<p>OP - you are too young and your point of view seems limited to your particular shade of rose colored glass. There are pros and cons in every system, you have overlooked much of the down side in foreign systems in praise of what you perceive to be equal access. Perhaps you would be willing to require students to pass tests in middle school to prove their college track worthiness and plan the rest of their lives accordingly, would you also be comfortable with the government deciding how many slots are available in a given major based on the perceived needs of society if you are fortunate enough to qualify for a university education?</p>
<p>My daughter’s foreign friends have needed to leave their US college education on hold to complete military service in their home countries. Students with foreign residency options have sometimes found that they didn’t make the academic quota/cut for their liberal arts major of choice…and back to the US they have come to pursue the interests of their choice, albeit at a considerable financial cost.</p>
<p>To be sure there is much room for improvement in our own system, I don’t think further erosion of privacy is the answer. Better education for parents about how the college/financial aid system works is a much better goal in my opinion. What they do with the information is up to them.</p>