The American school system is primarily designed, in it's modern incarnation, to do two things. Create people who want to go to college and go wildly into debt so they're forced to work. And send people to prison. Another huge business.
I tried explaining to my school teacher Aunt that 90% of college is easily a scam, and that public schools should be focused on creating competent adults with practical skills since not everyone, even when it's """""free"""" goes to college, not create failed academics. She disagreed with me despite her own son's college's complete and utter failure to prepare him for a job in his desired field. Instead of music production (something he can learn from youtube tutorials, and simple active participation on forums can generate the contacts) he makes bagels at a shop. Of course, her answer to why public school shouldn't be more technical was because 'parents teach children those skills.' No, you privileged over educated white bitch they don't. With divorce rates over 50% and single never married mothers being exceedingly common, the only skill a lot of children are learning is how to milk welfare for everything it's worth.
And then you have people graduating in the middle of their class with a 0 GPA in places like Baltimore. Like fucking excuse me, what? Given that large numbers of students don't even attend class, there should be plenty of money for the students who do attend. And the African American attitude towards school and getting educated is punishing them more than any systemic white power.
Public School is made to create debt slaves, and prison slaves. College is there to make money, it's a cakewalk to pass now a days at most colleges, and it does not prepare you for your career at all, you're at least 4 years behind what's currently being done in whatever field. (That's not to say I don't think a medical Doctor shouldn't be very educated and trained, but Music Production doesn't need a college course. And Feminist Dance Theory as Applied to Tribal West Africa certainly does fuck all to help someone get a job)
If education was more technical and less academic, then I bet graduation rates would go up. Because learning how to balance a checkbook and do your taxes is better than understanding Macbeth (For all that I love Shakespear, I've never used my understanding of his plays and poetry in real life). And Trigonometry doesn't really apply to most jobs anyways.
And maybe people would be less likely to skip history and civics classes if their next class is fucking useful.
Not everyone can be this amazing ivory tower intellectual who plays an instrument and does calculus in their free time before writing satirical articles about the absolute state of politics and churning out poems that make the hearts of lovers quiver.
The American school system isn't even catering to the lowest common denominator anymore. It's just fucking over everyone.