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when i went to school (in the suburban midwest) they literally specifically said that we weren't allowed to walk to school because it was too dangerous (despite having the zones anyway!)
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this is america, and as such i have literally never seen schoolchildren walking around near the school. there aren't cute little shops for them to go to nearby, it's grass and mcmansions. you're just sitting there crawling along at 25mph looking at empty sidewalks (if there are even sidewalks...)
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the low limit also causes drivers to get annoyed and pay less attention (especially since 25 feels SO SLOW on any big road) whereas if they gave people the basic dignity of assuming that they aren't trying to wantonly kill children and that if there were any around, you'd naturally slow out of respect. having the sign makes it seem more authoritarian and obnoxious
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and perhaps most importantly, before being allowed outside to play at age 3, i was taught to look out for cars because they're pretty dangerous
plus for some reason everyone online seems to get very bitchy and protective about this like yoU WaNt to KiLL chIldReN; no obviously i do not. there's just no reason to pretend like they're darting around the road such that we have to inconvenience our day like this en masse. (just in general, people seem to get very very performatively touchy about ACHKULLY i obey all the speed limits and i am a perfectly incredibly safe driver you are irRreSPnSibLe for not1!!! i'm sorry people keep honking at you and giving you the finger, perhaps speed up a bit.)
You're not wrong, but you're kind of a jerk about why. Poor urban planning is the real culprit. It shouldn't be a dangerous walk for kids to get to and from school at all, and to be clear just because you personally don't see them when you drive by doesn't mean there aren't kids.
So, yeah, be mad at your city's planners for putting a school on a huge busy road that makes it more required to drive there in the first place. And just slow down. Everyone thinks they're the good driver until they're the one who hit someone and is talking to the cops. Guaranteed the "It shouldn't be a school zone anyway" argument isn't going to hold up well there.