Well ok, if you say so - the choice of words in "the world is not like that" suggested otherwise. And I guess I am being pedantic, as the whole discussion is obviously aimed at people from the US, and I fully agree with your overall point.
I'm an American with a passport who has lived and grown businesses in Europe. (I attended private and public schools only in the US and half-heartedly finished a top 50 uni because it wasn't a top priority.)
GWB's NCBLA further inculcated standardized testing as an official religion in American education system. It's a complete and utter failure; another in a long line of ill-informed, "top-down solutions" that cause more harm than good.
Speak for yourself - the US is not the world.
Signed,
someone from a Western European country without crippling student debt and a degree.