters from the text wondering, "what's the relevance? The books tell me why I should read it, but when was the last time the professor actually gave us a thoughtful and sensible reason?"

Why is college treated so different from elementary and secondary education? Do people stop thinking a certain way right after graduating from high school? Are we robots that can purely learn from a teacher-directed lecture?