Every time I read these testimonials from Asian students - how they're basically devoting their entire youths for some entrance exam, or college majors, I can't

Every time I read these testimonials from Asian students - how they're basically devoting their entire youths for some entrance exam, or college majors, I can't help but feel incredibly thankful that I'm from a western/nordic country. It just sounds so alien that people would live like that - but at the same time, it's completely understandable. The payoff can be life-altering, so it's really no different than would-be athletes here, that devote their lives for the sport, because first prize could be pro-sports contract with multi-million salaries, while second prize is basically a set of stake knives, in the long run. When I grew up, I spent maybe an hour on homework? If that. Granted, we had very, very little rote learning, and the school system put a lot of emphasis on conceptual understanding. We simply did not participate in problem-grinding. Same for college and university. Undergrad was quite hectic, but the workload was much higher than anything I had experienced before. Still, I don't know a single student from my class that studied from morning to night. If anything, I hope they got the payoff they were hoping for.