[Rainymood]

I think (another) root cause of the problem is the education system in America. People go to great lengths (i.e. playing "slave" in High School) to get into great colleges which are often privately funded. This means that high performers go to good colleges and some of them score big and give back to their alma mater which reinforces the school with money so they can hire better people etc etc. Disclaimer: European and total outsider so please correct me if my views are wrong I am very interested in how Americans see this system. Do you think it's unfair?

[dfraser992]

That is a bit simplistic. The social pressures to get into a great college have increased greatly from when I went to high school (and I was in a good school district, most in America are horrible or substandard). But the fundamental purpose of American education - to socialize kids into cannon fodder for the Industrial Revolution - has always been the driving force behind educational practices in America. Read up on the works of John Taylor Gatto [0] if you want a critical analysis of the American educational system.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_Gatto