Actually I think it is the education system's fault. Kids in gradeschool/highschool for the most part hate doing word problems, and aren't required to do many - certainly not for every topic they cover in a math/algebra class. However, they probably don't even realize it, but the reason they don't like word problems is because it adds another layer of obfuscation to the process of doing the problem - the math problem itself is now not clearly presented, and some actual logic must be used and understanding of the concepts must be demonstrated in order to pull the problem out of the situation that the word problem describes.
However, so many of the teachers completely throw out the learning of the concepts behind the actual calculation process - what will let the student remember what he or she has learned months or years down the line - in order to cover more material in less time.
Instead, they turn the students into little calculating machines, having them memorize how to respond to what a particular problem looks like with a set of mathematical transformations that will allow them to derive the correct answer without ever thinking logically about what it is they're doing - thus they will forget it soon after the test, because the average human mind cannot recall such a detailed and irrational set of movements unless it sees the logic behind it.