I'm sure it varies by region but there's already a form of degree specialization in high school - you can choose between focusing on liberal arts vs. science/en

I'm sure it varies by region but there's already a form of degree specialization in high school - you can choose between focusing on liberal arts vs. science/engineering, and the liberal arts kids basically don't do any more math. College is even worse, you can go the whole four years without doing any math. Another difference between China and the US is the philosophy towards achievement. The US tends to bias resources towards underachievers, whereas China tends to just give up on them and focus on the overachievers. So again there's pressure to compete, because as soon as you fall behind you'll just be at a further disadvantage because nobody is trying to help you (unless you pay them). Honestly, the end result is kind of the same in both scenarios - the best and brightest (strongly correlated with wealth) go to elite universities, with the occasional feel-good story about rural kids making it in. They're pretty much set for life, while everyone else is stuck with a useless degree. Although many menial jobs won't hire you unless you have a degree, so it's good for that.