This is another 'SEGA pandering to the Japanese'. This whole 'high school' setting is a huge fucking trend in Japan. Everything takes place in High School at the moment, even on anime shows. Look at PSO2's anime but it falls in line with all the other anime as well (Parasyte being a new popular one). Something that most JRPGs are starting to get on board with, including the new hit: Persona (which really took off after 3).
Its such a trend there is a page for it on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:School_anime_and_mangaI think we all here like to think we are into Japanese games because their aimed at Japanese people, but I think a lot of us just like it when these developers do what they want and no pander to people. I think this is the same trend in the US, look at the super 'focused group' game: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. Would it have been great if they didn't pander to all these ideas that the focus group had?
When is it OK to pander to whats popular and when is it time to move your own direction? I think if you scan on SEGA Japan's latest game, 95% of them are pandering anime style games. Yakuza seems to be the only one diverging its own path in style and really being the only one out of all their games that delivers a unique experience.
A lot of fans here disagree with me when I say SEGA Japan in the mid-80s to late 90's really did try to pander to the American/European audience with their games like Outrun, Afterburner, Daytona USA, Crazy Taxi and so on.