<p>Well, if you look at the educational outcomes and the results of cross-national testing, they have a reason to laugh. </p>
<p>And, don’t be parochial. The US is not the only country in the world which attempts to educate everyone. Germany, for example, has a very successful tracking system, where people who don’t want to/don’t have the skills for a college degree go through fantastic apprenticeships for many professions (some of them high paying). Finland, one of the two countries with the best educational outcomes has too. But, many other countries, like the US don’t have tracking. And, they still get better outcomes than the US.</p>