In American and the UK certainly, school is set up in a similar way to a factory. Children are expected to enter a room, are presented set information in a set amount of time, leave, and then know the information.

When they are tested, if they don't know the information, they are often treated like a defective product, and thrown to the side.

It's a harsh analogy, and not fully correct, as many teachers and schools do reach out to those who fall behind, but the system itself is still extremely factory-like. There are more creative elements, such as the social side of things and extra-curriculars, but fundamentally, it is flawed.

School doesnt teach kids to think critically, but instead gauge the bases of "learning" to listening to the glorified babysitter spew irrelevant info like "the mitochondria is the power house cell", and judge the intelligence of the kids by their ability to listen and regurgitate that info onto a standard exam then given a monetary letter grade that can define self confidence and lead stuggling childern to internalize the below average grade and to instinctively fear that they are not worth the time or resources the heard as allocated to them like a material product with less return on investment. This might be exaggeration but school should focus on teaching kids to think, not to memorize mostly useless irrelevant facts theyll forget 2 weeks after the test anyway. And if they are to memorize then it should be usefull info like how to do your taxes, cook your own food, raise a family, establishing relationships, manage your finances, and working at a job. Something relevant to them after they leave the simulator that simulates nothing repitition of random chunks of mostly unapplicable knowledge to the real world.

I think "School" is a exam factory. In India you will only find learning and giving exams every now and then. Children do not care about what they are reading or learning they just care about their grades, marks and percentage. If you go and ask the school topper one question out of the sylabus you will find that he/ she is wrong. Now days every job we get is baised on our marks. Every person has a different quality in them. Everyone cant become Einstein! Everyone is good in thsome work so they should be judged on what they are and not exam marks and all. I think yes schools have been exam factories which is making the world a pressure coocker!

My life is just exam after exam after exam at the moment.