We have a big OTD problem and many kids when asked by Rabbi Wallerstein what they thought of Yiddishkeit , they said it was just a bunch of rules and regulations. In Yeshiva the only vice the bocherim are allowed is Coffee and Ciggarettes. the girls have to either say tehilim or do Chessed. And you wonder why people are leaving. They are deciding that all Yiddishkeit is a bunch of rules and they hate them and the vote with their feet.
Giving people a little space to do their own thing is not Anti-Yiddishkeit, Its pro-Yiddishkeit, It allows them to blow off some steam and then get back on the proper track.