You "win at the game" by learning what is taught, getting the "A", and then doing you own in-depth research about what interests you on your own time. K-12 was

You "win at the game" by learning what is taught, getting the "A", and then doing you own in-depth research about what interests you on your own time. K-12 was, of course, invented by the Germans in order to create good little factory workers that would get up early and work all day and not complain too much. The fact we still use the word Kindergarten is a nod to this origin story. They weren't at all interested in the students gaining any "understanding" and most certainly not in them "winning" in any sense of the word.