I Thought I Was Supposed To Learn In School?

It occurs to me that graduate school is more of an acreditation process than an education process. The idea is to survive, not to excell. That really pisses me off. Professors and administrators make it out to look like you are really going to LEARN something. So far, most of the things I've learned have been repeats of the "hard life lessons" I already learned in my first job and trying to make it in the entertainment industry: people can be user-jerks, if you want to make sure something gets done do it yourself, keep your ass covered.

I spent a total of 21 hours over this past weekend trying to do a multivariate stats assignment. Now, I was sick last week, so I contacted the professor and made sure that I got a copy of his lecture notes. I contacted two of my classmates to talk through the notes to make sure I had understood the material. Then I started the assignment...

I had no fucking clue what was being asked of me. I knew it involved matrix algebra (which I know how to do), but I had no idea HOW to do the problem at hand. I'm resourceful, determined, and relentless, so I went back to the notes, re-did the class labs, you know to make sure I REALLY understood what was taught. Still had no idea what to do. So I emailed with my classmates. Huh, funny, they didn't know what to do either. We set up a google+ hangout to see if we could put our heads together. 5 hours later, we were collectively no farther ahead. We emailed the professor. TWO DAYS later, he emails the class to say that he "probably" hasn't given us enough information to complete the assignment and gives us instructions about creating two new matrices. That's it. I still have no fucking idea what I'm doing. I've read the labs and the class notes more than 8 times each now.

How exactly am I learning anything?