I agree with you that this book is widely taught (and admired) more because its heart is in the right place than for any literary merit it might have.I also find it a rather fault on the American education system that they teach this book so widely.
And the book is not really all that progressive, not even for 1960, when it was published. It is therefore "safe".
But I can see its usefulness in the classroom. It has lots of potential for opening up discussion. Past standards versus current standards, the issue of condescending whites, self-empowerment versus paternalism, that kind of thing. It's a straightforward narrative written in a kid's voice, which makes it accessible.
It also has a bit of unexpected moral complexity right at the end, the stabbing. The sheriff "cleans up" the crime scene, suppressing evidence by pocketing the second knife, and the (ridiculously) upright Atticus goes along with this highly questionable end-run around the justice system. So the book is not quite the smug morality play it might seem.
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