That is if you assume that critical thinking is a goal of this educational system, not producing malleable effective work drones cheaply, or the slightly loftie

That is if you assume that critical thinking is a goal of this educational system, not producing malleable effective work drones cheaply, or the slightly loftier goal of making sure USA stays ahead in advanced technologies. It has other aims too, like reducing crime indirectly and allegedly making social mobility more possible. Neither from which critical thinking skills requirement follows directly. If it were cultivating American spirit of dissent combined with cooperation and multicultural integration, the critical thinking, analysis and reading skills could follow from that. But this seems to have fallen by the wayside... Dissent without critical thinking leads to quarrel, anarchy and dissolution.