It is sad and should be humiliating but will never change as long as the education system is allowed to continue as is. It is unlikely we'll ever go back to the 3 R's and associated real education. We're too busy banning red ink when grading papers and making sure every single participant gets an identical award/trophy to actually teach anything.
Do you have any real evidence that this is how it's done in schools today? I know it's a 'given' among some circles, but the teachers and students I know say that's bs. I hope they're correct, because education is too important to screw up.
Speaking of which, I just read that Texas was getting flak for its low graduation rate, but when it improved, the colleges & employers complained that the graduates weren't halfway ready for college or a job - seems they graduated more students by lowering the bar.